http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/678605,120307investigate.article
Inspectors to investigate site of deadly fire
December 3, 2007
BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL AND KARA SPAK Staff Reporters
"Chicago fire officials have asked building inspectors to look at possible
violations in a Southwest Side home where two young boys died and two women
were injured in a fire early today.
Larry Langford, fire media affairs director, said the brown brick bungalow
in the 3200 block of West 66th Place has "the earmarks of a rooming house."
"Each room has its own little things, food, like a little hotel room,"
Langford said. "It just kind of resembled an SRO (single room occupancy)."
Langford said he had not seen the basement, but was told it was similar to
the rest of the house with mattresses on the floor. Langford estimated there
was at least 10 people living in the home.
A next-door neighbor estimated there were 13 people, including six children,
living on the first floor and in the basement and attic.
Neighbors identified the children killed as Juan, a 10-month-old boy, and
Jessi, a 3-year-old boy.
Neighbors said they believe their mother, Maria Rosales Escareno, was also
taken from the home by paramedics. Fire officials said a woman found with
the children was sent to Holy Cross Hospital and later airlifted to Advocate
Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge in "extremely critical condition,"
Langford said.
The three were found in a living room on the first floor near a window.
"They looked like they were sleeping," Langford said.
A second woman found inside the house is at Stroger Hospital with
second-degree burns on her hands and legs. Her injuries are not thought to
be life-threatening, Langford said.
The fire started in the basement of the single-family home. A still-and-box
alarm and an EMS Plan 1 response, which sends five ambulances to the scene,
were initiated at 4:46 a.m. Langford said. Both were cancelled about 5:15
a.m., Langford said. He declined to speculate on the cause of the fire.
When firefighters arrived, some people were trapped in the house, while six
had exited on their own. A 24-hour Laundromat was used as a warming center
for those who escaped, Langford said.
"There wasn't a lot of fire, but there was a lot of smoke," Langford said.
"That resulted in the victims being caught in heavy smoke. There were a lot
of people living in that building."
The fire was contained to the basement and smoke damage was limited to the
first floor. There was no evidence of a smoke detector in the basement. A
working smoke detector was found in the attic. Fire officials were trying to
determine if a smoke detector found on the first floor was properly working.
A Christmas wreath and holiday lights hung on the charred remains of the
home on the well-maintained block Monday. Inside, a phone was heard ringing.
"The little boys were so happy," said Carmen Martinez, a neighbor whose
daughter played with Juan and Jessi. "She felt so bad because it's my
friend."
Neighbors said that the man believed to be the father of the boys owned the
house. He works at a restaurant and had lived in Chicago for some time, they
said.
Paola Ramos, who lived next door, said three adult renters lived in the
basement. One the first floor, she said, lived a mother, father, four
children and a female relative. A woman and a young boy and girl lived in
the attic, Ramos said.
"Please be careful, especially for the kids," Ramos said.
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