Woman trapped by Englewood fire critically injured

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 56-year-old woman was critically injured in a fire early Wednesday morning on Chicago's South Side.

She was trapped inside a smoky home in the 5600-block of South Racine Avenue in the city's Englewood neighborhood. Firefighters spent about 40 minutes throwing water on the single-family home, which caught fire just after 1 a.m.

Several people were displaced as they scrambled to get out of the one-and-a-half story building.

Tyrone Powell escaped the fire. He said the woman who was critically hurt is his landlord.

"Then I tried to go back. They said a lady was still in there, but there was so much smoke. It kept coming through there, so I just left and went through the back way, the alley way, and came around," Powell said.

Powell said his grandkids were sleeping when the fire broke out. He was alerted to the danger when his daughter came knocking on the door. They were able to get all of the children out safely.

The woman was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center for treatment.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.