At least 4 families displaced, 2 Chicago firefighters injured after apartment fire on Northwest Side

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A fire broke out at a residential building on the city's Northwest Side Tuesday morning, injuring two firefighters, the Chicago Fire Department said.

Please note the video in the player above is from a previous report.

Firefighters responded to the fire at a four-unit duplex around 11:00 a.m. in the 1700 block of North Monticello Avenue, in the Humboldt Park neighbor.

The two firefighters who were injured were taken to a hospital in good condition, CFD said.

"It's devastating," neighbor Emily Serrano said.

Serrano was outside preparing for a weekend block party, and she did not expect she would be preparing to save lives.

"Getting ready the coolers and stuff, when all of a sudden I saw smoke coming through the alley, looking really bad," Serrano said. "So when they came to the door, I tell them, 'The house is on fire.' It looks like they were sleeping, so who knows what would've happened if I wouldn't have been out here."

Serrano said she and other neighbors rushed into the building to help save an older man who was still trapped inside as the fire grew larger from the rear porch near a kitchen.

"She looked around and she goes, 'Oh my God! My father's still in the house!'" another neighbor, Ramon Ramos, said. "As soon as we opened the door, the old man was standing right there by the doorway, just kind of disoriented."

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Residents of the buildings said at least 12 people, including children, escaped the massive blaze before firefighters arrived.

"He could've, you know, died because the smoke was so bad," Serrano said. "He came out, he could barely walk. It was so scary."

While tackling the flames, Chicago Fire officials said two firefighters were hurt. One suffered a heat emergency on the roof and another was cut, prompting a May Day alert that sent over 50 more firefighters to the scene.

"When you hear a May Day across the radio, that's the worst thing we want to hear, right now," said Donald Walker, Chicago Fire Department Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner.

Chicago Fire officials said both of the firefighters are expected to be okay. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

See also | Chicago fire: 2 die after NW Side apartment fire

The now gutted building will stand in the background of Saturday's block party as a terrible reminder of the loss for at least four families.

"Everybody's going to be a little heartbroken because they're a big part of it," Serrano said.