1 critical, 8 seriously hurt after fire in Edgewater apartment building

CHICAGO (WGN) — Nine people were hospitalized Thursday after a fire at an apartment building in the city’s North Side Edgewater neighborhood.

Fire officials said one person was in critical condition following the extra-alarm fire on the fourth-floor of The Pines of Edgewater on the 5400 block of North Kenmore Avenue.

Eight others were in serious condition.

“The windows were all blown out in the back. There was smoke barreling out into the alley,” said Shelbye Schonken, who was working in an adjacent building when the fire started. “All of a sudden firefighters showed up from every direction.”

Approximately 125 firefighters responded to the eight-story building that houses a large number of senior citizens at about 12:45 p.m., officials said. The entire building was evacuated.

On Friday, Chicago Fire Department posted that the fire was caused by “unattended cooking” in a unit on the fourth floor. The person inside that unit was alerted to the fire by a smoke alarm

A woman who lived in the fourth floor unit was able to escape; arriving firefighters found her in a stairwell.

“When they got in the hallway, they were 75 feet away from the apartment. Thirty feet of the hallway was completely engulfed in flames,” 2nd District Chief Robert Jurewicz said. “All of the windows were blown out of the back of the building. They had to fight through 30 feet of fire just to get through the apartment.”

Jurewicz said the fire burned so hot it melted a fire extinguisher case. Another challenge was the proximity to nearby homes.

“As you can tell, it’s very challenging, we can only get one rig down the street at a time, it’s hard to set everything up, ladders had to be carried quite a distance to be out up, hose lines being let out, as you can see where everybody is at. All these companies did a fantastic job,” he said.

Three rescues were made via a ladder. More than a dozen others were assisted down a fire escape on the north side of the building. Firefighters also said they found a person on the roof who sought refuge there from the smoke and flames.

“This fire attack that these guys saved countless lives, really did. They did a great job,” Jurewicz said, adding that it took about an hour and 15 minutes to get the fire under control.

Jurewicz said the fourth-floor of the building is uninhabitable with extensive smoke and fire damage.

No firefighters were injured.