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Critically Injured Woman Panicked Trying To Escape Edgewater Fire: Landlord

By Linze Rice | August 25, 2015 8:25am
 A completely charred twin size bed frame was left in the building's garbage pick-up area Monday afternoon.
A completely charred twin size bed frame was left in the building's garbage pick-up area Monday afternoon.
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DNAinfo/Linze Rice

EDGEWATER — A Sunday morning fire in the serene Edgewater Beach neighborhood displaced dozens of residents and required rescue crews to evacuate renters — including one woman who was critically injured in the blaze.

Around 7:30 a.m. Sunday, building manager Joe Kanacevac said he was awoken by a fourth-floor tenant who rushing to tell him she'd been cooking, and a fire had started in her apartment.

He said he immediately called 911, and ran outside to throw open the building's various gates so firefighters could enter the building quickly.

Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Frank Velez said crews responded to a fire in the 1000 block of West Catalpa Avenue Sunday morning around 7:50 a.m. and facilitated about 12 tenant rescues through the building's windows.

"It was pretty simple, but it was escalated because of the number of residents that were rescued out the windows," Velez said. "But it was taken care of in a timely manner and executed very well."

Linze Rice says some residents were rescued from their windows:

Three people were transported to area hospitals, two with minor injuries and one in critical condition, Velez said.

Kanacevac said the majority of people stayed in their apartments, save for a few who braved the conditions to make it out the front door, but one woman from the fourth floor "panicked," Kanacevac said, causing her to pass out from smoke inhalation, he suspects.

He said she'd been found lying in the fourth-floor hallway, surrounded by smoke. Rescue workers removed her from the building and took her away in a stretcher in critical condition.

She is a 20-year resident of the building, he said.

Velez said the building appeared to have smoke alarms, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Kanacevac said he went back to try and assess the damage and help residents escape, ascending the stairwell to check on them — where he said there was no indication of smoke or heat. Once he opened the door to enter the fourth floor, he was overpowered a cloud of smoke that rendered his vision "all black," he said.

The heavy smoke made Kanacevac feel as if he "couldn't breathe," he said.

He knocked on as many doors as he could, telling people to "stay put" until help arrived, Kanacevac said.

Windows that had been smashed out in order to free residents, and the broken glass that fell below, could be seen Monday, with several windows now boarded up. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]

"I tried to help as much as I could," he said. "There was too much smoke, you couldn't see nothing."

Kanacevac said he retreated back outside and waited for fire crews.

He estimates that less than 10 minutes later, firefighters arrived and immediately began throwing ladders up the building's southeast side and in its garage to help tenants from their units.

Several windows in the building could be seen boarded up on Monday, along with shards of glass from windows that had been smashed out during the rescue.

"They came very fast, I was surprised," Kanacevac said. "I told them, 'Look, it's a very big fire, people are trapped in their apartments.' I couldn't do nothing, so I wait and hope for the best."

Others also said they had planned to jump out the window, he said.

"'You jump from fourth floor, you're done' I told them," he said, adding that he felt helpless, but was confident the fire department would be able to save people.

Kanacevac also said the property allows cats, and that no cats were harmed during the fire.

One resident, Sakun Kcmakaejan, who lives on the second floor, said she was awoken by a neighbor pounding on her door, telling her to "come fast" and that she and her family "needed to go outside," Kcmakaejan said.

She woke her husband who, like her, was exhausted from spending much of the previous night awake with their 6-month-old baby Samuel. Kcmakaejan and her husband then grabbed the infant and made their way out the front door.

She said she had heard the sound of glass breaking earlier, but figured a neighbor had either thrown or dropped something made of glass. The last thing she thought was a fire, she said.

Once she was outside, she said she could see some of her neighbors on the other side of the building hanging out their windows, calling for help.

It was a scene unlike any Kanacevac had ever seen before in the 17 years he and his wife have managed the property.

"It was a little bit scary," Kanacevac admitted.

He said he expects the entire fourth floor, and apartments on floors directly beneath the unit that caught fire, would need to be redone due to smoke and water damage. Very little damage was left behind from the actual flames, Kanacevac said. However, the fire did cause four apartments to become uninhabitable, with two residents transitioning into available units in the building, and two others needing to find some place to live.

In total, Velez said about 30-40 residents were displaced for the time being.

As the fire department continues its investigation, Kanacevac said there's not much he can do in the meantime to assess the damage because the area is off-limits.

Kanacevac name said he wants people to know that the building did have smoke detectors, a fact Velez confirmed, but said if residents feel unsafe, he is willing to work with them to help them find a new place to live where they feel more secure.

His wife, Millie, who co-manages the building with him, said they are doing everything they can to accommodate and restore a sense of normalcy among tenants.

For now, he said he and his wife will take it day-by-day until the fire department concludes its investigation and they can get to work restoring their building.

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