2 Neighbors Rescue Man from Burning Apartment

“I grabbed him by the wrist and felt something wet,” said one man. “It was his skin.”

Two men rescued a man burning alive in his North Side apartment.

A fire broke out before 3 a.m. Monday in a four-story apartment building in the 4700 block of North Virginia Avenue, said fire officials.
 
One of two Good Samaritans, Nick Salazar, described the mayhem to the Chicago Tribune.
 
Salazar smelled smoke and heard banging at his door, and it turned out to be one of his neighbors. The men headed to another first-floor apartment where they broke down the door and pulled a 45-year-old man to safety.
 
“I grabbed him by the wrist and felt something wet,” said Salazar. “It was his skin.”
 
Fire officials said the victim suffered burns to 75 percent of his body. He was taken to Swedish Covenant Hospital in serious-to-critical condition then transferred to Loyola University Medical Center where the Maywood facility houses a burn unit.
 
The Chicago Red Cross said it’s offering help to residents.
 
The cause of the fire is still unclear.
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