Western Illinois – Firefighters in Monmouth and Galesburg were kept busy battling a pair of significant fires Monday. No injuries are reported from either fire. One of the blazes happened at a house owned by Monmouth College. The school says five students lived in the "Science House," but none of them were home when the fire broke out late in the morning. The college says it appears the house is a total loss. The displaced students will be relocated to another college-owned home. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Several hours earlier, a fire destroyed East Main Antiques in downtown Galesburg. The historic building once housed the O.T. Johnson store, which employed Ronald Reagan's father as a shoe salesman when the future president was a boy.
Destructive Fires in Western Illinois
