A 94-year-old man and his young grandchild were badly hurt in a fire on Chicago’s Far South Side Wednesday, and neighbors are hoping that both can make a full recovery after the devastating blaze.
“He’s a nice old man,” Lisa Hudson said of her 94-year-old neighbor. “He takes care of the kids, and just put his car together in the garage. I pray and hope the little boy and grandfather are alright.”
The man, along with a 2-year-old boy, were inside the home in the 700 block of East 91st Street just before 4:30 p.m. when a fire broke out in the home.
The young boy suffered serious burns and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, according to police. The man also suffered burns and was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
Fire officials say that both victims were rescued from the structure by firefighters. The child was brought to a nearby ambulance, where paramedics performed CPR.
Firefighters called extra alarms on the blaze after it was reported that numerous children lived in the structure and may still have been inside. It was learned later that everyone else who lived in the home was elsewhere at the time of the blaze.
“It’s kind of crazy that something like this happens to people you know,” neighbor Kendall Smith said.
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A total of ten residents were displaced because of the fire. Fire officials say that smoke detectors were working on the second floor of the residence, but it is unclear if fire detectors on the first floor were working at the time of the fire.
