A “suspicious” fire left a man critically injured on Chicago's Southwest Side Thursday, officials said.
The fire was sparked around 4:30 a.m. at a home in the 3300 block of West Columbus Drive, fire officials said.
Fire officials initially said a man in his 70s was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition, but Chicago Fire Media Affairs spokesman Larry Langford later said a 50-year-old man suffered smoke inhalation and other injuries not related to the fire. The man was transferred to Loyola University Medical Center.
Lagford said a violent encounter happened before the blaze.
"The stove was not used in the way it was supposed to be used. It wasn't being used for cooking," Langford said.
The fire had been put out as of 5:45 a.m. but the cause of the blaze remained under investigation.
A woman claiming to be the niece of the wounded man says he was watching the home for her hospitalized mother at the time.
Local
Arson investigators were at the scene of the blaze and the fire appeared to be suspicious, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada.
