(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The city of West Chicago and several groups are trying to help more than 100 tenants displaced by a fire that raced through their apartment complex earlier this week.
West Chicago Police Chief Colin Fleury said the city and organizations such as the Red Cross and We Go Together For Kids are trying to help the residents in the short and long term.
That includes finding displaced children new lodging near their schools.
“They’ve had a bad enough experience as it is. We don’t want to disrupt it more where they can’t go to the same school with their friends,” he said.
Many of the residents are being temporarily being housed at New Hope Methodist Church.
Chief Fleury said residents and some of his officers were among those trying to get people out of the complex safely, even by putting up their own ladders to the building.
He said one of the officers, Steve Castro, joined with three residents of the building to help catch a nine-year old boy who was dropped from a third-floor window to escape the flames.
A landing page online has been set up with more information about how to help.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated. Six people were injured, including a pregnant woman and a firefighter.
The boy who was dropped from the third-floor suffered bruises, the police chief said.
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