1 Killed, 3 Hurt In Northwest Side Fire
UPDATED 02/23/11 5:03 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Good Samaritan ran into a burning building in the Kelvyn Park neighborhood on Wednesday and saved two women from the flames. One other woman was injured and a man in the family was killed in the blaze.
The fire broke out at 4:30 a.m., in a home at 3118 N. Kilbourn Ave. Ken Brown was riding his bike nearby at the time and he rushed into the house to help those he could.
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"I wanted to save them," Brown said. "I didn't want them to die."
It was just before dawn when smoke and fire consumed a Northwest Side bungalow, eventually taking the life of a man inside.
"I went over to the house and in the door I could hear ladies yelling," Brown said.
As CBS 2's Vince Gerasole reports, authorities said that more people in the family would most likely have died if Brown wasn't riding by on his bike.
"I went in and I pulled them out two of them and there was smoke. They were suffocating," Brown said.
As he called 911, Brown learned from the women he'd saved that others were in trouble.
"They were saying there were two other people in there. I tried to go in to get them, (but) there was just too much smoke and I couldn't go further," Brown said.
Rescued and in fair condition were 93-year-old Consuelo Lozoyo and her 66-year-old-daughter Corinna Santana.
Lozoyo's 57-year-old daughter Angela suffered serious injuries and her 60-year-old son Rudy died in the blaze, while trying to save Angela.
"My brother just passed trying to do whatever he could," Rudy's brother Cipriano Lozoyo said.
Cipriano Lozoyo said his brother Rudy was trying to rescue their sister Angela upstairs when he was overcome by the fire. As the family gathered up their belongings on Wednesday, they said they were thankful for Brown's help.
"When I meet him all I can do is thank him and never forget him," Cipriano Lozoyo said.
Brown is a Chicago actor featured on Discover Card commercials. He was reluctant to mention that, saying he was thankful he could help, but wishing he could have done more.
"I feel horrible about the fact that they're not -- that I couldn;t get them," Brown said.
All of the survivors remained hospitalized Wednesday night.
Family members said Angela's injuries could possibly be life threatening. When things calm down, they plan on meeting with Ken Brown, to thank him in person for risking his own life to save others.
Fire Department spokesman Quention Curtis said two dogs also perished in the fire, which is under investigation by the Office of Fire Investigation. The fire was put out shortly after 5 a.m.
The American Red Cross was at the scene providing assistance to victims of the house fire, according to the agency's Twitter feed.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
