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Streeterville High-Rise Fire Scorches Two Floors

By Lizzie Schiffman Tufano | February 1, 2013 12:21pm | Updated on February 1, 2013 1:49pm

STREETERVILLE — Firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire on the seventh and eighth floors of a Streeterville high-rise Friday morning.

The fire started at 230 E. Ontario St., a 28-story condo building, about 11:15 a.m., according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

Crews put out the flames within 30 minutes, and one person was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition, Langford said.

The building's manager told fourth-floor resident Mark Marshall, 54, that the fire was electrical and largely contained to the seventh floor.

He said he was in his unit when it began to fill with smoke, and firefighters told him to stay put.

"Are you f---ing kidding me? It's full of smoke," Marshall said he told firefighters before leaving the building via the stairs.

Marshall, who has lived in the building for a decade, said the building's sprinkler system was updated in all common areas about four years ago.

Stefan Shine, a 39-year-old fourth-floor resident, said smoke was coming through the ventilation as he was taking a shower.

John Paul Youpel was doing construction on a building next door when he saw the fire.

"There were flames shooting out of the window," said Youpel, 28. "But the Fire Department was here right away before the flames even got big."

Youpel said the floors of the building he was working on happened to have flame-retardant materials covering the surfaces closest to the fire.

"It got pretty intense pretty quick," he said.