Residents Find Safety When 3 Homes Ignite on Green Street

No one was injured Saturday night when a fire that started in one Green Street home quickly spread to two others, sending residents fleeing for their lives.

The blaze at 1418 Green Street was called in at 5:09 p.m. to the . All 17 full-time firefighters and eight on-call firefighters responded to the scene, where they got help from crews in Flossmoor, Park Forest Matteson and Glenwood.

Sign up for breaking news alerts from Chicago Heights Patch.

"None of our firefighters were injured but some are on the fringe," Chicago Heights Fire Chief Jamie Angell said at the scene. "When the weather is hot like this, we rely on that extra help so we're able to rotate our guys."

The inferno started in the back of an upstairs unit of the building and quickly spread to the adjacent north and south structures. Resident Lawrence Stafford, 66, was in the home when the fire broke out.

"I was in the front room watching television," he said while seated in his wheelchair in the street after crews squelched the flames. "A guy from across the street came in and told me the house was on fire. I didn't even know who he was."

The fire started in the back of the home, recalled Stafford, who is missing both his legs and noted he lives in the downstairs apartment at 1418 Green Street with one woman living above him.

That upstairs tenant is Ashley Cooper, 25, who was returning from her aunt's funeral when she saw the fire engines and trucks on her street.

"I haven't been inside," she said, with tears in her eyes. "As far as I know, everything's basically been destroyed."

About 25 neighbors lingered at about 6:30 p.m. in an empty lot across from the three buildings. Among them were cousins Kentrell and Ajeeriah Dawson, both 11 years old. The pair rode their bikes one street from their homes to see if their "aunty," who lives on Green, was OK.

"I wanted to make sure it wasn't her house," Kentrell said, as Ajeeriah nodded in agreement. "I also wanted to know that everyone from the houses that were on fire was safe."

Cooper said five people live in her neighbor's house, 1416 Green Street, and she and Stafford are the only residents of 1418. She wasn't sure how many people lived in the south building at 1414.

Seven fire trucks and an ambulance still lined the street around 7:40 p.m. and hose lines were stretched the distance of the block to a fire hydrant at the intersection of Green and 15th streets. 

Angell said it took firefighters a solid hour to extinguish the flames but around 30 minutes to get it under control. 

"The call came in as (having) trapped residents," he said. "That's why we activated a full … alarm at that time."

The cause of the fire remained under investigation around 8:15 p.m. Angell said an insurance agent was on his way to the scene to assess the damages.

Like Chicago Heights Patch on Facebook!

Do you live near this area? Tell us in the comments.