An 8-year-old girl and another person died after a suspicious extra-alarm fire erupted early Wednesday in West Englewood, leaving four others in critical condition, officials said.
The unidentified 8-year-old girl was pronounced dead at 2:57 a.m.; a male of unknown age was pronounced dead at 2:49 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Autopsies are scheduled.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), who spoke to reporters on the scene, called the fire “intentional.” It appeared the fire started from the outside of the home, and was possibly the result of an argument between neighbors, Lopez said. He offered no details.
“You don’t set their home on fire. You don’t endanger the lives of innocent children sleeping at midnight simply because you’re pissed off at the world. … We do not resolve our differences by torching a home,” Lopez said.
The fire broke out around 1:50 a.m. in the 6200 block of South Paulina Street. Nearly 200 Chicago Fire Department personnel responded, fire officials said.
Six people were rescued from the home and taken to area hospitals. All initially were in critical condition, according to the fire department.
A neighbor who asked that their name not be made public told the Chicago Sun-Times a woman lived in the home with several children, some of them teens and “some little ones.” The woman had lived at the home for about four years, the neighbor said, adding that he sometimes saw men sitting on the home’s porch.
“If this is in fact arson, we need to catch and bring to justice the individuals responsible for this act,” Lopez said. “No amount of disagreement or animosity gives anyone license to set someone’s house on fire in the middle of the night without children present, let alone when there are children present.”
A neighbor saw the fire and called 911, Lopez said. The quick response by CFD likely prevented the fire from spreading farther down the block, he added.
“At this time, we don’t know the exact nature of the cause,” Lopez said. “But we do know, unlike fires that you sometimes see in abandoned houses, where they start fires for warmth, that does not seem to be the case here,” Lopez said.
Lopez is asking residents to provide any video footage that might be helpful.
“This house was occupied. This house had children in it. This house was set on fire, which is why I’m going to make a plea to the entire community to check their Ring cameras, whatever cameras they have at their own homes, between the hours of midnight and 1:30.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation and an incendiary device was found, according to sources.
Chicago police also responded to the fire but have not released any details about it.
West Englewood is a “great community with a lot of kids,” Lopez said. “I’m sure parents all throughout the neighborhood are going to be hugging their children a little tighter today.”
To help those those injured in the fire, contact Lopez’s office at ward15@cityofchicago.org or 773-823-1539.