Fire crews respond to high-rise fire in South Shore
By JERAMIE BIZZLE, JOHN DODGE
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — Fire crews responded to a high-rise fire in the South Shore neighborhood Thursday morning.
The two-alarm fire started at 9:30 a.m., in the 6700 block of South Shore Drive, on the 10th floor of the 17-floor building, according to the Chicago Building Department.
Officials say about 150 firefighters responded to the scene.
The fire was under control and was extinguished within a half-hour.
“We were able to direct streamlines from the ground up to the 10th floor to extinguish the main body of fire from the outside. Which gave us time to get up to the 10th floor, lead out headlines, and get water on the fire.,” said CFD Commissioner Marc Ferman.
A witness who was exiting a bus at the time said she smelled smoke before seeing the fire.
“I just smelled some smoke, so I’m like what is going on? And when we crossed the street, we just turned that way and it was just so much fire,” said Denise Collier.
CBS 2’s Sabrina Franza reported there were no sprinklers inside the building as they are not required as long as it is approved by the Life Safety Evaluation.
Chopper 2’s Kris Habermehl confirms the apartment above was empty with nothing to ignite which helped contain the fire.
No injuries were reported.
Views from Chopper 2 show the fire left external damage from where the fire started to the top of the building.
Apartments were checked and firefighters conducted top-to-bottom searches.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.
This is the third high-rise fire to happen this year.
Back in January, a fire in the Kenwood neighborhood left one person dead and nine others hurt. That fire, according to officials, was caused by “careless use of smoking materials.”
Last month, CFD Lieutenant Jan Tchoryk died while responding to a high-rise fire in Gold Coast.
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