CHICAGO — An 8-year-old girl escaped a fire in a Chicago apartment by throwing a mattress from a third-floor window and jumping to safety, officials said.
The girl was watching her two younger brothers Wednesday while their mother was working when the fire broke out at about 11:30 p.m., the Chicago Tribune reported.
When firefighters arrived at the apartment building in the Washington Park neighborhood of the city, they found a 5-year-old boy at the window preparing to follow his sister to the mattress, the newspaper reported. Instead, members of the Chicago Fire Department used a ladder to reach the boy, and pulled him and a 2-year-old boy to safety, the Tribune reported.
Fire officials originally incorrectly listed the ages of two of the children.
6147 Wabash apartment fire . The children a girl age ten and two boys 4 and 2 were inside. The girl threw a mattress from third floor window and jumped. 4 year old rescued at window by ladder. CFD also got 2 year old from inside all taken to Comer serious. No adult at home. pic.twitter.com/Prbu8cPwBu
— Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) March 18, 2021
“This looks like it was a kitchen fire,” Chicago fire spokesperson Larry Langford told WLS. “The mother was nearby ... it does not look like anything is life-threatening but we were lucky tonight, very lucky.”
Another fire spokesperson, District Chief Frank Velez, said a kitchen fire had not yet been confirmed.
“Even if there was a fire somewhere close to the kitchen, still I have our Office of Fire Investigation on the scene trying to determine cause and origin,” Velez said.
Velez said he was impressed by the girl’s quick thinking. While throwing a mattress and jumping is not an ideal situation, Velez said he was glad that it worked and commended the child on her move to protect herself and her siblings.
6147 wabash. Multi building housing development. Fire in one unit contained and put out. Three kids in fire apartment being evaluated. Seem to be ok. EMS plan 1 secured. Warming bus ordered from CTA pic.twitter.com/bdJBYlOnel
— Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) March 18, 2021
“I wouldn’t recommend it, but the fact of the matter is that the kid was quite innovative to think of something,” Velez told the Tribune. “You’d be surprised (at) what an individual can do when you’re in that sympathetic and parasympathetic stage of fight or flight.
“They’re thinking to save themselves one way or another and obviously you have to give a credit to the kid for really thinking of something like that.”
Each of the children was taken to an area hospital in serious condition, WMAQ reported. Velez told reporters that the conditions of all three children have stabilized.
Police spokesperson Kellie Bartoli told the Tribune there were no charges pending against the children’s mother, explaining that a neighbor was babysitting them. Velez, however, said he did not know if the neighbor was in the apartment when the fire began, the newspaper reported.
The building contained 12 apartments and the occupants were evacuated, according to the Tribune.
Velez said the girl likely was safe when she jumped because of her small size, the newspaper reported. He repeated that he was impressed with her cool thinking under fire.
“I’m thinking, damn these kids are smart. And we don’t give these kids credit enough for paying attention in our school systems, which they are,” Velez told the Tribune. “They pay attention to these fire safety presentations. These kids are quite resilient and intelligent and smarter than people give them credit for and they do pay attention and any lifesaving measures you can think of, that’s what they can come up with.”
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