Images from Eric Haak of a fire in Cicero, Illinois from February 14, 2010 that resulted in seven fatalities

The following photos were taken in Cicero, Illinois on Sunday morning, February 14, 2010.

Eric Haak photo

The end result of this fire was the loss of seven lives, five in the attic and two on the first floor.  The attic had only one entrance which was at the rear of the building where the heaviest load of fire was located, leaving no escape route for those sleeping there.

Eric Haak photo

It would later be proved that the landlord hired a man to set the building on fire for insurance purposes.  The agreement was that the hired arsonist was supposed to ignite the building on a weekday morning so that residents would have already left for work and school. For some reason this individual decided to start the fire at 6:30 on a Sunday morning.  Six of the seven victims were under the age of 20 including a 3 year-old and a 3 day-old.

Eric Haak photo

Eric Haak photo

Eric Haak photo

Eric Haak photo

Eric Haak photo

A member of the Cicero Fire Department was also critically injured when a brick chimney fell on his head.  When I arrived 15 minutes after the first companies, crews were dealing with heavy fire in the rear of a 2.5-story, 25 x 100 frame, plus a heavily involved 20 x 40 garage, and a 25 x 70, 1.5-story frame residence on the rear of the neighboring property which ignited from the radiant heat of the original fire building.

Eric Haak photo

Among the companies shown in these photos are members of the Cicero, Berwyn, Stickney, North Riverside, and Lyons Fire Departments.  The coordinated efforts of these departments amazingly kept fire from spreading further to any of the other wood frame structures that were on that block.