Fire personnel from eight different agencies responded to a fire in the Hollywood section of Brookfield on April 16 that heavily damaged a one-story ranch house.

According to Brookfield Fire Chief Patrick Lenzi, the fire department got the call at 5:08 p.m. Upon arriving at the home at 3835 McCormick Ave., firefighters noticed smoke coming out the back of the building. Entering the house, they reported heavy smoke and fire in the living room area. The fire had also gotten up into the attic area, forcing firefighters to cut a hole in the roof to ventilate the attic.

“It was a zero-visibility smoke condition inside,” said Lenzi, “and the heat was moderate.”

The house suffered extensive smoke and fire damage, and is uninhabitable at present.

No one was home at the time of the blaze. At first neighbors thought a dog might be inside the home, but the dog was not found in the home by firefighters.

Lenzi would not speculate on the origin of the fire, saying the matter was still under investigation. Brookfield was assisted by emergency personnel from LaGrange, LaGrange Park, McCook, Lyons, Riverside, Bedford Park and Western Springs.

Disorderly conduct

Riverside police broke up an underage drinking party in the first block of Pine Avenue on April 20, and ended up issuing two citations for disorderly conduct, including one against a Berwyn man who allegedly tried to incite roughly 30 partygoers to attack the responding officers.

According to the report, officers saw 30 people in the backyard of a residence, some of whom fled the scene when police arrived or attempted to hide inside the house. A total of 22 citations were issued to individuals between the ages of 18 and 20 from Berwyn, Brookfield, Forest Park, Riverside, Joliet, LaGrange, LaGrange Park, Chicago, Woodridge, Franklin Park, Westchester and Oakbrook for illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor.

A resident of the home, Paul Bilek, 21, was cited for disorderly conduct for throwing the party. Matthew J. Artz, 21, of Berwyn, was cited for allegedly inciting people to act against the police.

DUI

Riverside police charged Brookfield resident Luis Rosa, 29, with driving under the influence after an officer reported that Rosa’s white Pontiac was traveling 54 mph in a 35 mph zone and crossed the double yellow line while northbound on First Avenue near Forest Avenue/Ridgewood Road.

During the traffic stop, Rosa reportedly failed field sobriety tests, and an officer reported finding a six pack of beer with one bottle missing in the car.

A subsequent breath test reportedly revealed Rosa’s blood-alcohol level to be .140, which is nearly twice the legal limit.

LaGrange resident Eduardo C. Villagrana, 23, faces a charge of aggravated DUI after he was pulled over for speeding at 6:35 p.m. while eastbound on Ogden Avenue in Brookfield on April 21.

According to the police report, Villagrana was traveling at 47 mph in a 30 mph zone and didn’t pull over for officers until he reached a gas station at the intersection of Ogden Avenue and First Avenue.

Villagrana reportedly has no valid driver’s license and a breath test revealed Villagrana’s blood-alcohol level to be .175, which is over twice the legal limit, at the time of his arrest.

Brookfield police charged Elizabeth A. Kearney, 22, of Brookfield, with DUI after she allegedly drove her 2002 Pontiac Sunbird into a legally parked vehicle while heading westbound in the 9000 block of Burlington Avenue at 2:38 a.m. on April 22. Kearney was taken to LaGrange Memorial Hospital for treatment of injuries and was also cited for failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

Burglary

A resident of the 9000 block of Windemere Avenue, Brookfield, reported that during the overnight hours of April 19-20, someone broke into a locked 2000 Pontiac that was parked on the street and removed the Pioneer car radio from the dashboard. The offender apparently used a pry tool to damage the passenger side door lock to gain entry. The radio was valued at $200.

Brookfield police reported that sometime between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on April 20, someone broke into an outdoor storage shed behind an apartment building in the 4600 block of Vernon Avenue and removed a Craftsman lawnmower, a Craftsman snowblower and a J.L. Audio Bay speaker. The items were valued at a total of $650.

According to the report, the offender used some sort of pry tool to open the locked door. The damage to the storage unit was estimated at $200.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside and Brookfield police departments from April 16 through April 23, 2007 and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. The cases have not been adjudicated.

-Compiled by Bob Uphues