Feb. 05--One firefighter was injured at an extra-alarm blaze in an abandoned factory in the Back of the Yards neighborhood that was being brought under control this evening.
The fire started in the abandoned L-shaped building west of 48th Street and Halsted Avenue about 5:45 p.m. The firefighter was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for treatment, where he was alert and comfortable this evening, according to the Fire Department.
The factory building is of concrete construction, so was not as difficult to contain the fire as the recent extra-alarm fire in Bridgeport.
About a dozen fire department vehicles were stationed around the vacant warehouse Monday evening as others blocked off Halsted between 47th and 49th streets.
Firefighters called to the scene were confronted with volumes of "thick black smoke" streaming out of the warehouse's windows, said deputy fire comissioner John McNicholas.
The fire appeared to be contained to the first floor, he said.
"It was a content fire meaning there was a lot of rubbish in the building," McNicholas said.
"It looks like they made floats here," he added.
Michael Sparr, 49, who has lived in the are his whole life, said he first noticed fire trucks whizzing by around 6 p.m.
"The last time we saw this many trucks the one on Ashland was on fire," he said. "I knew something was going on."
Sparr said he thinks the building has been vacant for at least 20 years.
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