4 Hurt In Apartment Building Fire Near Criminal Courthouse
UPDATED 10/28/11 11:32 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Four people, including two children, were hurt Friday morning in a fire that broke out in an apartment building in the Little Village neighborhood, just a block from the Cook County Criminal Courthouse and Jail complex.
As CBS 2's Kris Habermehl reports, the four-story brick building on California Avenue near 25th Street was mostly vacant when the fire broke out. A still-and-box alarm was called shortly after 6 a.m. for the fire, officials said.
The fire was largely in the rear of the building, and was extinguished quickly. By 6:15 a.m., windows were boarded up, and a main house line was spraying water from the roof, along with three hand lines attacking the blaze on both the inside and outside.
Four people were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition for smoke inhalation, authorities said. Those hospitalized included a 33-year-old man, a 32-year-old woman, and two boys ages 11 and 2, police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez said.
Two dozen residents were displaced and the American Red Cross assisted them, according to an Ogden District police sergeant, who said officers were first on the scene after smelling smoke.
The officers assisted several residents by banging on doors and helping them out of their homes, which were engulfed in flames.
The fire was not suspicious and may have been caused by a stove, said the sergeant.
Employees heading to work at the County Jail or Courthouse, at 26th Street and California Avenue were delayed by the fire. California Avenue is already under construction in the area.
