Watch CBS News

Couple, Dog Rescued From Apartment Fire In Franklin Park

CHICAGO (CBS)-- A Franklin Park couple and their dog are doing okay this morning after firefighters rescued them from a burning apartment Monday night.

Neighbors rushed in to help when they saw the flames shooting from the second floor. A neighbor said a woman was hanging from a window, screaming for help.

"We go to the window, the back window, because we hear the lady screaming, saying 'Help us! Help us!'" Silvia Basulto said.

Basulto said she was having dinner with her brother late Monday night when, seconds later, he noticed flames.

"It was really high. At first, he thought they were having a cookout, and then when he saw the flames get higher, he was like, 'Oh no, it's on fire,'" she said.

So they both ran outside, and found one of their neighbors, a woman, screaming for help as she was standing by a window that had blown out.

The woman, her husband, and their dog were trapped inside the burning apartment on the 10500 block of Crown Road.

"Oh, it was terrible. She was saying 'Help me! Help me!' She was like, 'Help us! Help us! Help us!' repeatedly. You know, it's scary," Basulto said.

Basulto said she and her brother tried to keep the woman calm.

"This started with the 911 call from the residents and the people in the neighborhood reporting the fire early," said Franklin Park Fire Dept. Battalion Chief Luke Palermo.

Crews with the Franklin Park Fire Department quickly got to work as soon as they arrived.

"While they were doing that search, they found one victim in the living room, and they found another victim hanging out the second-floor window," Palermo said.

One crew used a ladder and got the woman out from the second-floor window. The other crew rescued her husband out the front door of the apartment. The family's dog was rescued as well, all thanks to neighbors who acted fast.

"I would want somebody to help us out if that was our situation," Basulto said.

The couple was taken to the hospital but are expected to be okay. The fire only affected their unit, not the entire building.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Also From CBS Chicago:

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.