Family Rescued From Roof After Flossmoor Home Catches Fire

FLOSSMOOR, IL - Firefighters in Flossmoor rescued four residents of a home near Ash Street and Brumley Avenue early Monday morning. Crews arrived at 6:25 a.m. to find all four members of the family on the roof of the single family home, which had smoke visible from the second floor according to the Flossmoor Fire Department.

"Our crews quickly threw a ground ladder and assisted them off the roof while also deploying an attack line for suppression.," according to a fire department news release.

All four occupants of the home were taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where they were treated with smoke inhalation. Flossmoor Fire Capt. Matthew Berk said it does not appear that any of the injuries are life-threatening and that no firefighters were injured while putting out the blaze.

Berk said the occupants of the home were two parents and two children. One of the children had to wake up the father to alert him to the fire, he said. There was no evidence of a working smoke detector in the home.

"We ask that occupants and residents check and test smoke detectors for proper operation," Berk said. "Smoke detectors and CO detectors have proven to save countless lives."

Traffic on Ash from Brumley to Beech Street was blocked temporarily while firefighters worked to extinguish the fire, according to a WGN-TV Traffic tweet that showed an aerial view of the fire. Brumley was blocked from Elm Street to Central Park Avenue.

#Skycam9 over a house fire in Flossmoor. Ash is blocked Brumley to Beach. Brumley is blocked Elm to Central Park. pic.twitter.com/0I837bRE8k
— WGN-TV Traffic (@WGNtraffic) February 20, 2017

Berk said the family will be displaced from the home, but it should not be considered a total loss. It is uninhabitable currently, however.

Flossmoor crews were assisted in putting out the blaze from neighboring fire departments in Hazel Crest, Homewood, Country Club Hills, Tinley Park and Thornton. The fire was extinguished within 20 minutes.

Ambulances from Tinley Park and Thornton transported the victims to Advocate South Suburban Hospital.

Crews from South Holland and Glenwood provided backup at the Flossmoor fire house in case any additional calls were to come in.

Photos courtesy of Kurt Hudspeth