As an Aurora man mourns the loss of his wife in a deadly house fire, he is thankful their three children are alive due to the quick thinking of their 9-year-old son.
When Abraham Smith, 9, woke up in the middle of the night Jan. 25 and saw smoke coming from the walls of the family’s home on Spruce Street on Aurora’s near West Side, he quickly wrapped his siblings in blankets and took them outside to safety.
But his 39-year-old mother Katherine “Katielynn” Smith, who was sleeping upstairs, died in the early morning fire that also destroyed the family’s home.
Her husband Richard Smith, 45, said the loss has left a tremendous void in his life and the lives of their three children — Abraham, Lillian, 6 and Elizabeth, 3.
“She was a great mother and wife and loved doing arts and crafts with the kids, camping with them, and taking them to the park,” Smith said.
She especially enjoyed taking trips to Starved Rock State Park, he said.
Smith, who works as a yard manager for a trucking company, was at work during the early morning hours Jan. 25 when he got the call that his house was on fire.
His son Abraham was sleeping in the first-floor living room with his siblings when he woke up to see flames coming out of a wall.
Smith said Abraham first tried pouring a cup of water on the fire, but after seeing that didn’t work, he wrapped his two sisters in blankets and took them outside to get them away from the blaze.
“He saved his sisters’ lives that morning,” Smith said. “It was just incredible. I am so proud.”
A passerby called 911 to report the fire after being flagged down around 3:45 a.m. by the three children standing outside their house, Aurora Fire Department officials said. Fire crews responded to the house on the 500 block of Spruce Street and found Katielynn in a bedroom on the second floor.
“Katielynn was sleeping upstairs and the fire that started in the wall went up right into the room that she was in,” Smith said.
She was carried to a window to a firefighter who carried her on a ladder down to the ground, fire officials said. At the same time, the bedroom caught fire and a 51-year-old Aurora fire captain was injured.
Katielynn Smith was taken to AMITA Health Mercy Medical Center in Aurora in critical condition and was later pronounced dead.
Katielynn and Richard were married for 18 years and both grew up in Aurora, living only a mile apart but not knowing each other when they were children.
Now, Richard is trying his best to take over as the sole parent as he and his children live at a relative’s house.
While Smith said the kids are doing OK and he’s doing everything he can to keep them busy, the family is going through a large adjustment after losing Katielynn, their home and most of their possessions in one night.
He is particularly grateful for Greenman Elementary School in Aurora, which the kids attend, where parents and teachers have donated clothes and other items for the family.
He remembers standing in the aisles of Walmart dazed that day after the fire, trying to buy needed items for the kids.
“They didn’t even have shoes, so the donations that came in were so appreciated,” Smith said.
Smith also created a GoFundMe to help cover the cost of necessities and rebuilding the home. The structure of the 120-year-old house remains intact, but the rooms will need to be gutted, Smith said.
By Thursday afternoon, he had raised $3,750 out of a $50,000 goal. Fire officials said damage to the home is estimated at $85,000.
mejones@chicagotribune.com
