Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Two young boys died early Monday morning after fire swept through a crowded home on the Southwest Side.

Investigators are looking for possible violations at the single family home on West 66th Place on the Southwest Side where at least 10 people lived.

As CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports, as of 10 p.m. Monday a woman who apparently lived in the house and was in cardiac arrest when firefighters found her is expected to survive. She is being treated at Stroger Hospital. She is not the mother of the boys who died. Her 9-year-old child escaped the fire safely, along with five others.

Another woman was airlifted to Lutheran General Hospital for burns and is in very critical condition.

"The flames were coming out. I tried to jump there to help them out, but I can't," neighbor Rubin Regaldo said.

The flames he saw were rushing out of the basement window, where firefighters say the blaze started. Most of the fire was contained there, but the thick black smoke filled the house killing the boys who slept on a couch on the first floor.

"The smoke charged the room and knocked them out," fire department spokesperson Larry Langford said. "When you get a lot of smoke and you breathe it in, you don't wake up."

A fire dept spokesperson said investigators have ruled out arson and are close to pinpointing a cause. But the city's building department wants to know if people were living in the house illegally.

The toys in the backyard of the home make it clear children played there. Two of those children died Monday morning after fire and smoke consumed the house.

"It's sad because they were little kids, and they were innocent. It's really painful for the families and I feel really sorry for them," said neighbor Isabella Arroya.

The young victims - brothers - have been identified as 10-month-old Juan Escareno Jr., and 3-year-old Jessie Escareno. Firefighters found an unconscious woman in her 30s in the home, too, when they went in to battle the early morning blaze.

The fire broke out shortly before 5 a.m. at 3216 W. 66th Pl. in Marquette Park. When firefighters arrived, they found two children and a woman overcome by smoke just steps from the front door.

"Our squad company, Squad 5, got in right away through the dense smoke, found an adult and two children approximately five to 10 feet inside the front door," said Sylvester Knox of the Chicago Fire Department.

Investigators believe at least three families were living in the home, which may have been illegally converted into a boarding house. A building department spokesperson says inspectors started an investigation into the matter and preliminary reports indicate rooms may have been built in the basement, where the fire is believed to have ignited.

That spokesperson couldn't tell CBS 2 who owned the home but says there is no record of any permits, inspections or request for an inspection – meaning any work done on the home was done illegally.

The Fire Department has requested that the city's Building Department investigate whether too many people were living in the home and to check for illegal conversions, Langford said. Authorities believe the house had been converted into tiny apartments. Building inspectors say if that's the case, the owners did the construction without permits. The owners could face a $500 a day fine for illegally converting a house.

Most neighbors say they didn't really know the people who lived here and believe they recently moved into the home.

"I know them. I feel bad for them because they had just moved in there. Me and my wife this year we gave them a sofa and a chair because they needed the furniture," neighbor Francisco Flores said.

Fire officials say the victims were on the first floor, some of them sleeping on mattresses. They also say there was a working smoke detector in the attic and one of the first floor, but that it was too severely damaged to determine whether it was working.

"All levels, basement, first floor and attic, were being used as living quarters," Langford said. "Escape should have been easy from the building had there been early enough warning."

Monday's tragedy prompted firefighters to canvas the neighborhood handing out free detectors and a DVD on fire safety.

"You need a working smoke detector in your house. We can't emphasize the importance of smoke detector in your house," Knox said.

CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker, Dana Kozlov, Kristyn Hartman; the Associated Press and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

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