Two firefighters and two residents suffered smoke inhalation and more than 100 residents were evacuated from their homes after an extra-alarm fire broke out in a South Side high-rise apartment building Wednesday night.
No major injuries were reported in the 34-story South Shore Beach Apartments building, where several dozen evacuated residents spilled out onto the front lawn of the complex in the 7400 block of South Shore Drive.
The fire of unknown cause started in a 12th-floor unit around 9:30 p.m., and more than two dozen engines and trucks and more than 100 firefighters were called to the scene. Most of the damage was confined to the 12th-floor apartment and to units immediately above and below it, said Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter.
The fire was brought under control shortly after it was reported and struck at 11:30 p.m., Trotter said.
Two firefighters and two residents suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to area hospitals, officials said.
In the same building in October 2003, a paraplegic man died in a fire in his 6th-floor unit after a cigarette fell on his bed, according to reports.
Wednesday night, firefighters combed the stairwells and hallways while evacuated residents waited to find out when they could return to their homes.
Aaron Reese, 28, who lives on the 11th floor, said he smelled smoke but wasn’t sure where it was coming from until he looked out in the hallway.
“It’s kind of scary,” Reese said. “I didn’t know where the smoke was coming from.”
