A fire in a home in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood quickly spread to other nearby residences, challenging firefighters and sending residents fleeing for their lives.
Blessing Lee was home at the time of the fire, which broke out in a vacant home in the 6900 block of South Rockwell on Monday afternoon.
She described the fear she had for her life when the house next door caught fire, and she called 911 when she realized that the blaze was spreading.
“I saw it on the news, and I’m like ‘is that my house?’ But I’m like ‘no, it’s not,’ but then my friend called me and told me that my house was on fire,” she said.
Video from NBC’s Sky 5 helicopter showed the intensity of the flames, which shot upward through the roof of the structure. The fire soon spread to units on both sides of the home, including Denise Swift Jones’ residence.
She says that she made it out unharmed, as did her pets, but some of her most-precious belongings may not have.
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“I don’t wanna talk about it,” she said.
“Everything we have is in there,” Lawrence Jones added. “Everything we had was on that side. Our bedroom was on that side. The girls’ bedroom was on that side.”
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No cause of the fire has yet been determined, with the Red Cross aiming to help victims find lodging as the clean-up efforts begin.
