A 50-year-old man died after a fire broke out inside a residential building in Chicago's Lawndale neighborhood early Monday morning, according to police. The blaze was reported at about 5:22 a.m. in the 1300 block of South Millard Avenue, and firefighters who rushed to the scene found the man unresponsive inside.
Chicago police and firefighters were called to the report of a fire in the residential building at approximately 5:22 a.m., as reported by NBC Chicago. Crews were able to quickly extinguish the flames, but during the ensuing search of the building they discovered the man inside, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported, and no other residents were displaced by the fire, per the same station's reporting.
ABC7 Chicago reported, citing Chicago police, that the man had died. The cause of the fire had not yet been determined as of Monday, according to NBC Chicago. A death investigation has been opened, and no cause of death has been released.
Second Lawndale Fire in Weeks Raises Questions
Monday's fatal fire comes roughly two weeks after another residential blaze struck the neighboring North Lawndale area. Firefighters responded around 5:30 a.m. to a residential-building fire in the 2200 block of South Keeler Avenue, where two people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. A 71-year-old woman was listed in critical condition and a 48-year-old man was in good condition after that fire, which displaced nine people and was extinguished by about 6:15 a.m. The cause of that fire also remained under investigation, the paper reported.
The two incidents occurred roughly two weeks apart, and the cause of the Millard Avenue fire remained under investigation.
A Citywide Pattern of Inspection Gaps
Chicago fires have killed at least 61 people since 2014 in 42 buildings where city officials knew ahead of time about fire-safety problems, according to an investigation by the Chicago Tribune and the Better Government Association. That same investigation cited one historical case involving a Lawndale building that was already on a tear-down list before it caught fire and killed a man.
A separate analysis from WBEZ found that only 17% of buildings in the Chicago Fire Department's fire-code-violation database received their required annual inspection over a 12-month period, and that half of those inspected buildings had gone five years or more without a prior check. Nearly 90% of buildings that failed annual inspections didn't get their required recheck until more than five months late. Independent contractors, meanwhile, submitted annual test reports for only 73.7% of sprinkler systems and 79.6% of fire pumps citywide.
It remains unknown whether any of those systemic gaps had any bearing on the Millard Avenue fire. Authorities have released no further information about the man who died, and the investigation into what sparked the blaze continues.
