2 hospitalized after fire ravages West Side Chicago apartment building
Two people were rushed to the hospital Saturday evening after a fire ripped through an apartment building on Chicago's West Side.
Officials said the call came in around 5 p.m. Saturday for the fire at 3054 W. Madison St., at Albany Avenue, in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.
Citizen app video showed flames and smoke shooting through the roof of the structure.
"The initial crews found fire on the third floor towards the rear of the building," said Chicago Fire Department District Chief Scott Shawaluk.
The Chicago Fire Department called a 2-11 alarm for additional equipment and manpower, and said more than 140 firefighters responded to the scene. An EMS Plan 1 was also called, automatically sending five ambulances.
"There were several residents inside the building — some of them were elderly — and we assisted them out of the building, some needed medical attention," said Shawaluk. "We transported two people to the hospital."
Officials said one person was transported to an area hospital in critical condition, the other in serious condition.
Jonathan Cobbin saw the fire before firefighters arrived.
"I was riding past on my scooter, and I saw the smoke coming out the top of the building, and I didn't see nobody evacuating," he said.
Cobbin said he acted quickly to alert people inside the building of the fire happening on its top portion.
"Someone in the building had buzzed me in. They buzzed me in," he said. "I ran through each floor, and banged on everybody's door, and told them the top floor is on fire, and everybody started evacuating."
A woman at the scene told CBS News Chicago that while she no longer lives in the building, it was her childhood home.
She said the building also holds significance in Chicago music history. The Grammy Award-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco grew up in the area, and the apartment building where the fire occurred is featured prominently in the music video for his song, "Kick Push," off his debut album.
Seeing fire having ravaged the building that is home to so many memories left the woman emotional.
"It's very sad," she said.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation hours later.
