Seven Firefighters responding to a blaze on the city’s South Side in a residential area were hurt over the weekend but are likely to recover, authorities say.
No cause has been determined for the Roseland neighborhood fire that wounded first responders, Deputy Chief Daniel Torrise of Chicago’s Fire Department (CFD) District 5 told reporters on Saturday.
“This is what we do. We’re okay, we’re going to push forward,” Torrise said to the reporters. “We’re gonna regroup…”
At least seven firemen were sent to local hospitals after the incident and are expected to recover from non-life-threatening injuries.
When asked by reporters, Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said that four of her firemen had been blown away from the residence’s porch while three others were already inside. There were three people inside the house at the time, and they were all able to escape.
Firefighters suffered minor burns with orthopedic injuries, according to Chicago’s Fox 32 news, which cited Nance-Holt as confirming there were no functional smoke alarms inside the house.
Additionally, Torrise alerted the firemen on the site that the home had been evacuated by a resident. One of the fire fighters verified that there were no functional smoke alarms in the house where the fire broke out.
