Dec. 17--As firefighter Benjamin Villa and his colleagues searched a burning Near West Side apartment building on Sunday, they heard and saw a woman shouting in a smoke-filled hallway on the seventh floor.
A woman who was unable to pull her 3-year-old grandson out of her apartment after it caught fire was also injured when she followed rescuing firefighters back into the apartment as they saved the boy this afternoon, officials said.
The woman told Villa her grandson was inside one of the units. Moments later, Villa found the three-year-old whimpering and lying on a bedroom floor, near where a small fire started in a closet.
"I just held him in my arms and ran all the way the down" the stairs, said Villa, 40. "I was running for his life."
The boy was taken in critical condition to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, but he is expected to recover, authorities said. A 42-year-old woman, the boy's grandmother, was taken to the same hospital in serious condition, said Fire Department spokeswoman Meg Ahlheim.
Firefighters received a call about a small fire around 1:30 p.m. in a seven-story brick building on the 2300 block of West Van Buren Street, Deputy District Chief Don Hroma said.
They soon discovered the blaze began in a bedroom closet of an apartment on the seventh floor, where the boy was found. The fire was contained to that unit, and an investigation into the cause is underway. Fire officials could not say if it appeared suspicious or accidental.
Hroma said there are smoke detectors in the hallways of the building, but not inside the apartment unit where the fire broke out.
As several ambulances and fire trucks swarmed the area, dozens of residents stood scattered outside, some clad in winter coats and scarves. Children played with each other, while others huddled in groups and chatted, eagerly waiting to return to their homes.
Nearby, Villa recalled the rescue as other firefighters shook his hand.
The grandmother ran into the apartment after firefighters, but collapsed and was carried out, he said. Meanwhile, Villa grabbed the boy's limp body and tried comforting him as he ran down seven flights of stairs.
"I was just praying for the kid," Villa said. "I was telling him to hold on, hold on."
A few days ago, firefighters also battled a blaze at a different building of the same complex, though Hroma did not have immediate details.f
Tribune reporters Rosemary Regina Sobol and Liam Ford contributed.
Copyright 2012 - Chicago Tribune
