Fire Kills 5-Year-Old Boy, Injures 5 Others
UPDATED 6:00 p.m. 11/27/10
CHICAGO (CBS) - A 5-year-old boy was killed and five other people were injured in a fire Friday night on the South Side.
Christand Densmore, 5, died after a fire at 6950 S. Wabash Ave., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. Saturday at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
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Police received a report of a fire in a 2 1/2 story brick building at that address at 11:29 p.m., police and fire officials said, citing preliminary information.
A still-and-box alarm and EMS Plan I -- which automatically calls five ambulances to the scene -- were called shortly after, Fire Media Affairs spokesman Joe Roccasalva said. Six people, including four children, were initially reported injured in the blaze that spread throughout the building, he said.
"I came out on the porch and had my cell phone. I saw smoke and flames coming from the back of the house," neighbor Tanya Sacks said. "I saw a guy standing on the porch, banging on the window, telling people the house was fire and 'you all need to get out, get out.'"
As CBS 2's Jim Williams reports, Densmore's uncle, Tommy Porter, said his mother was one of the people injured in the fire.
He said his mother, who has a heart condition, told the child to run for safety; but he refused to leave her side.
"He was a good baby, you know. I know he probably didn't want to leave his grandmother in there, because she told all the rest of them 'Run out, run out the front door,'" Porter said. "I know he wouldn't leave her. That's why he's deceased. He didn't want to leave his grandmother."
The other children did escape.
"It's blessing that anyone got out alive from the looks of it. It's really bad," Porter said.
A police Bomb and Arson detective said no accelerant was found and that arson has been ruled out as of Saturday morning. The fire seems to have been accidentally set, but its exact cause remains unknown, the detective said.
The residents of the two-story building lived on the first floor, and the second floor was vacant, police said.
The people injured included: one woman taken in critical condition to the University of Chicago Medical Center, a boy and a girl taken in critical condition to University of Chicago Comer's Children's Hospital, one boy taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and one woman and one girl taken to Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center, both in serious condition.
Among the injured was the boy's 70-year-old grandmother, as well as other grandchildren from the family, police said.
Unconfirmed dispatch reports indicate the blaze was extinguished about 12:20 a.m.
The police Bomb and Arson Unit is investigating.
(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)
