March 24--Chicago Police Bomb and Arson and Fire Department investigators are trying to determine the cause of an extra-alarm fire Friday night in a boarded-up building on the Northwest Side that left two people dead and two firefighters injured, officials said.
The fire was reported at about 8:15 p.m. in a boarded-up apartment building on the 2400 block of North Marmora Avenue and was raised about 10 minutes later to a 2-11 alarm to bring more manpower and equipment to the fire, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Chief Kevin MacGregor.
The two dead, a man and a woman, remained unidentified this afternoon, and the Cook County medical examiner's office did not rule on a cause of death for the two, pending police and Fire Department investigation, according to an office spokesman. Police had not determined the fire's cause this afternoon, a police spokesman said.
Officials also called for an Emergency Medical Service Plan 1 which called for additional ambulances to the scene as a precaution, said MacGregor.
When crews responded to the block they found the building at 2414 N. Marmora, a 2-1/2 story frame building, fully engulfed in flames, with smoke billowing out of it, said MacGregor.
Police and neighbors told fire officials the building has been boarded up for several years but squatters have been going into the building, said MacGregor.
The fire was reaching a second building, a 2-story brick building to the north which was occupied, but firefighters were able to keep it from extending it to the second building, said MacGregor.
After the fire was put under control firefighters found two adults of undetermined gender on the second floor who were pronounced dead at the scene, MacGregor said.
He said about 90 people, including paramedics and firefighters, had responded to the scene.
In addition to the fatalities, two firefighters suffered non-life-threatening injuries to their legs and were taken from the scene to Our Lady of Resurrection Hospital, said MacGregor.
The 2-11 alarm was struck out a little after 9 p.m.
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