Mar 18, 2007 9:50 pm US/Central
2 Die in Fires; Smoking Materials May Be Cause
28-Year-Old Man Dies In Wrigleyville; 66-Year-Old Man Dies In Englewood
Todd Feurer, cbs2chicago.com
The STNG Wire contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Chicago firefighters were stressing the importance of working smoke detectors on Sunday, following two deadly fires about 10 hours apart late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
A 28-year-old man was killed after a third-floor apartment caught fire at 3420 N. Sheffield Av. around 8:10 a.m. Sunday, according to the Chicago Fire Department. It happened about 10 hours after a 66-year-old man was killed in a separate fire in the Englewood neighborhood.
An EMS Plan 1 was called just after 10:15 p.m. Saturday for a fire in a two-story brick residence at 7046 S. Racine Ave. Lamar Jackson, 66, was found inside and taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
Two other people were hurt in the fire in Englewood. One survivor was taken to the University of Chicago Hospitals in critical condition and the other was taken to Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Care Centers in stable condition.
While there were smoke detectors in the home, fire investigators were trying early Sunday to determine if they were working. Firefighters also planned to canvass the neighborhood to hand out free smoke detectors and literature on the importance of keeping working fire detectors in the home.
In the second fire, a 28-year-old man and three other people were inside an apartment at 3420 N. Sheffield Av. when a fire broke out in the bedroom furthest from the front door. The 28-year-old man was killed, Adam Barney was pronounced at the Stein Institute at 11:40 a.m.
Police are investigating whether careless use of smoking materials may have caused the blaze, police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor said.
The three other people in the apartment heard a smoke detector going off and escaped safely. There was a working smoke detector inside the apartment and in the hallway of the third floor.
The cause and origin of the fire were under investigation Sunday morning. Firefighters also planned to canvass the area of the Wrigleyville fire to hand out smoke detectors and fire safety literature.
It was also the second weekend in a row that Chicago firefighters dealt with a deadly blaze. On March 10, four people died when a fire allegedly set by a homeless woman swept through a Wrigleyville apartment building at 3553 N. Fremont St.
Killed were Jennifer Carlson, 24; Jason Bowers, 23; Joe Schultz, 24; and Jerod Pilgreen, 21. Fire officials said that fire spread too quickly for the victims to escape. A fifth person survived by jumping from a third floor window, but suffered serious injuries in the fall.
Mary Smith, 43, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated arson in that fire. She was accused of setting the fire at the Fremont Street address, as well as three other fires in that area just hours before, in an attempt to keep warm.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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