Three people have died in an apartment fire early Thursday in West Ridge on the North Side.
The three, only described as unidentified males of unknown ages, were pronounced dead on the scene, according to Chicago police.
Firefighters and police officers responded at 1:50 a.m. to the blaze that began in the rear of the four-story apartment building in the 7000 block of North Rockwell Street, Chicago police said.
Three other people were taken to hospitals from the blaze: a boy, whose age wasn’t given, was taken to Lurie Children’s where his condition wasn’t immediately known; a girl believed to be about 17 years old was taken to the same hospital where her condition also wasn’t known; and a woman was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston where she was in critical condition, authorities said.
Firefighters took a defensive approach to the fire, which was extinguished before 5 a.m., according to the Chicago Fire Department.
Later Thursday morning, red crime scene tape cordoned off the block where the fire took place, and neighbors paused their morning walks and tennis games in the park across the street to take in the burned-out windows and other damage in the building.
A small group of the building’s residents and family sat on the corner of Lunt Avenue and Rockwell Street, waiting for any more information from police.
“Man, this is crazy,” one man said, shaking his head.
Alex Hernandez, 21, lives in the building with his mom, stepdad and younger sibling. He said he was on his way to work when his mom called saying the building was on fire.
Hernandez immediately turned around and went back home.
“There was smoke, there was flames, but they weren’t as bad as they were before, I’m assuming,” Hernandez said.
The family hasn’t been told if or when they’ll be able to get back into the building, and they don’t know the extent of the damage yet, he said.
“It happened. I can’t say too much else,” Hernandez said. “I’m glad some items are still, maybe, to be picked up and that we were in the basement and able to get out earlier.”
The building had hardly any windows left intact, and the disarray inside the units was visible from the street. The higher floors were badly scorched, and through the windows, the sky was visible where the roof should have been.
A vehicle marked “state fire marshal arson investigation” was parked on the street a few buildings away, and Peoples Gas was also on the scene.
Raymond Costales, who lives a couple blocks away, came to observe the scene. He didn’t hear any sirens overnight, but his daughter told him about the fire in the morning, he said.
“It’s a bad one, I can see it from here,” Costales said. “It’s sad … and I think it’s a Jewish holiday too,” he said, referring to Sukkot, a Jewish holiday meant to celebrate joy, and the neighborhood’s high concentration of Jewish people and long-standing Jewish history.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
