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2 Rescued, Hosptalized In South Side Fire

UPDATED 02/10/11 11:03 a.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Officials advise everyone to stay inside during the dangerous, subzero cold, but firefighters don't have that option.

As CBS 2's Susanna Song reports, on Thursday morning, they answered a call for help in the South Side's Chatham neighborhood, in a blaze that left two people injured.

A still-and-box alarm was called at 8:35 a.m. for a fire on the first floor of a two-unit, 2-1/2 story brick building at 45 E. 87th St. at the intersection with Wabash Avenue, according to Fire Media Affairs spokesman Richard Rosado.

Firefighters rescued a man from the second floor after the fire spread there, according to Fire Media spokesman Will Knight. The man, who was in his late 40s, was trapped in the bathroom, fire officials said.

He was taken in serious to critical condition to Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center. At the time of his rescue, he was unconscious, but breathing, fire officials said.

Knight said a woman, possibly in her 70s, was also taken to Saint Bernard in fair condition. "She was taken, more or less for observation," he said.

Pamela Williams, a sister-in-law of the man who was injured, was very emotional as she stood outside the building that burned Thursday morning.

"I just heard that the house was on fire," Williams said. "My sister called me at work, and I left work and 9 and came, and everything was gone – the whole building. My mom is in the hospital, and my brother-in-law is in the hospital."

Williams is worried sick about her brother-in-law, and was praying Thursday morning that he fully recovers.

The windows in the two-story, postwar building were blown out, and soot covered the living room in the second floor unit. Pictures and furniture were charred.

A witness, Debra Larkins, said she saw the family run out of the house.

"As soon as they got downstairs, all they saw was smoke. They couldn't see their way out. They literally felt their way out the back door," Larkins said.

Fire Lt. John Silva went up in the heavy smoke to make the rescues.

"It's something that we train for. It's something that we do not do every day, but we are trained to do it," Silva said. "It comes second nature, so as soon as we found him, I did inform the chief right away."

As firefighters battled the blaze, they were mindful of the extreme cold.

"It's on everybody's mind as far as water, to make sure there's no frozen hydrants, but as a precaution, the district had notified us to escalate the alarm as soon as we got out," said Battalion Chief Edward Cerdan. "The alarm was already escalated on my way here, because of the cold weather."

The cause of the fire was unknown as of 11 a.m. Thursday.

The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.

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