As fire raced through their apartment building in West Chicago early Thursday, several residents made harrowing escapes from the blaze.
A police officer caught a child thrown from the 24-unit building in the Main Park Apartments complex, West Chicago Fire Protection District Chief Patrick Tanner said.
One woman jumped from a third-floor window, Tanner said. She was one of five people injured after the fire broke out in the three-story building in the 800 block of Burr Oaks Drive.
Rafael Lozano was in his third-floor apartment when he heard alarms. The 36-year-old said he escaped through the smoke-filled hallway and stairs. One of his roommates, however, had to climb down the balcony to safety.
“It was horrible,” he said. “People were screaming and running.”
All told, an estimated 100 people were displaced from their apartments, though authorities don’t yet have an exact number.
It’s the second major fire to hit the complex in about a year. Last December, a fire forced residents in the apartment building next door to find alternative housing.
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