3 killed after apartment fire erupts on West Side overnight

CHICAGO (WGN) — An apartment building fire erupted on the city’s West Side, leaving three people dead early Thursday morning.

Chicago fire officials said the blaze broke out at an apartment building in the 5200 block of West North Avenue in the Austin neighborhood just before 2 a.m.

According to the Chicago Police Department, three victims died in the fire: a 5-year-old boy, 32-year-old woman and a 76-year-old man. Police said a 4-year-old boy was also injured and taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition

On Thursday night, Chicago police reported that three people were killed and one person was injured in the blaze, but fire officials say three people were injured in the blaze and one of the building’s residents was still unaccounted for as of Friday morning.

When crews arrived on the scene, they found the building engulfed in flames.

Officials later confirmed that those who were pulled from the burning building later died.

One resident who escaped the blaze said it felt like madness after he got out of the building.

“We could have easily not made it,” said the resident, Scott Sangster.

Sangster and his friend live on the building’s third floor and were right next door to the unit where the blaze broke out.

After noticing the fire, Sangster said he woke up his friend and neighbor so they could escape.

“As we come downstairs and think we escaped the bulk of it. Come down, I see nothing but madness happening all over here on the front of the street. I see people hanging out of the windows, I see a lady holding her baby down here,” Sangster said.

After the sun rose Thursday morning, crews could be spotted removing pieces of the roof from the badly damaged building. The goal was to search the building one more time after sunrise as one person was still unaccounted for.

It remains unclear what sparked the blaze, but witnesses told WGN-TV that they heard yelling and loud noises before the fire broke out.

“I hear, like six, seven, gunshots and pay no attention, because you hear that all the time over here. But something, five seconds later, I hear the ambulance,” neighbor Victor Delfi said.

Authorities have not identified any of the victims, and an investigation into the blaze is currently underway.