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Hyde Park High-Rise Fire Was "the Scariest Thing You've Ever Seen'

By  Sam Cholke and Quinn Ford | August 11, 2014 6:15pm | Updated on August 11, 2014 7:04pm

 Five firefighters got heat exhaustion fighting an electrical fire in a high-rise building in the 5800 block of South Dorchester Avenue.
Five firefighters got heat exhaustion fighting an electrical fire in a high-rise building in the 5800 block of South Dorchester Avenue.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

HYDE PARK — Sixty fire trucks, ambulances and other vehicles responded to an electrical fire in a Hyde Park high-rise building Monday afternoon, officials said.

The building was evacuated after an electrical transformer caught fire at 4 p.m., filling hallways with smoke, according to John McNicholas, deputy fire commissioner.

"It was the scariest thing you've ever seen," said Sarah Jane Jackson, 3, who lives with her parents Matthew Jackson and Nina Dubin in the University of Chicago staff and faculty housing.

Dubin said firefighters in gas masks were already eight floors up as she and her family fled down the stairs.

Five firefighters were hospitalized for heat exhaustion. Three adults and one child from the building were also hospitalized, but none of the reported injuries were life-threatening, according to McNicholas.

 The fire began in a high-rise building in the 5800 block of South Dorchester Avenue, officials said.
The fire began in a high-rise building in the 5800 block of South Dorchester Avenue, officials said.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

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