Woman rescued from 7th floor when smoky fire erupts in Bronzeville building: CFD

Sun-Times file

Five adults were taken to hospitals including a woman who was rescued from a 7^th floor window after an extra-alarm fire broke out in a Bronzeville neighborhood residential building Monday morning.

The fire, which began in a 7^th floor apartment of the 10-story building at 3515 S. Cottage Grove Ave., was extinguished about 8:15 a.m. after multiple rigs and firefighters responded there about 7 a.m., according to the fire department.

One resident waited by her window while firefighters climbed up a ladder and used a “basket” to bring her to safety. “Heavy smoke conditions” prevented her from making it into the hall and down the stairs, said fire department spokesman Larry Langford. That woman, whose apartment was on the opposite side of the building from where the fire started, was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Four others, all adults, were “all okay” and taken to hospitals with injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening, said Langford. None were burned, and all injuries were “smoke-related,” he added.

The cause of the accidental fire, which was contained to one apartment, is possibly “careless use of smoking materials,” said Langford.

The alarm was elevated because they needed additional firefighters to search the entire building, and also because it was very windy, said Langford.

Blustery conditions are dangerous because the fire can be “intensified by the wind,” Langford said.

Several warming buses are outside the building as firefighters work with the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. They are trying to make sure the fire didn’t cause problems with the heating system in the building, said Langford.

Check back for details.