CHICAGO — A Logan Square woman who is more than eight months pregnant remains hospitalized after she fell down a flight of stairs while escaping a fire set by an arsonist, prosecutors said.
The teen accused of setting fire to a vacant building in the 3500 block of West Palmer Street was charged with aggravated arson after prosecutors said the fire he set spread next door, leaving 10 children and 7 adult without their home.
Isaiah Camacho, 18, of the 4700 block of West Deming Place, who has no apparent criminal history, was ordered held on $400,000 bail Thursday when he appeared briefly before a Cook County judge on the charges.
Camacho, prosecutors said, went into the vacant building around 2:45 a.m. Wednesday. In the northeast corner of the building, he started lighting matches and dropping them to the floor.
The third match caught a half-full bag of clothes on fire, prosecutors said. Camacho lingered for a moment and then left.
He went a to his aunt's house, located less than a block from the blaze, and watched as the building became completely engulfed in flames, prosecutors said.
Ten children and seven adults who live in the building next door were forced to run from their home when the flames spread. A pregnant woman stumbled down a flight of stairs while trying to escape, prosecutors said.
A short time later, a firefighter on the roof of the burning building was injured while trying to extinguish the flames, prosecutors said.
Camacho was allegedly caught on nearby surveillance video riding his bike down the alley adjacent to the building.
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