Family Jumps From 2nd Floor To Escape Little Village Fire
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Several people had to jump from the second story of a Little Village two-flat, after a fire started inside, and flames blocked their only exit.
The fire started around 3:30 a.m. in the 2400 block of South Pulaski Road. Two boys were playing video games when they looked up, and saw flames in the ceiling. They woke up the rest of the family, but by then flames had spread and blocked their exit.
"We walked to the main exit, and we opened the door, and just the stairway was all on fire," Hugo Acevedo said.
The family had to break the burglar bars on their windows, and jump from the onto the garage roof to escape. One man cut his head as he jumped out.
One woman carried her 9-month-old son under her shirt to protect him.
"The windows have bars on them, so we weren't able to get out, and then we had to kind of just have to pull it out. We pulled the bars off of the wall, and then the window was stuck, so then they had to break it," Isabell Arellano said. "I hopped out. I handed the baby to my brother. I hopped out. I put a trash can towards there. They handed me the baby, and they all just started hopping out."
Firefighters rescued two other people from inside the building. A Chihuahua was also trapped and had to be rescued.
The Fire Department put out the flames about 10 minutes after arriving at the scene.
One person was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
Ten people, including three children, lost their homes.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.