A woman who was unable to pull her 3-year-old grandson out of her apartment after it caught fire was also injured when she followed rescuing firefighters back into the apartment as they saved the boy this afternoon, officials said.
The child and the grandmother were taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County from the fire in the 2300 block of West Van Buren Street, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. Firefighters at the scene said the two injured people were a boy and his grandmother.
The child was in serious-to-critical condition and the adult was in fair-to-serious condition, Fire Department's spokeswoman Meg Ahlheim said.
The fire, which generated a large amount of smoke, is believed to have started in a closet in a 7th-floor apartment, Langford said. Firefighters were called to the scene about 1:30 p.m. and it was declared under control just before 2 p.m. An EMS Plan 1, which sends six ambulances to the scene, was called for the fire.
Firefighter Benjamin Villa said fire trucks pulled up to the building and at first saw no smoke, but "immediately just ran up and were checking all floors," Villa said. When the firefighters reached the 7th floor, the hallway was full of smoke, and they came upon the grandmother.
The woman was standing outside an apartment door and when he asked if anyone was inside, she said her grandson was.
Firefighters entered the apartment and the grandmother followed, but collapsed herself, fire officials said.
Villa saw the child on the floor in the bedroom, and while "He was whimpering, he was still breathing," Villa said.
"I was just praying for the kid. I was telling him to hold on, hold on," as he ran down all 7 flights of stairs holding the boy, Villa said.
Dozens of residents clad in winter coats, some carrying young children, stood scattered outside just after 2 p.m. as about 80 firefighters finished clearing out the seven-story brick building.
Children ran around and played while others huddled in groups and chatted as they waited to return inside.
Meanwhile, several ambulances and fire trucks parked in adjoining parking lots of the gated apartment complex.
Fire officials said they are investigating the cause of the fire and could not say if it appeared suspicious or accidental.
The blaze started in the bedroom closet of the apartment unit and the boy was found at the base of the bed in the same room, said Deputy District Chief Don Hroma.
There are smoke detectors in the hallways of the building, but not inside the apartment units, according to Hroma.
A few days ago, firefighters also battled a blaze at a different building of the same complex, though Hroma did not have immediate details.
Tribune reporters Liam Ford and Rosemary Sobol contributed.
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