Freddy Vierma had just gotten his 11-month-old daughter to sleep at about 12:15 a.m. Tuesday when he heard a loud crash on his balcony in Oak Forest.
Outside his first-floor window, he saw flames.
The upstairs balconies were enveloped in fire, and the deck furniture was crashing down. He and his wife grabbed the baby and fled.
The fire in the 12-unit Shibui condominiums at 15701 Peggy Lane left residents sleeping in their cars in the early morning hours or finding shelter at the homes of relatives.
Vierma lived below the second-
and third-floor south-facing units, which were heavily damaged.
All residents — and pets — escaped, in some cases thanks to neighbors who woke them.
Residents said Ryan Bogenschneider, who lives in a unit across the street, ran into the building and began pounding on doors and grabbing pets while his stepson rang buzzers to alert residents.
Investigators are working on the cause, but Fire Chief Lindsay Laycoax said he did not expect a report for a few days. The chief said it appeared the fire started on the second floor and spread to the third and over the roof.
Vierma gazed in disbelief at the debris while his daughter dozed in her stroller.
“I lost everything,” he said. “Everyone’s just a little bit scared.”
Resident Clare Horneij was away, sleeping at her daughter’s, when she received a phone call at 4 a.m. about the fire. Her cat was rescued before she arrived.
“It’s just, now what do you do?” she said. “You feel for Katrina [victims].”
Residents gathered with trash bags outside the caution tape when firefighters arrived to escort them in to collect valuables.
“We’re getting married in September,” said Kristin Vantichelt, who waited with fiance Matt Siville before discovering her unit sustained mostly water damage.
“The wedding ring’s upstairs. My veil is upstairs.”
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lkishter@tribune.com
