A fire tore through a two-and-a-half-story wood-frame house in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood early Monday morning, leaving a child among those hurt; reports differed on whether three people were hospitalized or four were taken to the hospital, with two of them landing in serious-to-critical condition. The blaze broke out in the 4000 block of North Austin Avenue, between Belle Plaine Avenue and Irving Park Road, and triggered a large-scale emergency response before dawn.
The Chicago Fire Department reported that firefighters' operations were underway by 6:30 a.m., according to CBS News Chicago. Five ambulances were dispatched to the scene after an EMS Plan 1 was activated, as reported by Cedar News.
CBS News Chicago's report said three people were hospitalized in its lead, while its body said the Chicago Fire Department reported that four people were taken to the hospital. The report identified a child among those taken to the hospital, while a fourth person refused medical treatment. Two patients were listed in serious-to-critical condition, while a third was in fair-to-serious condition, the station's report notes.
Why Victims Were Rushed to a Maywood Burn Center
All of the patients were transported to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. That destination is consistent with Region 11 Chicago EMS protocols, which list criteria for preferential burn-center transport and identify Loyola University Medical Center, John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, and UChicago Medicine as burn centers, according to Region 11 Chicago EMS guidelines.
Loyola operates a Level I Trauma Center and an internationally acclaimed Burn Center recognized by the American College of Surgeons and the American Burn Association, according to Loyola Medicine. For this incident, the patients were transported to Loyola's Maywood campus.
Ladders and Ventilation Crews Battled a Fire-Prone Structure
Firefighters had their tower ladder up at the scene, and ventilation was underway as firefighting continued, per the same account from Cedar News. The house involved appeared to be wood frame and measured two and a half stories.
More generally, in balloon-frame construction, continuous vertical wall studs can run uninterrupted from the foundation to the roof without floor-level fire stops, according to FireRescue1. Those open wall cavities can act like interior chimneys once a fire ignites, accelerating its spread through a structure.
A Dense, Historic Neighborhood With Prior Fire History
The Chicago Association of REALTORS identifies Portage Park as part of Chicago's Bungalow Belt and discusses Chicago-style bungalow architecture, according to the Chicago Association of REALTORS.
Chicago firefighters responded to Monday's fire.
The cause of Monday's fire has not been determined, and the updated conditions of the four people taken to the hospital were not immediately available.
