15 injured in Des Plaines explosion and fire at condo building

Fifteen people were injured, three of them critically, in an explosion and fire in a condo building in Des Plaines, Illinois, overnight.

Firefighters responded to a report of an explosion and fire at a three-story building at 1279 Harding Ave just before 1 a.m. and found heavy flames and smoke.

Video from the scene shows firefighters on ladders working to control the flames as emergency responders on the ground treated residents. Fire officials said that multiple people were rescued from balconies.

"People were stuck on balconies, so they were able to raise ground ladder and rescue the people from balconies. We did have a large volume of fire so we had to surround the building and fight the fire defensively," said Des Plaines Fire Chief Matt Matzl.

Officials said a total of 15 people were injured in the fire. Eight people were taken to hospitals, three of them in critical condition, and seven were treated at the scene but declined to go to the hospital. The fire chief said five have now been stabilized at the hospital.

Of the eight people hospitalized, seven were adults and one was a child, the Des Plaines fire chief said. The three critical injuries were all adults; the remaining five whose conditions had been stabilized had either already been released as of 4:30 p.m. or would be released by the end of the day, the chief said. 

The fire was brought under control at about 5:30 a.m.

One neighbor told CBS News Chicago she heard a "very big explosion" followed by people yelling, "Help me!"

A woman named Michelle, who did not want to share her last name or have her face shown on television, said she was inside her condo when she heard the explosion. She thought her upstairs neighbor had dropped something heavy,

"Then I jumped up out of bed and the window was blown out. Then I went to look in the other room and there was a fire in the hallway. Then I went to the window to see what happened and the guy upstairs was screaming, I'm on fire, I'm on fire, I'm on fire," she said.

Neighbor Shawn Anderson immediately rushed to help, bringing her inside her home.

"The lady that I was helping in here, she didn't even cry yet. She kept saying, 'I haven't cried yet.' I said, oh but you will. You will. You just have to thank God that you're alive," she said.

Anderson now finds herself struggling with the memories of an electrical fire she dealt with 25 years ago.

"I don't even want to cry because I know what they're going through. It's a long haul," she said. "You know when it happened, it was my daughter and my granddaughter were home and I was at work when mine happened. So it was scary."

The City of Des Plaines said two residents reported smelling gas earlier Tuesday afternoon.

Officials said the building was deemed uninhabitable after the fire, leaving all tenants displaced. The American Red Cross was providing assistance to those left displaced.

The cause of the fire and explosion were under investigation on Wednesday afternoon by the Des Plaines Fire Department, Des Plaines Police Department, with assistance from Cook County, the Illinois fire marshal and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Nicor crews were also at the scene, investigating the cause along with law enforcement.

Nicor Gas released a statement about the incident, writing, "Nicor Gas responded to the 1200 block of Harding Avenue in Des Plaines this morning where we remain on scene and continue to assist local authorities with their investigation. The safety of our customers, our employees and the communities we serve is our highest priority."