A fire at a Rolling Meadows apartment complex Wednesday night may have been sparked by a resident who lit a cigarette next to his oxygen tank, according to newly released 911 tapes. NBC Chicago’s Regina Waldroup reports.
A fire at a Rolling Meadows apartment complex Wednesday night may have been sparked by a resident who lit a cigarette next to his oxygen tank, according to newly released 911 tapes.
The resident who may have sparked the fire was the same one who jumped to his death from the building's third-story balcony.
Firefighters spent hours battling the extra-alarm fire in a residential three-story building about 30 miles northwest of Chicago that left one person dead and three families without a home.
Emergency responders received a call from a woman inside a unit of the building reporting the fire at 5201 Carriageway Dr. at about 8:30 p.m., according to police.
“Please hurry! Please hurry!” The caller can be heard screaming on her call to 911. “It’s already getting up the walls!”
When the dispatcher asked the woman what had happened, she replied, “I don’t know! I think he had a cigarette with the oxygen tank," referring to her husband she shared the unit with.
The woman can be heard in distress as she tries to get her husband, who she believed to have started the fire, out of the apartment unit as the flames began to engulf the furniture and spread throughout the entire residential complex.
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Her husband then moved onto the third-floor balcony and despite her urging to come to safety, jumped to his death while she traveled down to the building's first floor and outside to wait for firefighters.
Rolling Meadows Fire Chief Scott Franzgrote confirmed one fatality of a man who tried to jump from a third-story balcony to save his own life. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The third floor was the highest and last floor that was able to be evacuated. No other injuries were reported.
Red Cross spokesperson Jerry Holmes said they are working to help the three surviving families find housing, food, and clothing.
