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Father, 2 sons were killed in apartment building fire in Chicago's West Ridge neighborhood, family says

A woman remained in critical condition after a fire left her husband and two sons dead in Chicago's West Ridge neighborhood last week, according to family.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office as of Tuesday had not released the identity of the three people who died in the fire on Thursday of last week at an apartment complex at 7016-7018 N. Rockwell St. in West Ridge, or West Rogers Park.

But the GoFundMe identified the family who suffered the losses as the Escamilla family, and reported that two brothers, 7-year-old Danny and 8-year-old Sebastian, died in the fire along with their father.

They were trapped in the apartment on the upper floors, and the roof collapsed before firefighters could reach them, family said.

The children's mother jumped from the third floor of the building with her 1-year-old baby in her arms, and was left in critical condition. Family said in the GoFundMe that she has been requiring constant surgeries back-to-back.

The baby also suffered minor injuries, including lung damage due to heavy smoke, family said.

A daughter escaped before the fire worsened, the GoFundMe said.

The Fire Department said the 2-11 alarm blaze, which broke out at 1:50 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 9. The building where the fire broke out is located right across the street from the tennis courts at Indian Boundary Park.

A resident told CBS News Chicago she used a ladder to escape the fire. She said the flames and smoke delayed the rescue.

Another resident said he had to improvise to get his family to safety. Simon Besong, who lived in the building with his wife and children, said he opened the door and saw flames in the hallway. There was only one way out, the window, so he tied a bedsheet to the window for his whole family to get down to safety.

A Chicago Buildings Department spokesperson said the fire caused significant damage to the apartment building, including a partially collapsed roof, leaving several apartments uninhabitable.

A cause for the fire has not been specified.

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