2 Critically Injured After Being Trapped By West Side Fire
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman who jumped from a burning apartment building and a man who tried to save her were critically injured early Tuesday in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.
The fire started around 3 a.m. Tuesday at a three-story apartment building at the corner of Monroe and Kildare. At least 60 firefighters responded to the blaze.
According to the Fire Department, a female squatter was trapped on the third floor.
She was screaming for her life, and witnesses said a man squatting on the second floor below the woman stepped out onto a ledge, and asked her to drop so he could catch her.
After negotiating with her for about five minutes, the woman hung from the ledge and tried to drop in to the man's arms.
"He tried to catch her, but when he caught her, the wood had started to buckle, and it broke, and they collapsed and fell down to the bottom," witness Jonathan Anderson said. "As soon as her feet got into his hands, and he was trying to bring her feet to his chest so he could grab a couple, the wood gave from underneath him, and he dropped straight to the bottom."
The man and woman both were badly burned and suffered serious smoke inhalation injuries, and went to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze by about 3:30 a.m.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
