NORTH PEKIN, Ill. – A North Pekin homeowner says she’ll do the best she can after a fire destroyed the family’s motor home, and most of their main home.
Crews from five departments responded to the blaze around 11 a.m. Wednesday on North Roosevelt, inbetween State and Lee Streets.
Jenni Williams — a local photographer — was at her business in East Peoria when she got word her home was on fire.
“My husband was downstairs doing the laundry. He’s a stay-at-home dad. It’s his dream,” said Williams. “I was at work. He’s downstairs, and the electricity went off. He came upstairs, and didn’t really see anything, smelled a little bit of smoke, noticed the motor home was on fire, and got the kids who were napping. The eight-and-ten-year-olds were at school, luckily.”
No one was hurt.
Williams thinks the fire started in the motor home, but fire officials say the State Fire Marshal’s office will investigate that. The home was one she says she and her husband remodeled from the ground up. The RV was purchased during the pandemic.
North Pekin Fire Chief Chad Plemons says the fire almost could have been too much for his crew to handle.
“We did good with the little bit of manpower we had at the beginning of the fire,” said Plemons. “All-volunteer…we’re short on manpower during the day. The village gave us Public Works Monday night, so I had three of those guys with me to help make the initial attack while all the other guys from the other departments showed up.”
In all, crews from five different departments helped put the blaze out.
As for what the Williams family will do now? Jenni Williams says her family won’t go anywhere.
“I will not leave. I love the Village of North Pekin,” said Williams. “We have the most amazing neighbors, and school district, and community here. We’re just so lucky. Definitely, we’ll rebuild here. Our neighbor is even a new firefighter for the department, and was in there fighting our fire.”
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