Piper's Alley Mall was evacuated this afternoon as firefighters battled an extra-alarm blaze at 1612 N Wells St, which is adjacent to The Second City and houses some of the legendary theater's offices. DNAinfo has reported that those offices have been destroyed. Early information indicates that the fire may have started as a grease fire in the kitchen of the Adobo Grill on the first floor. The newspaper is also reporting that
The fire did not spread to The Second City theater, but it's unclear whether or not the building experienced any smoke damage. Three injuries have been reported, according to the Chicago Fire Department's Twitter account.
"Almost 30 years of my stuff at Second City is burned and gone," producer Kelly Leonard posted to Facebook. "But it's just stuff. The people are what's important."
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
Smoke from the fire was visible throughout the neighborhood.
Roof is still going. Some collapse of roof in progress no injury. Second city still good pic.twitter.com/TKm3dCIb7W
— Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) August 26, 2015
#CHICAGO: The fire @ 1612 N. Wells (Old Town neighborhood) has now been upgraded to a 3-ALARM, EMS PLAN 1 situation. pic.twitter.com/4V38Qg47ai
— WGN-TV Traffic (@WGNtraffic) August 26, 2015
Chicago fire crews are fighting a fire at Piper’s Alley building in Old Town, where #SecondCity has a few stages pic.twitter.com/9JxrnqNx5u
— WTHR.com (@WTHRcom) August 26, 2015
WATCH LIVE: SkyCam9 over two-alarm fire in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood http://t.co/ZEk9Rq3kY7 pic.twitter.com/9RkDje6t3S
— WGN TV News (@WGNNews) August 26, 2015