Fire Leaves Home On Alameda Avenue Unlivable

OAK FOREST, IL — A home on Alameda Avenue in Oak Forest is uninhabitable after a fire erupted early Monday morning. Neither of the two people who live in the home nor any firefighters from the seven fire departments that responded around 5:15 a.m. on July 6 were injured in the blaze, which remains under investigation two days later.

The fire began on the outside deck of the home in the 15200 block of the avenue and spread up the back wall of the home and into the attic, Oak Forest Fire Chief John Janozik said. The residents were awakened by the smell of smoke and then spotted the fire, the chief said. There were no working smoke detectors.

"When crews arrived they deployed a hand line to knock the fire down from the outside and went interior to finish putting out the fire," Janozik said, adding that the damage to the outside of the home was "extensive" and there was also damage to the attic and kitchen "due to overhaul and checking for extension of the fire into the attic."

Crews took about 20 minutes to put it out, according to the chief.

Firefighters in Oak Forest passed out free smoke detectors to area residents who did not have any a day after the fire through an Illinois Fire Safety Alliance program, Janozik said.