An early-morning fire destroyed an unoccupied apartment building in Mukwonago Thursday morning.
According to Fire Chief Jeff Stien, the call came in around 3:19 a.m. at three residential structures in a luxury apartment development at County Road ES and Phantom Woods Road.
Stien said police quickly informed responding firefighters the building was "fully involved" in flames, so help was called in from neighboring departments.
"We got three additional engines, an extra truck, and a squad," Stien said.
Firefighters immediately went defensive on the fire to try and prevent it from spreading, however the unoccupied buildings on either side did sustain minor damage.
Stien said there was no power or gas running to the building that caught fire.
He also said there had been a couple of theft incidents at the building, most recently a theft of copper that occurred over the weekend.
The state fire investigator has been called in to search for what caused the blaze.
"I wouldn't rule anything out at this time," Stien said.
Stien says fighting a fire in a building under construction brings its own set of challenges.
"The drywall and everything isn't up, so the fire spreads quite quickly to the exposed, wood frame," Stien said.
Neighbors reported seeing the flames high in the sky shortly after 3:00 a.m.
"My wife got me up and she said, 'I heard sirens,'" said George Luedtke, who lives nearby.
"It just looked like a huge bonfire," said Roy Hafemeister, who lives across the street. "Just ambers coming up. It was unbelievable."
Hafemesiter is thankful that no one was hurt, and that the fire didn't spread to more of the nearby structures under construction.
"I can't believe the fire department did the job they did, really, to save the other two buildings," he said.
While all the nearby buildings were vacant, fire hydrants in the development had already been installed.
Stien said that was very important in keeping the fire under control, because crews did not have to bring in their own water trucks.
"You have an unlimited supply of water you can use," Stien said of the hydrants.
Preliminary investigations indicate the fire started in the back corner of the building's first floor.
No firefighters were hurt battling the flames.
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