McHenry County Blog

Knaack Park is one of Crystal Lake’s smaller ones. It’s located on Buckingham Drive on the western edge of Coventry. Buckingham connects with Barlina Road at a traffic light on McHenry Avenue.

Just about a year ago, $35,000 in playground equipment—mainly plastic, held up by steel—was installed.

Now, the plastic is destroyed.

Three Crystal Lake nine year olds “torched” it, according to Crystal Lake Park Director Kirk Reimer. Their identity is known.

“It’s pretty sad,” he said.

“It happened Friday. The fire started about 1:30 in the afternoon,” Reimer continued.

“We’re not quite sure whether there was any kind of accelerant used. The Fire Department sent in samples. We’ve got a feeling there was an accelerant used, considering how fast it went up.

“They said it took 20 minutes for it go down. There was black smoke everywhere,” Reimer said.

The smoke could be seen from Route 14.

“We already had our insurance company come out and look at it. We have a $1,000 deductible.”

Reimer said the maximum restitution was $10,000, although I didn’t ask whether that was per family or in total.

Attempts to get the fire department's take were unsuccessful.

Labels: Arson, Crystal Lake Park District, Knaack Park