A Hoffman Estates couple were hospitalized Monday after a morning fire sent residents of a three-story condominium building scrambling over their balconies and caused an estimated $1 million in damage.
John E. and Zenaida McMahon were in critical condition in the burn unit at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, said hospital spokeswoman Joanne Swanson, who would not discuss the nature of their injuries.
The couple, identified by neighbors and through public record, live in the third-floor condo in which the fire started at 6:30 a.m. at the Highland Crossing building in the 1000 block of Higgins Quarter Drive, said Hoffman Estates Fire Battalion Chief Kevin Rynders.
Neither police nor fire officials would identify the victims.
Officials said the fire appeared to be accidental, but no cause was determined Monday.
“It was a really challenging fire because initial crews were confronted with flames coming from the roof of the building, two victims out in front and people on balconies who needed to get down,” Rynders said.
Resident Rani Thakkar said Zenaida “Needah” McMahon alerted her family to the fire.
“Needah came pounding on our door saying, `Get out, get out, there’s a fire,'” Thakkar said.
Still dressed in nightclothes, McMahon wanted a dress to wear downstairs. By the time Thakkar retrieved a dress, the heat and smoke had intensified.
The McMahons had already fled, but Thakkar said her family could not get out through the front door. Thakkar, her husband, Mangal, 54, and their son, Nikhil, 11, fled to their balcony. Mangal Thakkar lowered his son and his wife to neighbors on a second-floor balcony but could not get off the balcony himself.
As the neighbors lowered his family to the first floor, Mangal Thakkar was calling for help.
“On the balcony I dialed 911, and people were everywhere outside yelling, and there were flames coming around our heads from the ceiling,” said Mangal Thakkar, who was rescued when neighbors and firefighters got a ladder up to him.
About 70 firefighters responded to the call and about 10 people trapped on balconies were rescued, Rynders said.
“We’re glad to be OK but we barely made it out,” Mangal Thakkar said. “It’s like we got new lives today. Every second counted.”
At least three of the 23 units in the building were heavily damaged and several more sustained serious water and smoke damage in the course of the 45-minute fire, authorities said.
“Probably half the units won’t be inhabitable for a while,” Rynders said, though he could not estimate how many people would be affected.
