Loved ones gathered in front of a Garfield Ridge home Sunday afternoon at a loss for words as investigators make a preliminary ruling on what caused a fire that killed an elderly woman inside.
“I come to church, I come home and watch and see the fire,” said neighbor Teresa Borawska. “Broken windows, broken upstairs and downstairs.”
One neighbor who lives right across the street said her heart breaks for the victim’s family.
“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “I don’t believe. I don’t believe.”
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The call came in just before 10 a.m. near Mulligan and Archer Avenues. Firefighters arrived to find smoke coming from the home and the woman, the sole occupant dead in her bedroom.
“I talked to her son, son is very shocked,” she said. “Because my gosh, she was beautiful.”
According to fire officials, the blaze may have started because of the "use of smoking materials in proximity to supplemental oxygen."
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The victim’s oldest son told NBC 5 Chicago off camera his mother had five grandchildren. Fire officials said he went through the back door trying to rescue her but was overcome by smoke. He was not seriously injured and refused medical treatment.
“Good family,” she said. “The son, the wife everyone is very nice.”
Investigators believe the fire started in the bedroom where the woman was found. Neighbors are left stunned over everything that happened on their block Sunday morning.
“I’m so surprised,” she said. “Very shocked.”
The victim has not been identified yet, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
