CHICAGO (STMW) — Firefighters brought two dozen residents of a Rogers Park apartment building down to safety from an extra-alarm fire early Saturday. Six people were injured in the blaze, the cause of which was not yet known as of about 2:30 a.m.
Firefighters found heavy fire when they arrived on the scene of a fire at 6912 N. Ashland Ave. about 1 a.m. Saturday, according to Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford.
Firefighters immediately put up seven ground ladders, in addition to three ladders anchored by fire trucks, to the 4-story building and began rescuing residents, some of whom were calling for help from the building’s windows, Langford said.
They rescued two dozen people by bringing them down via the ladders, Langford said. Some residents got out on their own, but “the great majority [of the residents] were brought down by ladders from the first arriving companies.”
The fire was on the second and third floors of the building, Langford said.
An EMS Plan I was called and a 2-11 alarm was given because of the heavy fire they found immediately upon arriving at the scene, as well as the large number of rescues made, Langford explained.
An EMS Plan I sends at least five ambulances to the scene. A 2-11 alarm sends at least eight engines, four trucks, two tower ladders, five battalion chiefs, a district chief, a deputy district chief, a squad company and a command van to the scene.
Since there were six people injured, the emergency responses called for turned out to be “a good calculation,” Langford said.
Three people were taken to hospitals — two to St. Francis in Evanston and one to Swedish Covenant Hospital — and three others were treated on the scene and refused transport to hospitals, Langford said. He did not have any information on the people who were taken to hospitals.
The 2-11 alarm was struck out about 1:40 a.m. and the EMS plan was secured by 2 a.m.
The extent of the damage was not known but 30 people were displaced by the fire, Langford said.
The Red Cross was notified and offering assistance to people, according to a spokeswoman with the Red Cross.
The cause of the fire was unknown as of about 2:30 a.m.
Streets were blocked off around the affected building, police News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines said. Southbound on North Ashland Avenue to West Morse Avenue; eastbound from West Morse Avenue to North Greenview Avenue; and North Ashland Avenue to Jarvis were blocked off, according to Gaines.
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