Four people were rescued after being trapped in a fire in Cicero that displaced more than a dozen people late Tuesday, authorities say.
The blaze began at around 10 p.m. in an apartment building near 16th Street and 51st Court, according to fire officials.
One resident named George said he heard an explosion before the fire began, saying "the explosion came in the building."
It started on the third floor, officials said, with firefighters arriving to find panicked residents who alerted them that people were trapped upstairs.
Firefighters rescued two women and two children, ages six and eight, from the building. They suffered from smoke inhalation but were otherwise uninjured, but taken to area hospitals as a precaution, authorities said.
The fire left several people scrambling for a place to live amid cold winter weather in the early hours on Wednesday.
"There’s probably gonna be about 15 people displaced," Cicero Fire Chief Dominick Buscemi said. "We’ve got Red Ccross coming now to help them out in this inclement weather."
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The cause of the fire was not immediately clear as authorities continue to investigate.
