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Man in critical condition after being pulled from Antioch house fire

A man remains in critical condition after he was pulled from a house fire early Tuesday morning in unincorporated Lake County near Antioch, officials said.

John Nixon, chief of the First Fire Protection District of Antioch, said crews were called to the single-story house in the 24000 block of Hawthorn Lane at 5:19 a.m. with reports that a disabled man living in the house was unconscious in a bedroom and could not escape.

Crews arrived and saw heavy smoke and fire coming from the north and west side of the house, Nixon said.

Firefighters entered the house and found the man unconscious in an east bedroom after a quick search, he said. The victim, who was said to be in the 60s, was pulled out of the house and rushed to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. He remains in critical but stable condition.

"They (firefighters) had to crawl through the home under extreme smoke and heat searching for the person inside," Nixon said. "They found a bedroom on the east side of the home, and during a blind search, located the victim."

After the victim was pulled out of the house, crews worked to knock down the fire, Nixon said. The fire had spread from an enclosed deck to a hallway and into the attic.

"It was an extremely stubborn fire," he said.

The fire was raised to a fourth alarm in order to bring water to the unincorporated area. The fire was eventually put out, but only after the house was destroyed and deemed uninhabitable, Nixon said.

The fire's point of origin seemed to be on the rear deck, Nixon said, but he added the Lake County Sheriff's Office and investigators from the fire district are trying to determine a cause.

"This is what every firefighter trains for; to go in and put yourself in harm's way to rescue someone," said Chris Lienhardt, deputy chief of the First Fire Protection District of Antioch. "As a command staff, we cannot be more proud with the way our crews performed. It went exactly as it should go, due to our training."

Fire crews on the scene of a four-alarm house fire Tuesday on the 24000 block of West Hawthorn Lane near Antioch. Joe Shuman/For The Daily Herald
Fire injured one person and destroyed a house on the 24000 block of West Hawthorn Lane near Antioch. Joe Shuman/For The Daily Herald
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