CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio) – Three people, including an 8-year-old boy, were hospitalized after a house fire Monday morning in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood.
The fire broke out shortly after 6 a.m. at a two-and-a-half-story home in the 4000 block of North Austin Avenue, between Belle Plaine Avenue and Irving Park Road. Emergency radio traffic identified it as a basement fire.
An 8-year-old boy, a 17-year-old boy and a 34-year-old man were taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood with burns and smoke inhalation, according to Chicago police. All three were listed in critical condition.
The Chicago Fire Department said another person declined medical treatment. Eight people were displaced by the fire.
Firefighters used a tower ladder and ventilated the wood-frame home while working to contain the blaze. A cat was rescued from the building, and a dog also escaped.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
