'It's So Tragic': Wife Loses Husband Of 30 Years In Wrightwood House Fire
CHICAGO (CBS)-- A woman lost her husband of 30 years in a house fire early Tuesday morning.
John "Stan" Johnson, 77, died in a fire on Chicago's Southwest Side. The man was the only person inside, his wife was at work at the time of the incident.
The fire started in a one-story house at 85th and Whipple streets around 3 a.m. Tuesday.
Firefighters battled thick smoke and flames and had to douse hot spots on the front of the building.
His wife, Brenda Johnson arrived at the home shortly after she was notified by her Ring camera.
"He was a really sweet gentle man," Johnson said. "It's so tragic."
Johnson said she was at work just before 3 a.m., when she got an alert on her phone from their Ring camera. With no idea what was happening inside, she called 911 and rushed home.
When she arrived, she learned her husband, the man she'd spent the last 50 years of her life with, had passed away.
"It's unbearable. I just, I've just been with him so long, I just don't know how I'm going to live without him," she said.
Stan, as his friends called him, was a retired health inspector for the city of Chicago. He and his wife had been married for 30 years.
Loved ones said the couple lived alone, and believe Stan Johnson was asleep when the fire started. They said the home had working smoke detectors.
Johnson leaves behind a wife, seven children, 16 grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.
It is not known what caused the fire.
