A spectacular fire broke out this afternoon sending clouds of dark smoke over parts of Tazewell County.
Building 21 at the Leisure Acres adult living center--the home of more than a dozen people was destroyed.

It was about 4:30 this afternoon when the Northern Tazewell County Fire Department got the call.

People watched as fire fighters battled the blaze that sent Leisure Acres residents running.

Northern Tazewell County Firefighters called for help and the East Peoria and Washington fire departments came to their assistance.

"It's outstanding...we work together a lot all three of the departments that were on the scene. I believe Germantown Hills also came in for some manpower. But everybody here worked together well" said Mike Vaughn, East Peoria Fire Cheif.

It took firefighters 45 minutes to an hour to get the blaze under control.
But with all of the extra help as well as the heavy rain, they managed to keep the fire from spreading to the adjacent buildings.

Leisure Acre resident Virginia Hall lives in building 20 and she says back in 2005 there was a fire that claimed the life of her next-door neighbor.

When she looked out her window and saw the flames she had a flashback.

"Here we go again. Same thing only this was much worse" said Hall.

Hall's good friend P.J. Utech was also at home when the fire broke out... in fact, she tried to take matters into her own hands.

"I went out the side door and got the hose...I did because our buildings are so close. I didn't want our building to catch on fire", said Utech.

When emergency workers arrived, they confiscated Utech's hose and took her to a safe place.

Chief Vaughn says there were no injuries and all of the residents and firefighters are accounted for.

He says there were working smoke alarms in the building to warn residents, but there was no sprinkler system.