Man killed, 92-year-old injured in West Chicago fire
A 53-year-old man was killed and another person was injured Wednesday night during a house fire in West Chicago.
Members of the West Chicago Fire Protection District responded at 9:30 p.m. to the 100 block of West Grand Lake Boulevard and arrived to find a significant amount of fire throughout the two-story house.
"There was fire heavily involved in the porch area and also in the first and second floor of the home," Fire Chief Patrick Tanner said.
Two men and a woman were inside the house when the fire erupted. The woman escaped before emergency crews arrived.
To reach the men trapped inside, firefighters initially tried to enter through the first floor, but Tanner said they had to back out because there were flames above them.
After regrouping and putting more water on the fire, crews entered the second floor of the home though the windows.
The 53-year-old man was found dead in a rear bedroom. His identity has not been released.
A 92-year-old man was found in another second-floor bedroom. He was rescued by firefighters who brought him out of the house through a window.
The injured man was taken to Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield before being transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. His condition was unknown Thursday morning.
Tanner said it took roughly an hour to bring the fire under control. He said crews battled the blaze while avoiding a power line that had come down from the house and was live in the front yard. There also was a partial collapse of the front of the home.
No firefighters were injured. A police officer was treated for heat exhaustion unrelated to the fire.
Tanner said the fire started in an enclosed porch at the front of the house.
Investigators were unable to determine what sparked the blaze because of the damage to the porch, but the fire has been ruled accidental, Tanner said.
The DuPage County Fire Investigative Task Force, Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal and DuPage County coroner's office were called to assist in the investigation.
• Daily Herald staff writer Lee Filas contributed to this report