Crews battle fire at Calumet Park apartment building, firefighter injured, officials say

CALUMET PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- Crews battled a fire that broke out at a south suburban building on Saturday morning.

A firefighter had a minor injury during the response, officials said.

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The Calumet Park Fire Department said it responded to an apartment building near West 123rd and South Bishop streets around 6 a.m.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire, which broke out in the basement of the 12-unit building, but spread to the attic.

Video from the scene showed flames shooting out of the roof.

A firefighter was treated for a minor knee injury, but not one else was hurt.

Residents say the fire spread quickly after apparently starting in the basement boiler room, which is directly under the unit Charlene Davis lived in. She woke to the sound of what's sounded like an explosion.

"When I got out of bed in my living room I could smell the smoke and I could feel the heat from the fire under my feet," Davis said.

She grabbed her purse and phone and raced out of her apartment. She then alerted her neighbors and called 911.

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Davis and other residents have been unable to return to try to salvage any possessions that survived the fire.

"Everything. Everything I had my whole life, 60 years of my life is destroyed in that apartment," displaced resident Paulette McGriff said. "And I'm homeless. I don't have anywhere to go."

McGriff says she lost irreplaceable family pictures and documents. She does not have renter's insurance.

Some residents are philosophical, grateful in the face of all they lost that they survived.

"It's pretty much done," a displaced resident named Joe said. "I was able to salvage some of my paperwork."

Fire department investigators believe the building is a total loss.

"One day you go to sleep and then wake up and everything's gone. Just like that," Davis said.

The Red Cross has set up at the Calumet Park Village Hall to offer assistance one who need it, and that includes just about everyone who lived at the apartment builing.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.