Car destroyed in Friday fire outside Woodstock

A late-model Jeep sitting at the top of a 900-foot driveway was completely engulfed in flames Friday, but Woodstock Fire/Rescue District personnel prevented the blaze from spreading to an adjoining house, officials said.

Fire and rescue personnel were called about 1 p.m. Friday to the 700 block of North Valley Hill Road outside Woodstock for a vehicle fire, communications specialist Alex Vucha said. Crews arriving at the scene within 10 minutes and found the home and its long driveway leading uphill but were able to get two pieces of apparatus up the driveway to fight the fire.

The fully engulfed Jeep was only 10 feet from an attached garage, and shortly after crews’ arrival, the vehicle’s gas tank began leaking, adding “a troublesome fuel-fed fire,” Vucha said.

With two lines pouring water on the truck, a tow truck was called to lift the burning chassis to allow better undercarriage access to put out the fire, he said.

In total, Vucha said, 35 gallons of firefighting foam and 3,800 gallons of water were used to put out the fire, which was declared out at 2:30 p.m. No injuries were reported, and the house sustained minor damage to remain habitable.

The McHenry County Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency were notified of the incident because runoff, Vucha said, adding that the Woodstock Fire/Rescue District continues to investigate the blaze.