4 injured in East Garfield Park hotel fire

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Fire officials said that one woman actually had to jump from the third floor window to get to safety.

As thick smoke filled the building before 7:30 Saturday morning as fire crews rushed to get residents out. Willy Gamble was rescued from the third floor.

Frightening all the time, when you know you're in a fire and you can't get out the door, so you can't be nothing but frightened," he said.

Gamble, along with about 30 other people lived in the JR Plaza Hotel.

It's a temporary housing hotel that provides a place to stay for days or weeks at a time.

"It was kind of scary, cause actually, our house had burned down (Friday) night so that's the reason we came here," Carlos Jones said.

This is not the first time a fire broke out at this building. In 1999, 16 were people injured, five of them critically. Officials think the fire was started by careless smoking.

Saturday's fire started on the third floor, in unit 311, and quickly spread.

"It either consumed the door of the apartment, it did extend into the hallway and it extended upward to the apartment above in 411," said Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner Mark Nielsen, Chicago Fire Department.

It took firefighters about 10 minutes to put out the blaze, and in the end 25 people are displaced.

"The people will have a place to stay (Saturday) night. The American Red Cross is here, there is another potential location that the folks can go that were here," said 28th Alderman Jason Ervin.