One person was killed and a firefighter was injured in a blaze at a home on Chicago's Far South Side early Wednesday.
The fire broke out around 3:30 a.m. in the 11800 block of South Perry Avenue in the West Pullman neighborhood, according to fire officials.
Authorities said a 79-year-old man who was trapped inside the building looked conscious when first responders pulled him out, but he was taken to an area hospital where he later died.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's office could not immediately confirm the fatality but family members identified him as Jimmy Shearrill.
"I’m mad. I’m sad. I want answers," close family friend and next door neighbor Denise Leverette said of his death, adding that Shearrill was always "making sure all the kids are doing the right thing. Sitting on the porch. He always says, 'Be smooth with your cool.'"
Relatives said he had difficulty walking after a hip replacement surgery.
Three other people were in the building at the time of the fire, according to Chicago Fire Department Deputy Dist. Chief Michael Carbone.
Local
One adult jumped out of the building and two people self-evacuated, he said.
Roughly 120 firefighters were called to the blaze, which left one firefighter injured, authorities said.
That firefighter fell through the first floor into the basement, according to Carbone. He walked on his own to the ambulance and was taken to an area hospital where he was treated and released, officials said.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
