Several residents were displaced after an extra-alarm fire broke out early Monday morning in the south suburban Burnham.
The fire started in a three-story building around 3 a.m. in the 14500 block of South Muskegon Avenue, according to residents and officials.
Burnham Mayor Robert E. Polk said no one was hurt in the fire, but residents who lived in the building were displaced. The American Red Cross was on the scene early morning helping displaced residents.
“We’re very glad that no one was injured, and everyone got out safely,” Polk told WGN-TV.
Residents who were inside the building when the fire started said they grabbed what they could and bolted outside.
“I heard banging in the hallway, someone saying there is a fire, there is a fire,” said a man who lived in the building to WGN-TV. “I immediately grab my phone, grab my kids, open the door. As soon as I open the door, there was nothing but black smoke”
The man said he thought that only the unit next to his caught fire, but within minutes the flames engulfed the roof as well.
“I don’t know what to say man, I’m at a loss for words,” he said while standing outside, looking at the blaze.
Sylvester Townsend, 67, who lives in a nearby building, said his wife woke him up around 3 a.m. after hearing a loud boom outside.
The couple thought for a moment that the sound might have been their occasionally noisy neighbor. But instead they came out to see one of the residential buildings on their block on fire.
“It was really flaming up,” Townsend said as he stood outside Monday morning, tkaing pictures of the damaged building with his phone.
As of 6 a.m., firefighters were still on the scene of the fire. It was not immediately known when the fire was struck out exactly.
Officials were still investigating the cause of the fire.
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