By Quinn Ford
The Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — Two firefighters were taken to area hospitals during a two-alarm blaze that broke out early Wednesday morning in the South Loop.
Just before 3 a.m., firefighters were called to a restaurant near the corner of South State Street and Cermak Road.
Emergency crews elevated their response to a 2-11 alarm about 3:30 a.m. One firefighter twisted his ankle after slipping on ice at the scene, said Chicago Fire Chief Joe Roccasalva. The firefighter was taken to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in good condition, Roccasalva said.
A second firefighter injured his back when he also slipped on ice while fighting the blaze. The second firefighter was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and was also listed in good condition, Roccasalva said.
As of 5 a.m., firefighters remained on the scene battling the blaze which heavily damaged the four businesses that stood on the northeast corner of the intersection. Fire officials could not immediately say where the fire began, but the fire spread to all four buildings, which included three restaurants and a mobile phone store.
Onlookers stood across the street to watch as firefighters worked. Just before 5 a.m., the roofs of the buildings, which are all connected, had partially collapsed. Heavy smoke billowed from the buildings and drifted across the Green Line elevated tracks, which run just east of the affected buildings.
Green Line service was temporarily suspended between the 35th Street and Roosevelt stations due to the fire, according to a CTA alert. CTA buses were also being rerouted around the scene of the fire.
Latisha Huff, 24, stood on the corner watching the fire early Wednesday. Huff, who lives just around the corner from Cermak Road and State Street, said she was woken up by the smell of smoke.
“And I heard the ambulances and the fire trucks, and my whole window was covered in black,” Huff said.
Johnetta Battle, Huff’s neighbor, said she left her building as soon as Huff called her and told her it was a fire. Battle, 59, said she couldn’t tell where the blaze was coming from with all the smoke.
“I thought it was our building,” Battle said.
The affected buildings were Dragon Fire, Jamaica Jerk Villa, Shark’s Fish and Chicken and Mobile Central, a cell phone store.
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