Chicago Firefighters Hospitalized after Two-Story Fall

Two Chicago firefighters have been hospitalized after falling down two stories, through a hole in the third floor of an apartment building near the intersection of West Monroe Street and South Albany Avenue, officials said.

“It was just a routine fire for them,” First Deputy Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said outside Stroger Hospital, where both firefighters were recovering Sunday night. “It was clear… Next thing you know, went through a hole. We are still investigating that to find out exactly what that was but thank God, they are OK.”

The fire Sunday evening had started out with a still alarm, spread to a neighboring 1 1/2-story building, and was elevated to a still-and-box alarm around 8:15 p.m., Nance-Holt said. A Mayday call for trapped or injured firefighters blared across police scanners after the two firefighters fell “all the way down” to the first floor around 8:45 p.m. Saturday, she said. One of the firefighters got out on his own, while colleagues helped the other to an ambulance, she said.

More than 100 firefighters and medics went to the scene. Fire investigators were still there as she talked to reporters.

It appears the building did not have any working smoke detectors, Nance-Hold said. No one seemed to be living on the second or third floors of the building, though there were people staying on the first floor, she said.

The firefighters, who were listed in “red,” or serious-to-critical condition, when they were transported, are both alert and talking, though resting and likely to be kept for observation, officials said.

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