Oak Park fire forces dozens of people out of their apartment building
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Dozens of people in west suburban Oak Park need to find somewhere else to stay during this frigid Christmas weekend, after an early morning fire damaged 36 apartments.
It happened just before 12:30 a.m. at 227 South Boulevard. The Oak Park Fire Department said the fire began in a vacant business on the first floor and spread through the walls up to homes on the second and third floors.
Julian Jemison said he was keeping warm in his apartment when the fire started.
"I smelled a little bit of smoke. I didn't think too much of it. I saw the firefighters outside, so I was just like, maybe it's a microwave, you know, some burnt popcorn or something like that," Jemison said.
Unfortunately, it wasn't popcorn, and a total of 36 units were impacted by fire, smoke, and water damage.
"It looked like it wasn't going to stop, and I was kind of scared it was going to spread over the whole unit," Jemison said.
Oak Park police helped evacuate everyone.
Thousands of icicles were all that was left from the enormous amount of water that went into getting this three-alarm fire under control.
It took firefighters about two hours, but the impact on residents will last a whole lot longer.
Residents had two options: stay with friends and family this holiday weekend, or take some help from the American Red Cross.
"It's freezing out here. It's horrible," Jemison said.
Fortunately, Jemison has the option to stay with his parents. He was given the green light to go survey his apartment's damage early Friday afternoon. He said he's hoping his neighbors all have a safe spot to stay Friday night.
"Some of them don't have family around here," he said. "So I hope those people have some type of blessing."
No one who lives in the building was injured. One Oak Park firefighter was taken to Loyola University Medical Center, and has since been released and returned to duty.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
