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The disturbing thing is I saw them bringing two of the fire fighters to Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn this morning on my commute to work. Squad followed by ambulance, undercover cop and another squad. I knew something was up.
Two Chicago firefighters were killed Wednesday morning after they were trapped when a wall collapsed at an abandoned, one-story, brick former laundry building on East 75th Street near South Shore High School.
Four other firefighters also were trapped before being pulled to safety.
Swarms of fellow firefighters flooded the disaster scene, furiously digging through rubble to find the missing firefighters. When they were located, they were quickly carried out of the building, with firefighters clearing a path.
Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford confirmed the dead were two firefighters but said he had no information on their rank or fire company. He said 14 other firefighters were injured. Fire officials were not sure how the fire started.
One firefighter died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and the other died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Langford said.
Fire Dept. Commissioner Robert Hoff addressed the media at the scene, his face marked with soot. He is expected to give another update and provide information on the deceased firefighters at Christ Medical Center.
Langford said all of the surviving firefighters were “stable,” without life-threatening injuries.
Nearly 100 firefighters responded to the “Mayday” call, including off-duty firefighters and Hoff, a third-generation Chicago firefighter whose father died years ago in the line of duty.
“They were removed from different corners of the building,” Hoff said of those who had to be pulled out.
Of the rescue efforts, Hoff said, “They worked hard, got them out fast.”
The fire Wednesday came on the 100th anniversary of the Union Stock Yards fire, which killed 21 Chicago firefighters.
Frozen hydrants might have hampered firefighting efforts Wednesday.
The three-alarm fire started just before 7 a.m. in the building — the former Sing Way Laundry —at 1744 E. 75th St.
Other firefighters, beyond the four who initially were trapped, also were taken to hospitals.
Robert Smart, who owns Smart Bros Car Wash next door to the laundry, said squatters regularly slept in the abandoned laundry building. He said he’s called police about the squatters before and that each time a security fence at the rear of the property was repaired, but the squatters cut a new whole in it and returned.
