2 women die after fire in west Chicago suburb of Northlake

Two women died early Monday after being rescued from a house that had been engulfed in flames in the west Chicago suburb of Northlake.

Northlake police said at 1:25 a.m., the Northlake Fire Protection District and several other fire agencies were called for a fire at the house at 74 West Dr. near Hillside Avenue.

After firefighters put out the fire, they found two women in the house, police said.

Susan Palos, 65, lived in the house. She was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

Maricarmen Wilkerson, 63, Palos' sister-in-law, was taken to Loyola Medicine Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, where she was also pronounced dead.

Neighbors said when the fire started, they woke up to first responders outside their home.

"We just heard, and somebody was knocking on the door, and the police told us, 'Please, you know, evacuate your house and the cars out of the driveway,'" said Vita Pedersen.

Vita Pedersen said numerous ambulances responded, and she saw someone being taken away on a stretcher.

"I've been praying," she said. "There's just been so many things that happened to this family."

Christopher Pedersen thought for a split second that his house was the one on fire.

"We were parked in my neighbor's driveway. It was full of smoke. You couldn't even see a foot in front of you if you were lucky. It was a scary situation," he said. "It's just heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking seeing them. We were all — it's a tight-knit community in Northlake, so it's not easy learning about what happened and that they were in the house."

No one else was home at the time of the fire.

In daylight Monday morning, the siding on the house was charred and the windows were blown out.

Officials on Monday morning were still working to find the cause of the fire.