4 Chicago firefighters injured after 2nd floor collapses in Jeffery Manor townhome
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Four firefighters were injured after a the second floor of a townhome in Jeffery Manor collapsed during a fire Tuesday morning.
Neighbors said the fire quickly spread early Tuesday morning inside the now charred townhome.
Fortunately ,everyone affected by the fire is accounted for, but there were some uncertain moments for firefighters, when the second floor of the townhome suddenly collapsed.
The extra-alarm fire broke out at about 3:38 a.m. in a two-story residence in the 2200-block of East 100th Street.
Chicago Fire First District Chief Jim McDonough said two firefighters became trapped after the second floor of a townhome collapsed onto the first floor.
CFD gives update on Jeffery Manor townhome fire
One was able to self-evacuate while the other was trapped.
"One- firefighter was capable of evacuating himself," CFD 1st District Chief Jim McDonough. "The second one was trapped from the waist down with debris."
Fire officials said the two firefighters made it out safely, but four were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries as dozens of firefighters worked together on the ground and in the air to douse the flames from ladder trucks.
"Everyone worked together to remove that firefighter," McDonough said.
Next door neighbor Arika Noble, still shaken by the early morning fire, awoke to the smell of smoke and frantically grabbed what she could to escape.
"The house next door was on fire, blazing," Noble said. "It was everywhere. The whole house was emblazoned in flames."
The fire spread to Noble's townhome, making her living situation uncertain.
"I don't know yet. They say I can't live in it, but it's not as bad as the next door house," Noble said.
As the Red Cross tries to lend a hand and as fire investigators sift through the rubble, neighbors who once called this home are now left without one.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation this morning. CFD says the two people inside the townhome at the time of the fire were not injured.
