Hundreds displaced after apartment fire in Oakbrook Terrace
OAK BROOK TERRACE, Ill. (CBS) – Hundreds of people have been forced from their homes after a major fire at an apartment complex in west suburban Oakbrook Terrace. Now fire officials are calling the preliminary cause an act of God.
What sounded like a bomb came from the heavens above.
"The loudest boom ever," said one resident. "I thought maybe a bomb went off, literally in my apartment."
"We were sleeping, and we heard the thunderstorms, lightning strike, right above us," said Sama Sultana.
Firefighters are pretty sure the lightning caused the flames that spread across a section of the Arden of Oakbrook apartment complex.
"We woke up and the whole building was shaking," Sultana said. "We went up to see, and we saw fire. And we just grabbed whatever we could and we left."
"The fire wrapped around the whole soffit area," said Kenneth Kovarik, the fire marshal with York Center, which is one of more than a dozen departments that responded to the extra alarm call. "So the roof collapsed."
Debris and water filled the apartments from the fourth to the first floors.
"Our concern along with the building department is whether the balconies are structurally sound right now. So there's a possibility of them collapsing down onto the walkway," Kovarik said.
Building three took the biggest hit with 70 units ruined. Another 70 units in buildings two and four suffered water damage.
"Basically we lost everything: the whole thing, the whole apartment, furniture, my computers, electronics items, everything," said Mohammed Chowel.
But as one grateful mother noted, her daughter's life, and others, were spared.
"I'm so sad. I'm so sad," she said. "But they're safe. Mostly they are safe."
One woman who lives in the building says another woman started yelling out that there was a fire, and that got her family out of bed.
"We are thankful to the woman who screamed fire. She came out her balcony and screamed fire. And if she didn't do that, we all probably would just be like, still sleep. Because if I laid back down, I heard the thunder. It's still, I was shaken but I was like ah go back to sleep, but when she screamed fire, it was go time," said Chinitha Johnson.
No one was injured, but nearly 500 residents from the destroyed or water damaged buildings were displaced. Hundreds more in towers untouched were evacuated as a precaution.
"We're determined that the building will be safe before we allow people back in," said Farhane Nazli. "That's what we need to accomplish, and that's why we're walking through checking everything out."
Despite the massive damage to the building, firefighters say to remember one thing: the safety system worked, the sprinklers went off, the alarms sounded, and everybody got out alive.
The owner of the Oakbrook Terrace complex has agreed to move the displaced residents to other properties in Warrenville.
