Fire ravages 114-year-old Chicago Heights home
Posted on 2010-01-05 15:58:18 CST
On a day when temperatures dipped below 20 degrees, Harold Brown was standing outside in a black T-shirt, shivering as he watched the apartment building in which he lived be destroyed by fire.
Brown was sleeping in his third-story studio apartment Monday morning when the large house in the 900 block of Euclid Avenue in Chicago Heights caught fire.
Brown said his girlfriend woke him when she heard fire alarms. Together, they fled with another resident to a third-story balcony at the south end of the building.
"I was scared. I was feeling like I was going to die," Brown said.
He said two firefighters used a ladder to rescue them from the balcony.
"Thank God, they were coming to get us," Brown's girlfriend said. "There was so much smoke. I tried to get downstairs, but I couldn't make it."
The couple were among about 25 people displaced in the fire, which began shortly before 9:30 a.m. At least seven fire engines were on the scene, and flames billowed more than 20 feet above the roof of the house, with soot falling like rain.
One woman who was rescued from the third-floor balcony was taken to St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights suffering from smoke inhalation, fire officials said. Her condition was unknown Monday evening.
Fred Serrato, a Chicago Heights police officer, also was taken to St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights after suffering smoke inhalation and was expected to stay there overnight for observation, police said.
Police Chief Michael Camilli said Serrato was one of the first emergency workers to arrive at the fire, and he went into the building because he heard voices inside.
Fire Chief Tom Martello said firefighters battled the blaze all day, putting it out about 5 p.m. He said its origin and cause had not been determined and remained under investigation by the state fire marshal's office.
"It was a large building that had been subdivided," Martello said. "It was like a maze inside, and our firefighters did a great job."
He said the Red Cross was on the scene to provide food, shelter and clothing for those left homeless and provided vouchers for them to obtain temporary lodging.
Antonio Gilmore, who was living on the first floor of the three-story house, said he lost all of his possessions in the fire.
"It just hit you like, 'Damn, the building is up in flames,' " he said. "And you just lost everything you worked hard for."
Martello said the fire destroyed the house, which would be demolished this morning. The Victorian-style house, which had been converted into 10 to 12 apartments, was built in 1896 and was owned by Mack Industries, of Tinley Park. Messages left at the company were not returned Monday.
Jennifer Fisher, chairwoman of the Chicago Heights Historic Preservation Advisory Committee, called the destruction of the house a tragedy .
"It was a beautiful, beautiful building," she said. "It's unfortunate, and it's sad for the neighborhood and the city itself to lose something so nice."
January 5, 2010
BY CASEY TONER
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