Members of a city crew that repairs street curbs were hailed as heroes Thursday after rescuing a woman and her toddler from their burning Southwest Side apartment and coaxing a trapped occupant to jump to safety.
The Chicago Department of Transportation crew was working on the 4500 block of South Komensky Avenue about 8 a.m. when one of the men noticed smoke seeping out of the windows of a two-flat.
Workers Kevin Green and John Biondo ran into the building, breaking down the front door of the second-floor apartment. They brought down 3-year-old Danny Clay and his mother, Gerri, who had been sleeping on the couch. Another group of men–supervisor Joe Salas, Francisco Gonzalez, Alfredo Luevanos, Jim Slotkowski and Steve O’Grady–ran to the back after hearing screams from Clay’s roommate. “She was in the back by the bedroom window, screaming, `I’m stuck,’ and she had her face totally pressed up to the screen so she could breathe,” Salas said.
The roommate, LaToya Glover, 18, said in a telephone interview that she had been sleeping in her room, which was near the kitchen, the source of the fire. She woke up to a room full of smoke where she could barely see or breathe.
While O’Grady grabbed a neighbor’s garden hose to put out the flames, the crew told Glover to jump out of the window, but she balked, officials said.
“We were saying, `Jump! We’ll catch you. Please. Please. The fire is right in the back,'” Salas said.
Eventually Glover removed the screen, jumped and the men below caught her.
“It was an act of God,” Glover said. “We would’ve slept through it and died. There’s no such thing as heroes anymore, but these men were heroes.”
Chicago Fire Department spokesman Michael Cosgrove said the fire, which is under investigation, is believed to be accidental.
