Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — An extra-alarm fire blazed through three apartment buildings Monday evening, sending smoke through the Lakeview neighborhood on the North Side.
The fire broke out shortly after 5 p.m. on the 3300 block of North Marshfield Avenue, according to Chicago Fire Department officials. Three buildings were involved and two others were exposed to the fire, according to officials.
One firefighter went to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition with a burn to the arm. No other injuries were reported.
The fire was struck out at 6:06 p.m. The main blaze was in a 2 1/2-story building. No one was injured, according to officials.
CHICAGO (WLS) -- LAKEVIEW APARTMENT BUILDING DESTROYED BY FIRE, 6 OTHERS DAMAGED. More @ https://t.co/oly6YlFNeq pic.twitter.com/BI69LrMDPL
— Emmylite (@Emmylite) May 17, 2016
Fire officials said 12 apartment units were affected by the fire and 30 people were displaced from their homes.
Fire trucks surrounded the block and adjacent streets, and numerous bystanders stood close to witness the damage. Some had come to use the YMCA gym across the street from the apartments, which was blocked off by police tape.
John Stavropoulos, 29, stared at his gutted third-floor apartment from behind the tape.
Stavropoulos, who rents the unit with his brother, said he was sitting in the front room when he saw flames coming from the back of the apartment. He said they had come from the neighboring apartment building.
UPDATE: Lakeview apartment fire that spread to 2 other buildings has been struck out...https://t.co/3E4pyAsFKm pic.twitter.com/3nprzaLLaB
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) May 16, 2016
“I ran to the back, the flames were pushing on the kitchen windows,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do. I ran in circles thinking of what to grab.”
Stavropoulos said his brother wasn’t in the apartment when the fire broke out. He grabbed some money and knocked on the doors of the building’s other units to get his neighbors out safely. He said he heard his oven explode on the way out.
“The whole thing was just engulfed,” he said.
Stavropoulos’ unit, as well as the neighboring building where he said the fire had started, were visibly charred and blackened from the outside. The resident said he lost all his clothes and valuables.
At the scene, Red Cross workers handed out snacks to fire victims, and a man led a young girl through the crowd, offering cups of juice.
A woman stood by the police tape anxiously and asked a firefighter how to contact someone who lives in the apartments.
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