3 children were injured, 1 critically after a fire started inside their apartment. (WGN - Chicago)
A 4-year-old girl was in critical condition this morning after she was pulled from a burning bed in her South Side home by neighbors who heard the desperate screams of her older sister, officials said.
"She came downstairs and was knocking on everyone's door," said Sandra Gray. "She was screaming, 'My sister's on fire.' "
Gray said she and her husband and a neighbor ran up the stairs of the four-flat and saw the bottom of a bunk bed on fire. "All I saw was that the bed was on fire and the baby was burned," Gray said. "You could see the bed on fire."
She said the older sister, 16, tried to pull the girl from the bed and burned her hands. Gray's husband and the neighbor finally put the fire out with water as firefighters and paramedics arrived, she said.
Gray said the girl was conscious but badly burned.
Clyde Harden, who rushed up with Gray, said he grabbed hold of the little girl and helped put out the fire. “I believe that she was sheltered by God already,” he told reporters on the scene. “Somebody was there for her.”
The girls, along with a 10-year-old brother, were taken to Comer Children's Hospital. The young girl was listed in critical condition and the other two were in good condition, according to fire officials.
The 4-year-old remained in critical condition today with burns to more than 50 percent of her body, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
The girl was on a breathing tube, she said. “She’s intubated."
Gray said the teenager told her the children were alone in their apartment in the 1000 block of West 76th Street Wednesday evening. The 16-year-old said she was in a back bedroom doing her homework when the boy ran to her room around 7:15 p.m.
"The 10-year-old ran back there to tell her [their sister] was on fire," Gray said.
Though an official cause has not been determined, authorities are looking into the possibility that someone inside the home had been playing with a lighter or matches, Langford said.
Police News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada said the blaze does not appear to be suspicious. “It looks like it may have been accidentally started,’’ he said.
csadovi@tribune.com
Girl: 'My sister's on fire'
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Girl: 'My sister's on fire'
