An on-duty Chicago firefighter performed CPR on his wife after rushing to a fire at his Far Northwest Side home Tuesday night that also seriously injured the couple’s three children, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
The 34-year-old mother and the three young children were pulled from bedrooms and hospitalized in critical condition with smoke inhalation, authorities said. The children are two girls, ages 2 and 7, and a 7-year-old boy.
The firefighter wasn’t working on the crew that responded to the home in the 2500 block of North Rutherford Avenue in the Montclare neighborhood at 9 p.m., but he was driven there by a department member, CFD spokesman Larry Langford said.
When he arrived, the father performed CPR on his wife, Langford said.
The cause of the fire remains unclear, but investigators know it began in the kitchen and spread through the home, Langford said.
Smoke detectors in the house were working, he added.
A board-up crew works on a Chicago firefighter’s home in 2500 block of North Rutherford Avenue Wednesday, less than 24 hours after a fire there injured his wife and three children. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
The day after the fire, contractors boarded up broken windows and a door on the home’s porch, where an empty stroller remained.
Neighbors walked past and told reporters about the quiet, working-class family that have lived in the home for several years.
“We’re praying for them,” Carlos Gomez said as walked his dog. He said he saw firefighters remove children from the home and perform CPR. “I hope they’re OK,” he said.
Justin Castrejon said he lives across the street and helped the family’s mother last fall after she locked her keys in her car.
“She was like, ‘Thank you so much,’” he said. “They were pretty quiet. I just feel bad.”
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) visited the victims’ home Wednesday morning. He said firefighters would canvass the block and pass out smoke alarms with 10-year battery spans.
“We’re praying the wife and children get well and recover quickly,” Villegas said.
Villegas said he met the family recently while canvassing for an election.
“They’re a blue-collar, working-class family. The family was just your typical Chicago family in the bungalow beltway. They keep to themselves,” Villegas said.
Neighbor Julisa Miranda said she was shocked by the fire.
“I’ve never seen so many firefighters,” she said. “After this, I thought, ‘Am I prepared?’ I’m not.”
A worker boards up windows at the home of a Chicago firefighter Wednesday afternoon after a blaze erupted there Tuesday night in the 2500 block of North Rutherford Avenue.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times