The city had been buffeted by sustained high winds for a full day at the time of this job, and still high wind gusts throughout the event as well as miserably cold conditions. Two buildings were involved with some minor communication to a 3rd larger building. I believe the original fire building may have been a pizza joint. Rumor had it that high winds caused arcing power lines which ignited the siding, though I’m not sure how accurate this is. The streets in this area were raised so from street level they appear to be single-story buildings but in the rear they are two stories, a unique situation in this area. All the photos and video can be seen here:
Steve Redick
Chicago FD Engine 72
All posts tagged Chicago FD Engine 72
Sunday (2/25) was an intensely windy day in the Chicago area which made for difficult firefighting conditions. The second 2-11 alarm for Chicago on this day was at 88th Street and Commercial Avenue and started in a pizza parlor that had occupied that address since the 1950’s. The fire was reported to have started in the rear of the structure and heavy winds blowing across from the west quickly escalated the incident. Eric Haak
more photos at Chicagoareafire.com
Chicago firefighters made one rescue while battling fire in a two-story commercial building with apartments above at 7130 S. South Chicago Avenue 2/12/18. Steve Redick
Here are a few shots of Saturday’s working fire in Chicago at 7814 S. Phillips (9/19/15). The fire started on the second floor of a three-story, occupied apartment building and extended to the third floor.
Eric Haak
Images from Eric Haak of another huge fire in Chicago that occurred September 24, 2007.
At about 1630hrs on September 24th, 2007, companies in the 23rd Battalion on Chicago’s southeast side responded to 91st and South Commercial Avenue for the report of a structure fire. First companies reported smoke from the roof of a 125 x 100 truss roof commercial clothing store. The store was open at the time, but all patrons were able to self evacuate without any issues.
The fire was started by roofers. The building was an oddly built structure as it was one story in sector 1 but dropped below ground level in sector 3 for a height of about 3 stories. I remember that this fire spread quickly and that Battalion 23 ordered a frantic emergency evacuation from the roof just before I got on scene. This fire featured one of my favorite rig shots I’ve ever captured as Engine 81 was parked right on the corner and had their deck gun working a heavily involved storefront.
Eventually the roof did collapse and part of the wall in sector 1 fell into the street. The second photo shows then Commissioner Raymond Orozco at the command post. He is also seen descending Tower Ladder 37 after getting an aerial vantage point of the incident’s progress.