Hickory St. Apartment Fire Leaves Woman Critical

NEW LENOX, IL - A 51-year-old woman is in critical condition one day after a fire broke out around dinner time inside her dwelling at the Hickory Apartments in New Lenox. The four building apartment complex is near Route 30 and Vine Street. Police officers and New Lenox firefighters rushed to the apartment complex shortly after 5 p.m. on Wednesday. They saw thick black smoke coming from the apartment. Inside, Jean Konopasek was found unconscious. She had suffered from smoke inhalation, New Lenox deputy chief of police Louis Alessandrini told New Lenox Patch on Thursday.

Firefighters rescued her, pulling her out of the burning apartment. An ambulance brought her to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox. She was later flown to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood. As of Thursday afternoon, she remained there in critical condition, the deputy chief of police said.

It took the firefighters about 10 minutes to get the fire under control.

"There is no foul play suspected," Alessandrini told Patch. "There was a couch in one of the bedrooms where the fire appears to have originated."

ORIGINAL PATCH STORY: Apartment Fire Leaves Woman Injured

He said he did not have any additional details regarding how the couch caught fire.

Konopasek lived at the apartment unit on Hickory Street with her boyfriend, police said. He had gone to the store at the time the fire happened, Alessandrini said. When he returned, the firefighters and police officers were on the scene of the emergency.

Unrelated, New Lenox also had a bad structure fire on Tuesday morning that destroyed a house on Sanford Avenue. A 69-year-old man who lived there remains hospitalized at Loyola in Maywood.

Alessandrini said the man also remained in critical condition on Thursday.

Phone Charger May Have Caused New Lenox House Fire

Images via Todd Sherman, Northern Illinois FireGround Photos