Jan 5, 2009 6:55 am US/Central
Elderly Man Dead After House Fire; Wife Rescued
MATTESON, Ill. (STNG) ―
A 93-year-old man who authorities said was badly burned during a fire Sunday night has been identified.
His wife -- who was rescued by a neighbor and a Matteson police officer -- was hospitalized after the accidental blaze started in their south suburban Matteson home.
The man killed has been identified as Willie Johnson, of 6103 Aspen Lane, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. Johnson was badly burned in the fire at his home and was pronounced dead at 10:35 p.m. Sunday at St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Olympia Fields, according to the medical examiner's office.
The blaze, which was raised to an extra-alarm fire, started about 9 p.m. Sunday at the Aspen Lane address and it was extinguished about an hour later, according to Matteson Fire Deputy Chief Patrick Gericke.
Gericke said several 911 calls, including one from the surviving woman in her mid 80s, were received and indicated people were trapped inside.
Police arrived on the scene first and a Matteson police officer and a male neighbor rescued the woman from an upper level deck area off the kitchen after the neighbor heard the woman's screams and came to her assistance, Gericke said.
When fire crews arrived a short time later, they found heavy flames shooting from the upper level of the "raised ranch" style wooden home. Johnson --- who was the woman's husband -- was found inside the home after a search of the house, which was engulfed in a "significant amount of fire,'' Gericke said.
The woman was burned but did not suffer life-threatening injuries and was hospitalized at St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Olympia Fields, according to the deputy chief.
The house was left uninhabitable and the blaze caused about $180,000 of damage.
About 30 firefighters from several different departments including Richton Park, Park Forest and Flossmoor assisted.
Although the fire was determined to have been apparently accidental, the deputy chief declined to say what caused the fire, but said an electrical cause has been ruled out.
An autopsy performed Monday concluded the ederly man died of smoke inhalation.
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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