Early Thursday morning, a fire broke out at the Fountain Jordan Shepard Funeral Home on Chicago's West Side, causing considerable disruption in the Austin neighborhood. The blaze was reported just before 4 a.m. at the funeral home located at 418 S. Cicero Avenue, as stated by CBS Chicago. Fire officials have since confirmed the cause of the fire to be electrical and accidental, thankfully there were no injuries nor need for transports.
While the area was enveloped by the emergency response, the Chicago Transit Authority informed the public that the #54 Cicero buses had to be rerouted, using alternative streets such as Jackson, Kostner, and Harrison before returning to the regular route, however, normal operations resumed around 5 a.m. It remains unclear whether any cadavers were inside the funeral home at the time of the incident, this detail is missing from the reports made public.
Additional footage captured by Chopper 7 highlighted the extensive smoke damage inflicted upon Fountain Jordan Shepard Funeral Home, with images circulating widely online shortly after the fire was extinguished. The video, shared by ABC 7 Chicago, shows the aftermath of the fire which left the building visibly scarred, raising questions about the next steps for the South Austin landmark.
The Chicago Fire Department remained on the scene into the morning to investigate the origins and specific cause of the fire despite the preliminary determination of it being an accident.
