9 injured, dozens rescued in Edgewater high-rise fire, Chicago fire officials say
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Multiple people were injured and dozens were rescued after a building fire on the city's North Side on Thursday, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
Part of the building is now uninhabitable after the fire broke out on a middle floor. Some living on the upper floors had to be brought down by ladders after the fire escapes filled with smoke.
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Chopper 7 captured as firefighters climbed the stairs of a high-rise building in the 5400-block of N. Kenmore Avenue.
One person was in critical condition while eight others were taken to the hospital with serious injuries, CFD 2nd District Chief Robert Jurewicz said.
Thanks to the responding companies, many lives were saved. Crews immediately began to evacuate the building which is full of senior citizens.
The injured, many of them seniors, were taken away from the building on stretchers, some needing oxygen after escaping thick smoke.
Forty to 50-foot ladders were put up to rescue residents, some of whom were hanging out of the windows of the eight-story building.
Smoke was seen billowing out of the fourth floor where the fire started in a rear apartment unit.
Theresa Thurman was among the residents in the building.
"All I was hearing was, 'Help! Help! Help!' Thurman said. "Then I heard someone say, 'Shut the door! Shut the door!'"
About 125 firefighters were on scene, working frantically both to fight the fire and to conduct the rescues, Jurewicz said.
"These guys did a tremendous job," he said. "We pulled over a dozen people down the fire escape."
Firefighters said the woman who lived in the apartment that caught fire was able to get out of the unit. She was found in the stairwell of the building and taken to the hospital.
Some residents escaped the fire themselves.
"I couldn't even go down the fire escape because there was a lot of smoke was coming out," resident Stephen Washington said. "I live in the back of the building that where the fire was, and I couldn't get out that way, so I had to come out another way. I had to wait because they wouldn't let you down the stairs. So I was nervous."
It took around 75 minutes to strike the fire, which is still under investigation.
Officials said residents who have been displaced will eventually be allowed to return to their units which should be undamaged as long as their doors remained closed.
"We have a feeding team on the way and we're gathering all the details to see what sheltering if needed for folks," said Rodrigo Carrillo with the American Red Cross.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
