Residents who lost homes in Calumet Park fire struggling to recover: 'It's been a tough road'

CALUMET PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- Families who lost their homes in a Calumet Park apartment complex fire last month are still working to recover on Sunday night.

The fire broke out on Valentines Day. Residents believe it started down some stairs in the basement boiler room. And one of the first residents to become aware of it was Charlene Davis, who lives in the unit above.

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Davis has been living in hotels since the fire that started before 6 a.m. When she first realized the building was on fire, she called 911 and then rushed to knock on her neighbors' doors to alert them.

She left all of her possessions behind in the apartment, which was soon engulfed in flames.

"The fire department told me I was lucky to get out, because the fire started coming through the floor," Davis said.

Amazingly, all Davis' neighbors were able to get out before anyone was seriously injured. But since that day, she says she has been struggling to keep going with her life after losing everything in the fire.

"It's tough, because I have to get all of my identification again, and it's hard, because they say, you have to have your birth certificate, or, you have to have this. Well, it all got burned up in the fire. It's been a tough road," Davis said.

Davis says she and a number of the other residents who prefer not to speak on camera are still waiting to be let into the building to try to salvage any possessions they might be able to find. Many of them have no renter's insurance and have lost everything.

"I'm able to talk about it now without crying, but some days are harder than others," Davis said.

ABC7 spoke with a lawyer who represents a number of the residents. He says he is working to come up with some sort of settlement with the owners of the property to help compensate the residents for all they have lost.