'Save my kitty!'
BY GEOFF WALLIN
July 18, 2007 | 10:15 AM
When Officer Brendan Dougherty found the elderly woman on the floor of her burning apartment Monday night, she was in bad shape. Her skin was burned black by the flames and the nylon hat that she wore was melted to her head.
"Save my kitty!" were her only words, said Dougherty at a press conference.
At 6807 N. Sheridan Rd., a fire raged in the woman's second-floor apartment while thunder rolled outside and rain pounded the street.
"The heat was so intense the windows were actually bursting out," said Officer Kenneth Meerbrey, who arrived shortly after Dougherty.
Dougherty and his partner, Glen Shirahama, were only a few blocks away from the nine-story apartment complex in Rogers Park when the call came in at 11:42 p.m.
When they got there, the smoke from the fire was already filling the lobby downstairs. They entered the building and pulled the alarm. Making their way through the thick smoke and upstairs, they located the source of the fire and the woman inside the apartment.
Lying in front of her door, she said that her stove had simply exploded on her, said Dougherty, who rescued her from the burning building with the help of a stranger. Outside, paramedics administered first aid and took her to the hospital.
Information on her condition was not available today.
Up on the third floor, Shirahama said, he heard a baby crying. He carried it outside while the child's mother carried another, he said.
The police began evacuating the other residents, which wasn't always easy. Many didn't want to open their doors, believing they were safer inside their apartments.
One elderly man had to be forcibly removed from his apartment.
It was all over by 11:57, when fire fighters put the flames out.
While the woman, in her 60's, suffered second- and third-degree burns, the worst danger to the police officers was the smoke.
"Smoke is smoke and there was a lot of it," said Dougherty.
The hallways were dark with smoke, and the officers had to kick out a window for ventilation. Still, by the time Dougherty took the woman into the outside air, he was suffering what he described as a severe headache.
Along with Dougherty, Shirahama, and Meerbrey, Officers Matthew Scanlon, Steven McNichols, Jeffery Pacocha, and Thomas Sebastian were treated for smoke inhalation and were back at work today.
Police initially said only five officers were taken to the hospital. Later, the department said the correct number was seven.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. It claimed one victim.
"We believe that the cat didn't make it," said Dougherty.
"Save my kitty!" were her only words, said Dougherty at a press conference.
At 6807 N. Sheridan Rd., a fire raged in the woman's second-floor apartment while thunder rolled outside and rain pounded the street.
"The heat was so intense the windows were actually bursting out," said Officer Kenneth Meerbrey, who arrived shortly after Dougherty.
Dougherty and his partner, Glen Shirahama, were only a few blocks away from the nine-story apartment complex in Rogers Park when the call came in at 11:42 p.m.
When they got there, the smoke from the fire was already filling the lobby downstairs. They entered the building and pulled the alarm. Making their way through the thick smoke and upstairs, they located the source of the fire and the woman inside the apartment.
Lying in front of her door, she said that her stove had simply exploded on her, said Dougherty, who rescued her from the burning building with the help of a stranger. Outside, paramedics administered first aid and took her to the hospital.
Information on her condition was not available today.
Up on the third floor, Shirahama said, he heard a baby crying. He carried it outside while the child's mother carried another, he said.
The police began evacuating the other residents, which wasn't always easy. Many didn't want to open their doors, believing they were safer inside their apartments.
One elderly man had to be forcibly removed from his apartment.
It was all over by 11:57, when fire fighters put the flames out.
While the woman, in her 60's, suffered second- and third-degree burns, the worst danger to the police officers was the smoke.
"Smoke is smoke and there was a lot of it," said Dougherty.
The hallways were dark with smoke, and the officers had to kick out a window for ventilation. Still, by the time Dougherty took the woman into the outside air, he was suffering what he described as a severe headache.
Along with Dougherty, Shirahama, and Meerbrey, Officers Matthew Scanlon, Steven McNichols, Jeffery Pacocha, and Thomas Sebastian were treated for smoke inhalation and were back at work today.
Police initially said only five officers were taken to the hospital. Later, the department said the correct number was seven.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. It claimed one victim.
"We believe that the cat didn't make it," said Dougherty.
Tagged: Rogers Park, fires, Rogers Park
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