Boy, 7, dies after blaze at Chicago firefighter’s home; mom and two siblings critical

The firefighter's wife and 3 young children suffered smoke inhalation

By Deanese Williams-Harris, Rosemary Sobol
Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — A little boy has died Wednesday, a day after he and his mother and two young siblings were injured during a fire that broke out at a firefighter’s home in the Montclare neighborhood, Chicago police said.

The child, a boy about 7, was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. Wednesday at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, officials said.

A stuffed bear is at the door of a fire-damaged home in Chicago, where a woman and three children suffered smoke inhalation during a fire on the night before. (Photo/Antonio Perez/Tribune News Service)

He was identified Thursday morning as Ezra Stewart of the 2500 block of North Rutherford Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Chicago police and firefighters responded to a fire shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday in the 2500 block of North Rutherford Avenue where a 34-year-old woman and three children — a 2-year-old girl, a 7-year-old girl and the 7-year-old boy — suffered smoke inhalation.

Police said the accidental fire began in a kitchen and the victims, a mother and her children, were taken to various hospitals in critical condition.

Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt confirmed that the fire happened at a firefighter’s home.