Family with newborn baby displaced after house fire in Skokie: 'Thought our life would end'

SKOKIE, Ill. (WLS) -- A family with a newborn baby has been displaced after a house fire broke out Saturday in the north suburbs, they told ABC7 Chicago.

The fire broke out around 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon in the 7500 North Kostner Avenue in Skokie.

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"It's terrible," displaced resident Mohammed Fayyaz said. "I just thought that can't be happening to me and my family."

A fire tore through their home just weeks after a Skokie man welcomed home his firstborn child. The family has now been forced out into the cold, looking for a place to go.

"I'm just shivering right now," Fayyaz said. "Thanks to Allah, that Allah saved us from this."

A few bags Fayyaz salvaged were all that was left after the fire ripped through his family's home.

Fayyaz said the flames started in the living room before thick smoke swept through the entire house.

"I was sleeping, and my uncle called me and said the couch caught fire," Fayyaz said. "I'm not able to breathe, so I'm not thinking of anything else. I just ran away from that."

The devastating fire comes a mere two months after Fayyaz became a first-time father.

"I just thought our life would end, and I just ran with my wife and my baby," Fayyaz said.

Fatherhood is now quickly coming with a new challenge as he faces the frigid cold, hoping to find a place to live for his growing family.

"I don't know. I have some friends who are supporting me, like, staying with them," Fayyaz said. "But, I don't know where to stay or where to go."

While everyone was able to make it out alive, Fayyaz says his uncle was being treated at the hospital for burns and says it's still unclear just how the couch caught fire.