Chicago firefighters handed out smoke detectors in the neighborhood that recently saw a fatal fire. | Twitter/Chicago Fire Media
Chicago firefighters handed out smoke detectors in the neighborhood that recently saw a fatal fire. | Twitter/Chicago Fire Media
A fire at an apartment building on North Marmora Avenue in the early morning hours of Dec. 16 has killed one person and critically injured three others, including a Chicago firefighter.
In response to the tragedy, Chicago firefighters went door-to-door in the neighborhood to make sure other residents were protected with a working smoke detector, which have been proven to save lives since seconds may matter in a fire emergency.
The fire broke out in the basement of a two-story apartment building just after 2 a.m. The residential building is next to St. Ferdinand Church on the city's northwest side. According to ABC 7 Chicago, the three civilians who were seriously burned and taken by ambulance to Loyola University Medical Center have only been identified as two men and a woman, one of whom died at the hospital.
The firefighter who was hurt had to be intubated because his throat had serious burns. CBS Chicago reported he was in critical condition and just celebrated his one year anniversary with the Chicago Fire Department.
It took less than an hour and a half do firefighters to extinguish the flames; now fire investigators are now trying to pinpoint how the it started.
The National Fire Protection Association reported that between 2015 and 2019, there were more than 346,000 house fires each year on average. Those fires caused 2,620 civilian deaths and $7.3 billion in property damages per year. According to their data, smoking was the number one cause of home fire deaths while cooking was the top reason for home fires in general.
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