Chicago apartment fire kills 8, including children, officials say
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At least six children and two adults were killed early Sunday after a fire broke out in a Chicago apartment without working smoke detectors, fire officials said.
A teenager and another adult were taken to the hospital in "very critical condition." A Chicago firefighter was taken to the hospital in good condition, the fire department said.
"We have not had this in many, many, many years -- this amount of fatalities and injuries in one location," Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago told reporters, adding that one of the children killed was an infant.
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The ages of the people killed were not released. Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said those killed and injured were from the same residence.
The blaze broke out around 4 a.m. Sunday inside the three-story apartment building in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, the Chicago Tribune reported. Flames engulfed at least two buildings, including a coach house.
Denise Mercado told the newspaper she and her five children woke up when they smelled smoke. She rushed to get her family out of the house.
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“I carried my brother,” the little boy said.
Mercado said in Spanish, “The flames...it was huge.”
The fire was put out just after 5 a.m.
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COP ADOPTS DOG RESCUED FROM CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
At the hospital, a woman cried, “I can’t live without my babies.”
It’s unclear what caused the fire at this time. Investigators did not find working smoke detectors in the apartment.