A fire broke out on the 15th floor of a Kenwood high-rise building on Jan. 25, 2023. (Chicago Fire Department)
One person is dead and multiple people are injured after a fire broke out in a Kenwood high-rise building Wednesday morning.
Just after 10 a.m. a resident of the 298-unit building in the 4800 block of South Lake Park Avenue called 911 to report a fire, said Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt.
The fire started on the 15th floor and began to travel vertically due to wind conditions. It reached all the way up to the 24th floor, Nance-Holt said during a news conference.
One resident was killed in the fire and eight others were transported to area hospitals as “stable,” Nance-Holt said. Additionally, a firefighter suffered an orthopedic injury.
The fire was struck out by 12:30 p.m., according to the Chicago Fire Department. Ambulances remained on the scene.
Because the high-rise is a “fire-resistant building,” some residents not near the flames were told to shelter-in-place, which fire officials say is common in situations like this.
“It’s set up so that you can remain in your unit and still be safe … We don’t want people to self-evacuate because they put themselves in harms way,” said Deputy Fire Commissioner Marc Ferman.
With elevators out and long lead to standpipes crews could not outrun the vertical spread of this high rise fire 4850 Lakepark. pic.twitter.com/jGNM9SVcnL
— Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) January 25, 2023
