Firefighter Hospitalized After Bridgeport Porch Fire
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago firefighter-officer was hospitalized while fighting a fire Saturday morning in the Bridgeport neighborhood.
WBBM's Mike Krauser reports he was fighting a porch fire on the 500 block of West 31st Street when he didn't look right and his vital signs were off.
When they work in hot weather conditions, firefighters are cycled in and out to avoid heat exhaustion in their heavy bunker gear.
In this case, Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago said, the firefighter-officer in his mid-fifties, was being checked out after taking a turn at fighting the fire and it was decided he needed to be checked out.
The commissioner, speaking outside the emergency room at Stroger Hospital, said he resisted going to the hospital, but they wanted to be sure he was ok.
He was initially in serious condition when he was taken to Mercy Hospital.
He was stabilized and taken to Stroger for further treatment and was expected to be ok.