FULLER PARK - The grandparents of a girl made famous by her Jolly Rancher hairstyle escaped their home just before flames engulfed it, a neighbor said.
“They ran out and it just went up,” said Carolyn Hardeman, 59. “… It was all the way up to the roof - past the roof.”
The Chicago Fire Department reported the fire at 4438 South Shields Ave. on the South Side at 1:40 p.m. via the department's Twitter feed.
Sam Jones, 61, and his wife ran out of their Fuller Park home Thursday after a downstairs renter alerted them to the fire.
“It started blazing from the basement,” Jones said. “Someone knocked on the door to tell us and we all ran out.”
The fire was "struck out" less than half an hour later, the fire department reported.
Jones said he and his wife just moved into the home Friday. Jones’ daughter Lucinda Lofton, 29, said her mother and father were left homeless by the fire.
“We don't know what they'll do, but all of us [children] are here so they can stay with any of us," she said.
Lofton’s daughter became a viral sensation last year after her second-grade teacher posted pictures of her Jolly Rancher hairstyle on Facebook.
Lofton filed a lawsuit in April 2011 against the Overton Elementary School teacher. Lofton’s daughter wanted Jolly Rancher candies incorporated into her braids for picture day after seeing the style in a magazine, the Tribune reported.
