Authorities said that at about 3:30 p.m. CDT, a relative of the townhouse residents called 911 to report three people in distress. Four sheriff’s officers who entered the residence had to leave after experiencing respiratory “difficulties,” officials said.
The officers were released from the hospital a few hours later, said Sophia Ansari, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman.
Richard Dobrowski, chief of North Maine Fire Protection District, said two people in the townhouse were dead, and a third was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
The woman who was hospitalized remained in critical condition as of about 8:30 p.m., Ansari said. Officials confirmed the two people who died were men, but their identities have not been released.
Authorities said they have evacuated the multiunit complex to which the townhouse is attached.
The complex is on Harrison Street near Potter Road in unincorporated Maine Township.
Authorities have not elaborated on the nature of the hazardous materials situation. Later Thursday evening, after ruling out certain, unspecified contaminants, responders were allowed back into the unit without full protective gear, though residents of the complex were still being kept out. Authorities said oxygen levels in the air appeared to be normal, and nothing unusual was detected in the water supply.
The location is about a block east of a state of Illinois building that houses the State Police and other agencies.
Kumar Bommagala, who lives three houses away from the hazardous materials incident, said he returned home from work to find his street blocked by emergency vehicles. He was not allowed into his home, he said.
“I’m a little scared about it,” Bommagala said, adding that he had just moved in about three weeks ago.
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(Johnson is a Pioneer Press reporter; Cullotta and Keilman are Chicago Tribune reporters.)
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©2015 Chicago Tribune
