Chicago Fire Kills 1, Injures 2

March 19, 2007
A 66-year-old man was killed while the two others remain hospitalized.

A fire overnight in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood left one man dead and two others injured, authorities said.

The fire broke out just after 10 p.m. in the 7000 block of South Racine Avenue.

A 66-year-old man was killed while the two others remain hospitalized -- one in critical condition and the other in stable condition, NBC5's Lauren Jiggetts reported.

When firefighters arrived at the two-story, brick home, they found large flames in the first floor windows.

Neighbors said there are two apartments in the building. A couple on the bottom floor escaped uninjured.

Witnesses described seeing firefighters rescue one of them with a ladder despite an extreme volume of smoke on the upper floor.

District Fire Chief Gregory Lewis said the crews made an aggressive attack on the fire, and one of the people inside was indeed rescued with a ladder.

"We got water on the fire immediately. At that time we were able to locate two victims on the first floor and remove them," Lewis said.

The injured were taken to University of Chicago and Saint Bernard hospitals.

There were smoke detectors inside the home, but fire investigators were trying to determine if they were working. They planned to come back to the area Sunday morning and canvass the area, handing out free smoke detectors and fire safety pamphlets to any neighbors who need them.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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