The Chicago Fire Department is investigating a fire in a Rogers Park townhome that killed four people early Thursday morning.
Police say the victims are a 13-year-old boy, a 22-year-old man and two women, ages 46 and 69.
Neighbors say they’re a grandmother, mother and her two sons.
The light-colored brick two-story building Paulina and Greenleaf is covered in black soot near where a door and windows used to be.
Throughout the morning, fire investigators took pictures and combed through the charred remnants while a group of people stood and watched just past yellow police tape.
They cried and hugged each other, wrapped in blankets and grief.
Alderwoman Maria Hadden called it the worst kind of tragedy for their close-knit community.
The fire department says the fire started at about 4:15 in the morning.
Millicent Adu lives in the building and tells us she called 911 after smelling smoke and seeing flames two doors down.
While her family was able to wake other neighbors to get them to get out, she says intense flames prevented them from getting inside the victims’ home.
Alderwoman Hadden says the four-unit building is in good condition but some neighbors will have to find another place to stay in for a little while.
