Copyright 2006 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
By JANET RAUSA FULLER
The Chicago Sun-Times
People typically stop at a coffeehouse or newsstand on their way to work.
On Sunday, firefighter Kevin Wirtz stopped to rescue people from a burning building.
Wirtz had just exited the Eisenhower Expy. at California en route to the Engine 44 firehouse at 412 N. Kedzie around 6:45 a.m. when billows of black smoke in the distance caught his eye.
Without hesitation, he started driving toward the smoke, figuring he could help out firefighters who he assumed already were on the scene.
But when he got to the three-story apartment building at 38 N. Albany, he saw two men standing on the sidewalk looking up at the burning structure and people leaning out of windows on the top floor.
‘JUST WENT ON AUTOMATIC’
“I just went on automatic,” said Wirtz, a Chicago firefighter for eight years. “I just did what I’m supposed to do.”
That is, he made sure the men outside called 911 and then went into the building -- wearing only his Fire Department T-shirt, jeans and gym shoes -- to see if anyone was inside.
He said he saw a woman just inside the door of the ground-floor apartment gathering up belongings and “grabbed her, showed her where the door was.” On the second-floor landing, which was already dense with smoke, Wirtz came across a man on his way down and escorted him out, as well.
NO ONE HURT
Wirtz tried to make it to the third floor, pulling his T-shirt over his face, but the smoke and heat kept him back. By that time, more firefighters had arrived and were coming up the stairs, he said.
Firefighters from Truck 36 evacuated residents on the top floor by ladder.
In all, nearly 70 firefighters from about 20 companies responded and were able to contain the fire to a few apartments on the upper two floors, Fire Department Media Affairs Chief Kevin MacGregor said.
The fire was extinguished by about 7:20 a.m., MacGregor said. No one was hurt.
“We didn’t even treat anybody for injuries on the scene,” MacGregor said. “It was very fortunate for the residents of that building and great work by the firefighters that arrived there.”
The fire may have started in a rear porch and worked its way up and into the apartments, MacGregor said. The cause is under investigation.
Not long after that fire, Wirtz and his fellow firefighters were called to a small garage fire. “I had a fairly busy start to the day,” Wirtz said.