Firefighters were rushed to hospitals Thursday after battling a fire inside a vacant two-flat on the 5400 block of South Justine Street in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood. The Chicago Fire Department said three firefighters were injured while fighting the blaze, two of them seriously, though a later hospital tally suggested the toll may have been higher.
According to ABC7 Chicago, CFD reported that two firefighters were in serious condition and one was in good condition after the fire. What led up to the injuries remains unclear, and the fire was ultimately extinguished, per the department. A conflicting count later emerged: CBS News Chicago reported that a total of four firefighters were transported to hospitals from the scene, three in serious-to-critical condition and one in good condition — an update to the department's initial report of three injured. Both figures are included here because the discrepancy between the department's early count and the later hospital tally has not been resolved.
What The Scene Looked Like
Citizen app video from the scene, cited in the same CBS Chicago report, showed the structure was a residential two-flat that had been sitting vacant before flames broke out inside. Vacant multi-unit buildings like this one are common across Back of the Yards, a South Side neighborhood that has seen repeated structural fires in recent memory.
Just five blocks south, Chicago firefighters responded to another structural fire in the 5900 block of South Justine Street in October 2025, according to ABC7 Chicago. And in January, a fatal fire tore through a multi-unit building in the nearby 4700 block of South Damen Avenue, killing an adult male resident — a blaze Hoodline previously reported relayed from FOX 32 Chicago's coverage.
Why Vacant Buildings Pose Extra Risk
Fires inside empty structures carry outsized danger for firefighters nationwide. The National Fire Protection Association has found that vacant building fires make up just 6% of structure fires nationally but account for 13% of all firefighter injuries, hurting more than 3,000 firefighters every year. The NFPA has also pointed to a 2010 incident in which two Chicago firefighters died fighting a blaze inside an abandoned warehouse as a stark example of the risks crews face in unoccupied buildings.
Firehouse Magazine analysis has found that 43% of vacant building fires are intentionally set, and that 15 firefighters nationwide died battling such fires between 1998 and 2007. Federal statistics compiled by the U.S. Fire Administration for 2023 show Illinois recorded 27.4 casualties per 1,000 residential structure fires, notably higher than the national average of 19.7 injuries per 1,000 fires.
City Rules Meant To Prevent Hazards Like This
Chicago's Vacant Building Ordinance, part of Municipal Code Chapter 14X-12, requires owners of residential buildings vacant for more than 30 days to register with the city every six months, maintain at least $300,000 in liability insurance, and keep the property secured and structurally sound. It remains unclear whether the 5400 South Justine two-flat was registered under that ordinance or had any prior code violations tied to unsecured access.
The neighborhood is also the focus of a separate civic effort: the Cook County Land Bank Authority and Hope Center Foundation's Reclaiming Chicago initiative, which aims to build affordable single-family homes on vacant lots throughout Back of the Yards. That redevelopment push underscores how vacant properties remain both a housing opportunity and a persistent safety hazard on these South Side blocks.
Hoodline has covered several serious fires in the neighborhood in recent months, including an extra-alarm apartment fire on the 4500 block of South Laflin Street in June and a fire in December 2023 that left a teen and a woman in critical condition. No additional details on the cause of Thursday's fire or the condition of the injured firefighters have been released.
