CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Four puppies were rescued after a fire broke out in a vacant building early Thursday in Fuller Park on Chicago's South Side.
Firefighters responded to a call of several buildings who had caught fire at about 3:30 a.m. in the 4900 block of South Princeton Avenue, Chicago police said. The homes at the street are wood-framed, two and a half stories and sit close together. Two were gutted and two others in front were damaged and so were three coach houses in the rear. Seven in all.
The fire is believed to have started in a vacant building and spread, according to a Chicago Fire Department spokesperson.
"When we pulled up on the scene, we had four buildings going in front - four, two-and-a-half story frames - three coach houses in the back; we had quite a bit of firing going when we got on the scene," said Chicago Fire Department Captain Tom Carbonneau. "Right away, we started to drop lines and...put all the companies to work."
He added that by the time the fire department arrived everyone had self-evacuated.
During a search for injured people, firefighters rescued four puppies who were trapped inside one of the coach houses, fire officials said. Paramedics on scene attended to the puppied and provided oxygen masks.
"We had quite a few animals running around when we got here. We kind of corralled them all up and put them in a crate. And they are all safe over here now," Captain Carbonneau said. "Actually, paramedics were giving them oxygen. We have a system in the fire department for pets, for animals that we can supply oxygen to them. They were in smoke, they were in smoke condition, so obviously we gave them oxygen to help them out."
Eight people were displaced, fire officials said. No injuries were reported.
(WBBM Newsradio and the Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this copy.)