Fire in Deerfield, Illinois, apartment building sends 2 people to hospital

Multiple people were injured Saturday night after a fire broke out in an apartment building in the north Chicago suburb of Deerfield.

A total of 16 apartments were impacted by the fire at the building in the 1100 block of Deerfield Road.

The Deerfield Fire Department said the fire broke out around 7:30 p.m. Saturday. When firefighters arrived, a fully involved apartment fire was raging on the second floor, the fire department said. Firefighters were able to get the flames under control from outside before going in.

Two people were transported to area hospitals with unspecified injuries. Their conditions were not serious and were stabilized, the fire department said.

Two people were treated by paramedics at the scene for minor injuries, the fire department said.

Following the fire, windows at the apartment building were blown out and parts of the building were left black and charred from smoke.

Crews were spotted at the scene boarding up windows and securing some electrical lines. The affected units all lost power, according to the fire department.

Officials said the fire may have started in an elderly woman's apartment, and neighbors had to go door-to-door to get each other out.

"It sounds like the resident in the fire unit were attempting to escape her apartment when some of the Good Samaritan neighbors across the hall were able to help assist her out of the unit and out of the structure," said Deerfield Deputy Fire Chief Michael Montondo.

Montondo said the building is segmented off into four sections, and one of those sections was left uninhabitable.

ComEd and North Shore Gas were working on the other sections early Sunday, and were hoping to get the rest of the building back open to residents sooner rather than later.