Firefighter Critically Injured in Rogers Park Blaze on West North Shore Avenue, Chicago Fire Department Reports

A Chicago firefighter was injured on Monday after a floor gave way inside an apartment building located in Rogers Park. The incident occurred late in the morning, around 11:30 a.m., according to reports from the Chicago Fire Department.

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The fire broke out in the 1700 block of West North Shore Avenue. During the response effort, a firefighter fell through the floor, as explained by CFD Deputy District Chief Kelly Burns. “We had one firefighter go through the floor,” she stated. Fortunately, the firefighter was swiftly rescued by members of squad two, one of the city’s heavy rescue units, who managed to pull him out from the basement in less than a minute.

Following the rescue, the injured firefighter was promptly transported to Stroger Hospital. Reports indicate that he sustained serious injuries.

The apartment building in question is a three-story structure with eight units and a basement, situated along West North Avenue.

The building is an eight-unit, three-floor building with a basement along West North Avenue.

“What we initially thought was fire, a small amount of fire in the back, turned out to be a large volume, kind of running the whole height of the building,” Burns said.

Witness Eric Newswanger said he was on a call with a co-worker when he smelled the smoke in his building a block away from the fire.

“These are big apartments, there’s a lot of people inside,” Newswanger said. “There’s definitely the firefighters themselves just hoping everyone’s okay.”

Chicago Fire says seven people who live in the building were displaced but they were all able to get out and no one inside was hurt aside from one of the responding firefighters.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but fire crews do believe the fire originated somewhere in the back of the building.