Jerry Mallett, 47, was charged Tuesday. The fire broke out Monday morning in the 8100-block of South Escanaba.
Mallett is accused of only setting that fire, but firefighters also put out a second vacant building fire less than a block away.
A third fire ignited earlier at 87th and Burley.
A Chicago Fire Department captain hurt his knee battling the fire on Burley, which started on the porch and spread throughout the two-and-a-half-story vacant building. He was treated and released from the hospital.
Firefighters had to climb to the roof on each Escanaba building to vent them and put out the flames.
