Chicago, IL- Multi-Fatal Fire 03-10-07

[Truck4 48]

Date: 03-10-07

Time: 0650hrs

Location: Addison X Freemont (Wrigleyville)

Departments: CFD

Description: Suspicious fire originating in the 1st floor stairwell with extension to the 2nd and 3rd floors. (4) DOA's located in (2) apartments of a 3-brick OMD.

Writer: Truck4

(AP) 03-11-07

Three men and a woman died in an apartment fire that occurred around the same time on Saturday as two other suspicious fires on the city's North Side, authorities said.

Investigators were looking into possible links between the fires, which took place within blocks of each other in the city's Wrigleyville neighborhood, named for its proximity to Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

The deadly fire appears to have started in a front stairwell, where there were no obvious ignition sources, and the Chicago Police Department's Bomb and Arson Unit was investigating, Langford said. The unit routinely is sent to fatal fires, said police spokeswoman Monique Bond.

"This is a bad one," Langford said.

The two suspicious fires that also broke out on Saturday morning were minor and did not result in any injuries, Langford said. At least one, located "around the corner" from the fatal fire, likely started in an entry hall, Langford said.

Answers about a cause or whether the fatal fire was deliberately set will be determined after a thorough investigation, Bond said.

The fire "was pretty severe, so it's probably going to take a while," she said.

The victims, three men and a woman, were found dead in the three-story, brick apartment building at the intersection of Addison and Fremont Streets, about a block from Wrigley Field, Bond said.

The medical examiner's office didn't immediately have information about victims' identities because family members had not been notified, a spokeswoman said.

One man was in stable condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center after jumping from a third floor window, Langford said. No other victims were found after a search of the building, but several firefighters suffered minor injuries, including smoke inhalation.

The fire was reported shortly before 7 a.m. and firefighters were on the scene about two minutes later, said Fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco. The blaze was out within a half hour, but when firefighters searched the building, they found three people dead in one apartment and one dead in a second apartment, Langford said.

The building has more than a dozen units. The fire was contained to the second and third floors, Langford said.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broa