A mother was killed and three others, including two children, were hurt in a fire at a home on Chicago’s Southwest Side early Friday morning.
Fire officials said the blaze broke out around 4:30 a.m. in the 2600 block of West Cullerton Street.
Three people were initially taken to area hospitals in critical condition, including an adult and two children, and a fourth person was listed in stable condition. Two of the injured were taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County and two others were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's office later confirmed that a 24-year-old woman died after the fire.
Fire officials said a family of four lived on the first floor of the home. A family of three lived on the second level of the home and escaped unhurt, according to authorities.
"I was half awake and I started smelling smoke and I got kind of scared so I looked out my window and it smelled stronger," said Joaquin Arellano, who lives on the second floor of the home. "I knocked on my niece’s bedroom for her to get out with her boyfriend and then I ran downstairs and that’s when I saw a flame coming out from one of the windows. So I started banging on the doors and the windows but the gentleman that lives there was already outside and he started asking me for help. The first thing I reacted was to get the water hose to water it down."
The fire is believed to have started near a bedroom on the first floor and took more than 20 minutes to put out. The cause of the fire was under investigation Friday morning.
