Grocery Fire Causes $400,000 in Damage

Fire hits grocery: Damage was estimated at $400,000 from a brief-but-intense fire Wednesday afternoon at the Dino’s Foods grocery store, 465 Summit St. Battalion Chief Terry Bruce of the Elgin Fire Department said the blaze began about 1:28 p.m. on the roof of a detached secondary building, at the rear of the main supermarket, that holds compressors for the store’s refrigeration equipment. “It began on the roof, and a roofer had been working there, but the cause is under investigation,” Bruce said. He said customers and employees were evacuated safely, the flames were extinguished in about 15 minutes, and no one was hurt. But there was extensive damage to the refrigeration equipment and the outbuilding, Bruce said, and smoke damaged the main store and some of its food inventory.

Car collides with bike: A 43-year-old Elgin woman was taken to Provena Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin with a head injury after the bicycle she was riding collided with a car Tuesday in downtown Elgin. According to police reports, a car driven by Jose Escamilla, 45, whose address was not given, and a bike ridden by Elise Knuth, 43, of the 300 block of Gertrude Street, Elgin, both were southbound on South Grove Avenue at National Street about 11:55 a.m. Witnesses said the collision occurred while Knuth was starting to ride across National Street and Escamilla was making a right turn onto National Street, police said. Police reported Knuth was lying in the street, bleeding from the head, when they arrived and later said she could not remember the crash. A Provena Saint Joseph spokeswoman said Knuth had been released from the hospital by Wednesday afternoon. No tickets were issued.

Obstruction: Sonia Cruz, 38, of Center Street in Elgin, was charged with obstructing an officer and driving without a license after police said they stopped her for driving without headlights on Kimball Street about 11 p.m. Tuesday. Police also said Cruz lied to them about her identity to prevent them from finding out she had a criminal record.

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