2 firefighters rescued from South Side fire

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Fire erupts at a residential building on Chicago's South Side and two firefighters had to be rescued.

Several fire department vehicles and ambulances responded after three building caught fire before 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon in the 2900-block of South Lyman.

PHOTOS: Firefighters battle South Side blaze

The Chicago Fire Department was still on the scene late Sunday afternoon, although they have had the fire under control for some time. Even though the fire spread to two other buildings, no one was hurt. The firefighters taken to the hospital were transported there for observation only.

The fire began in the rear porch of a home and quickly spread to the garage and two homes next to it. The homes were all occupied by residents and everyone got out safely. Because it was moving so fast, two firefighters became trapped. There were two separate mayday calls. The firefighters were rescued quickly and fortunately did not suffer burns or any smoke inhalation.

"What happens is they go in there and attack the fire with multiple companies," said Commissioner Jose Santiago, Chicago Fire Department. "You've got what we call fire going up a walls and up the plumbing walls. It gets behind you sometimes and as soon as the officers spotted that, they started to do a quick organized removal, but then the fire was moving too fast and that's how they got trapped."

A teenager in the neighborhood called 911 when he saw the smoke.

"I was playing basketball at the park and I just seen a lot of smoke coming up and I ran over here as fast as I could to see what was happening and I just called 911 right away," said Nicholas Rolland.

Fire Department officials said they have a good idea as to the cause of the fire, but are not ready to release any details publicly.