By Cheryl V. Jackson and Kim Janssen
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — Two separate fires on the South Side claimed the lives of an elderly woman and a toddler boy Monday — and left the youngster’s great-grandmother fighting for her life, authorities said.
Doris Arnold, 71, was in critical condition Monday night at Chicago University Hospital, suffering from smoke inhalation after her second-floor apartment on the 7000 block of South Dorchester caught fire just before 2 p.m., authorities said.
The blaze, which claimed the life of her 3-year-old great-grandson, Deavion Arnold, may have started when the woman fell asleep while cooking, the building’s manager Laura Young said, though fire investigators were still probing the cause Monday evening.
Convenience store worker James Stewart, 56, saw the blaze from Rico’s Quick Mart at the intersection of Dorchester and 70th Street. As his boss dialed 911, Stewart and two co-workers ran into the burning building and tried to kick in Arnold’s door.
“It must have been deadbolted because we just couldn’t get that last door open,” Stewart said. “When we came downstairs we saw the little boy banging on the second-floor window — we tried but we just couldn’t save him.”
In another blaze, Mattie Fletcher, 72, was killed at her home on the 5700 block of South Damen, officials said.
On South Dorchester, Deavion and his great-grandmother adored each other, their family said.
“She’d wake up in the morning focused on him. He’d wake up looking for her,” said Irene Reed, Arnold’s oldest daughter. “That was their whole thing. He kept her going. He kept her motivated.”
Deavion was the third oldest of four sons, said his mother, Sierra Arnold. All lived with their great-grandmother, but the two victims were alone in the apartment Monday afternoon. The youngest brother, Darryl Moten Jr., 1, was with a relative around the corner. His two older brothers, Joseph Kelly, 7, and Kyren Arnold, 9, were attending school across the street.
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