CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
An 11-year-old boy died late Sunday in a fire in the Southwest Side Little Village neighborhood, officials said. Four other people were rescued.
The blaze began about 10:30 p.m. in the first floor of a 2.5 story brick building in the 2400 block of South Lawndale Ave., Fire Media Affairs Meg Ahlheim said.
The blaze originated in the boy's room and firefighters found heavy fire on the first floor when they got to the scene. Two people were rescued during a search of that floor, Ahlheim said.
The fire then began to spread to the floor above and ladders were used to pull two people from the second floor.
All four of the people rescued were adults, she said.
One of the adults was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, Ahlheim said. Three other people refused medical attention.
The boy, 11, was found during another search of the building's first floor.
He was dead at the scene, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office, who was not releasing his name early Monday pending family notification.
Neighbors say they were standing outside and felt helpless.
"I do know he was handicapped. He couldn't hear. He was mute. But he was able to walk. But he did have that handicap to where he couldn't hear and he couldn't talk," one woman said.
"Knowing the way he was, he probably hid if anything. I do know that the mom heard him screaming when she was trying to go inside. She heard a few screams, then she didn't hear anything at all," she added.
Firefighters were able to put out the fire by 11:16 p.m., and as of about 1 a.m., a few investigators and supervisors remained on scene to investigate the cause.
No smoke detectors were found in the building, according to Ahlheim.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
