5-year-old girl dies, man hospitalized after apartment fire on Chicago's South Side
CHICAGO (CBS) – A 5-year-old girl died Tuesday morning after a fire broke out in her Englewood apartment home.
As CBS 2's Sabrina Franza reported, kids usually wake up and play with the toys they've received from Santa on Dec. 26. But this day after Christmas, the little girl's family woke up to tragedy at their apartment in the 500 block of West Marquette Road – as her body was taken away by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
Hours later, stuffed animals covered the mailbox for the unit where the 5-year-old girl lived.
We were told the little girl lived her whole life in the second-floor apartment.
Around 7:15 a.m., an ambulance crew was returning from a run when they saw smoke inside this multi-unit apartment building on Marquette Road near Normal Avenue, CBS 2's Marissa Perlman reported.
Fire crews were told that a 5-year-old girl was inside the unit on fire. Once they were able to get inside, they found the little girl in a bunk bed. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
We spoke with the owner of the building, who told us the little girl lived with her mom and dad and two other siblings. One of the siblings was 6 years old, the other an infant.
The owner told us the girl's father tried to save her, but it was too late. The girl's father was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"it's rough on the family, of course, and even the guys that responded," said CFD Deputy Fire Commissioner for Operations Marc Ferman, "just looking in their eyes coming out, knowing that they couldn't get there in time."
Community leaders and neighbors also stopped by to see if they could help.
"We are we are a close-knit group, and we lend our support. We care about this community. We're vested in this community," said community activist Darryl Smith, of the Englewood Political Task Force, "and anything the family needs. We'll be over here to reach out to the family, and exchange numbers, and try to help them through this difficult time."
"Losing a kid and losing everything that you've worked hard for - I know it can be painful," said community activist Charles McKenzie of Englewood First Responders. "I know it can."
Both firefighters and community activists were strongly affected by the heartbreaking fire and its circumstances.
"We've got a lot of guys who have children at home, you know, thinking about just this spending Christmas with your family - and then show up to work this morning, and you just," said Ferman, "you know - knowing that the families just lost a child is just kind of rough."
"Day after Christmas, a tragic event. You know, children are supposed to wake up and play with their toys the day after Christmas, and now, this family has to deal with this," said Smith, "so I couldn't start to, you know, picture how they feel right now."
Four families were displaced by the fire. The American Red Cross was at the scene late Tuesday afternoon as those families tried to find a temporary place to stay.
The preliminary cause of the fire was careless use of smoking materials.
Fire investigators are looking into the possibility that one of the children was playing with a lighter.