A man is dead and more than 30 people have been displaced after a rapid string of garage fires set overnight on the city’s South Side, police said.
Seven suspicious fires were started within an hour of one another, according to police, and all in the same area of the city’s Heart of Chicago neighborhood.
Garbage cans were reported to have been set on fire first, with the fires quickly spreading to garages, fire officials said.
One of the fires, in the 2200 block of South Blue Island, left 32 people without a home after spreading to two apartment buildings.
Possibly as many as 7 garage fires deliberately set at the same time overnight. One spread to 2 homes. pic.twitter.com/1ClZsM2mOX
— ReginaWaldroupNBC5 (@ReginaWaldroup) September 16, 2016
Blocks away, firefighters pulled an unidentified man out of a blazing garage set at a home in the 2100 block of West 21st Street. He was pronounced dead the scene, police said.
The police Bomb and Arson Unit were investigating the scenes. Many of the garages only suffered minor damage, police said.
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Officials said they hope surveillance video from cameras set up in many of the areas will aid in the ongoing investigation.
