An extra-alarm fire in an Edgewater apartment building injured 19 people Thursday afternoon, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
Larry Langford, Fire Department spokesperson, said the blaze, at 5439 N. Kenmore Ave., was struck about 1:50 p.m.
Langford wasn’t able to give a specific time for when the fire broke out but said the first fire companies to arrive at the building immediately upgraded the blaze, summoning more equipment and personnel to the scene.
Though the fire itself was contained to a single unit on the building’s fourth floor, Langford said smoke from the fire spread throughout the building and panicked residents, many of whom were elderly.
“They had people out the windows trying to get out,” he said. “They started putting the 50-foot ladders up all sides of the building and they started getting people down the fire escapes, and some came down the ladders.”
Emergency workers also summoned 12 additional ambulances to the scene. Ten people were taken to nearby hospitals, per Fire Department sources. One of those people was in serious-to-critical condition while the rest were in fair condition.
Fire investigators were searching for a possible cause.
