At least 3 buildings go up in flames in West Garfield Park fire that started with tire shop: CFD

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A fire broke out at a West Garfield Park tire shop early Wednesday morning and spread to at least two other buildings, Chicago fire officials said.

The blaze broke out just before 3:30 a.m. in the 4300-block of West Madison Street, CFD said.

At one point, flames could be seen through the building's roof.

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There were no immediate reports of injuries, and the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Part of the building collapsed, CFD said. Crews were able to control the blaze within about an hour and a half before a small fire started up again.

Some neighbors reported feeling an explosion, but CFD would not confirm those reports.

The tire shop took most of the damage, but a jerk chicken place and a barber shop, which have all been in the area for years, were also damaged.

One man said he was inside the barber shop when the fire broke out, and, right now, he's just thankful to be alive.

"I was about to fall asleep and all of a sudden I hear a loud boom," Archie Colins said. "I was kind of afraid to come out because I didn't know what it was, and then I started to see a lot of this black smoke, so that's when I came out and I saw smoke coming from the tire shop."

Now the hotspots are controlled and the clean-up process begins, putting things into perspective for Colins.

"It's kinda sad because it's gonna put me out of work for a little while," he said. "As far as me being alive, man, I'm grateful, I'm very grateful. I've never been through something like this."

A mural somehow survived the fire.

It displays the eye-opening statistics of current living conditions in West Garfield Park compared to other nearby areas, things like life expectancy and property value.

The artist behind the mural rushed to the scene Wednesday morning when he heard about the fire.

"It is absolutely remarkable to see the mural still standing," Khosro Beik said. "It is tragic to see anything happen to this community in addition to what's going on. It feels like a setback again, business have been hurt."

ComEd and Peoples Gas were called to the rainy scene.

Madison No. 20 buses were temporarily being rerouted via Madison, Pulaski Road, Washington Street, Kostner Avenue and Madison due to the fire, the CTA tweeted just after 4 a.m.

Madison was closed between Kostner and Kildare avenues, as fire crews remained on the scene.

It reopened about 6 a.m.