Firefighter injured, 2 others hospitalized after fire tears through South Shore apartment building

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A firefighter was injured and two others were hospitalized after a fire tore through an apartment building on the city's South Side on Sunday morning, the Chicago Fire Department said.

CFD Deputy Chief John Giordano said roughly 100 firefighters responded to a three-story building in the South Shore neighborhood's 6700-block of South Crandon Avenue around 4:20 a.m.

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There, firefighters battled heavy flames on the first and second floors of what residents say is a family-owned building.

A mayday was called for a missing firefighter, who was located quickly, Giordano said.

Chicago police said crews rescued a 16-year-old boy and a 53-year-old woman from one of the units.

A relative told ABC7 that the two who were injured are a mother and her teen son. Police and fire officials said they were transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, and relatives later told ABC7 that they were stable.

"Just thank you thank you. We're just asking everyone pray for Georgette and Yoshua that's all," relative Marcello Moore said.

Meanwhile, one firefighter was taken to a local hospital for a minor injury.

Giordano said the fire appeared to have started in a second-floor living room before spreading to the first and third floors, and the building is a total loss.

"Never in my life have ever been close to seeing shooting flames coming out of the building," neighborhood resident Pamela Bullock said.

CPD said four other people, in addition to the two rescued, were displaced.

"I just woke up. I smelled the fire and I started checking my house... and then I came to the window and that's what I seen all of this," neighborhood resident Rasheen Morris said.

ABC7 cameras were on the scene, where crews could be seen focusing on hot spots around 5:30 a.m. Firefighters had left the scene by 8 a.m.

Meanwhile, the family says they've owned the building for years so relatives could live together as they hope for a speedy recovery for their loved ones.

"The building is brick. It can be replaced," Moore said. "I'm more worried about my family members."

The fire has severely damaged the building, rendering it basically uninhabitable, so the residents are now displaced.

CFD is investigating the cause of the fire.