Brush fire – Potawatami Woods, Prospect Heights 3-11-12
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At around 4:00 PM today, the RED Center, which serves the Prospect Heights Fire Department, received a call about a significant brush fire in the Potawatami Woods Forest Preserve, located off Portwine Road within the Prospect Heights Fire District. The caller reported that an area roughly the size of a football field was already burning, prompting the dispatch to classify the incident as a working fire.
The first responding units arrived and found a large fire spreading through the forest preserve. Recognizing the scale of the blaze, they quickly realized more resources would be needed. Firefighters from Prospect Heights, Wheeling, and Lincolnshire-Riverwoods joined forces with Long Grove Brush 55, bringing a brush rig into the area. However, the soft ground caused several vehicles to become stuck during the operation.
Larry Shapiro was on the scene and captured several images. One photo shows Long Grove Brush 55 returning to the fire zone. Another image highlights Prospect Heights firefighters using hand tools to tackle the flames at the edge of the burn area. Unfortunately, the fire spread rapidly, with flare-ups occurring faster than crews could respond.
Long Grove Brush 55 was used to supply water lines, while an officer deployed a wildland progressive hose pack. As the fire consumed larger fuel loads, intense flare-ups were seen until the materials were fully burned. Tall grasses ignited, producing thick black smoke and extreme heat that could be seen for miles.
The alarm was escalated to a MABAS Brush Fire Box Alarm, bringing in additional units such as water tenders, brush engines, and engines from the Countryside Fire District, Buffalo Grove, Grayslake, Elk Grove Township, and Fox River Grove. Despite these efforts, the situation was complicated by the fact that the Barrington Fire Department was also dealing with a major brush fire at the box alarm level, which tied up some of the same resources.
Firefighters stretched multiple lines into position, with one line being supplied by Countryside FPD Tanker 411. A final image shows the burn area after the fire was contained, with no injuries reported. The Cook County Forest Preserve Conservation Team later arrived to complete the mop-up.
More photos can be found [here](#) and [here](#). Larry Shapiro plans to release a video of the event once it's ready.