By Sara Olkon
The Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — Frank and Jeff Lipscomb screamed out as black smoke seared their lungs and blinded their sight. “Croooooosby!” the men yelled.
On the most horrifying day of their lives, the two survived the fire that torched their East Garfield Park apartment Monday morning. As they stumbled into the cold morning air, they frantically asked if their beloved brother and uncle, Crosby Lipscomb, 58, had made it out.
As the Lipscombs tell it, firefighters assured them that they had done a thorough search of the two-flat at 3534 W. Polk St. and were repeatedly told by fire officials that no one had been left inside the ravaged graystone. Relieved, the Lipscombs assumed that the retired janitor for the Chicago Public Schools had spent the night at his girlfriend’s home.
But Crosby Lipscomb never returned home. His bicycle remained on the porch. He was not returning the dozens of frantic cell-phone messages left by family and friends.
On Wednesday — two days after the fire — the Lipscombs’ worst fears were realized after a relative discovered Crosby Lipscomb’s body on the floor of his 8-by-10 foot bedroom. Family members said the body, partially obscured by light debris, lay between the bedroom wall and the bed frame.
“They never searched for him,” said Haywood Lipscomb, 42, the nephew who found the body, referring to the firefighters on duty. “He could have been saved.”
Larry Langford, a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department, said Crosby Lipscomb died during the fire. Langford cited Thursday’s findings by the Cook County medical examiner’s office that Lipscomb died from carbon monoxide intoxication, inhalation of smoke and soot from the fire. The death was ruled an accident.
The Fire Department is interviewing personnel who were on the scene and reviewing the radio tape in the hopes of understanding what went wrong Monday morning, Langford said.
“What’s important here is that we did miss him,” he said.
The admission appeared to be of little consolation for those who knew and loved Lipscomb, who came together Thursday afternoon at the home of relatives in the North Austin neighborhood.
Ruth Lipscomb, 60, the sister of the victim and the owner of the two-flat, had rushed over to the home as soon as she learned of the fire.
“My thinking was: ‘Is everyone safe? Is everyone OK?’” she said. “I started counting. I saw Frank. I saw Jeff.”
Ruth Lipscomb said fire officials told the family several times that the house was “all clear” of people.
“We had accepted the fact that he had been out visiting,” she said of Crosby Lipscomb. “He had a girlfriend. Sometimes, he stayed over.”
During the fire, Frank Lipscomb, 57, recalled walking through the black smoke until he reached his brother’s bedroom. He felt for any sign of his brother on his bed.
“I was in shock, the whole damn thing,” he said. “I couldn’t see, even with my flashlight. I had to get out myself, I couldn’t breathe.”
On Thursday, Frank Lipscomb’s breathing remained labored. He believed he may have suffered from smoke inhalation but said he had not yet sought medical treatment.
After nephew Jeff Lipscomb escaped the fire, he said he banged his flashlight against Crosby Lipscomb’s window as heavy smoke poured from the house.
“I ain’t never seen anything like it,” said Jeff Lipscomb, 44, describing the thick, choking smoke. “We were worried about where ‘Uncle Craw’ was at.
“Why did they still miss him?”
Tribune reporter Dan P. Blake contributed to this report.
Copyright 2009 Chicago Tribune Company