CHICAGO, Ill. -- Grand Crossing District officers kicked in two doors of a burning apartment building and ushered to safety a resident who had trouble walking and seeing through a thick haze of smoke that enveloped the second floor.
"On our end its another family above me, she's an older lady. They went upstairs, knocked on her door, helped her down the stairs," said Ashley Wilson, who was inside the building when the fire broke out.
Two plainclothes officers were on patrol on the 400 block of East 66th Street in the West Woodlawn neighborhood when they noticed smoke from a first floor window.
"As we got out the car, we see ... engulfing in flames, orange. And then the apartment across the hall, we see lights turning on. I'm like 'Oh crap, people are there.' I went over the (radio) and asked for assistance," said Juan Perez, an eight-year department veteran.
Wilson said she shut her door once she saw how much smoke was in the hallway.
"I live on the first floor ... I closed the door, because it was so black. I really didn't want to go out there but I knew I had to get out that building," Wilson said.
The officers had to break the doors and were banging on windows trying to get everyone's attention. The fire was confined to a first-floor apartment that wasn't occupied, police said. Neighbors across the hall and upstairs were home, though.
"Once we noticed people living in adjacent parts, next to it and above, we stated knocking, letting everyone know," said Walter Shepler, who has been with the department 7 years.
Shepler has worked with Perez for five years, and both have spent their entire careers on midnights in the South Side district.
Perez said their presence -- the sound of the door, Shepler banging on the window -- startled the building's residents.
"They were all scared because they heard me kick the door down, the first one. Then my partner was banging on the first floor window," Perez said. "One of the girls came out, I told her you need to get out, there's a fire across the hall. They grabbed whatever they had close and got out."
"The first apartment directly across (from the fire), their door was open," Shepler said. "We just kind of stepped inside and let them know, 'Hurry up and get out.' After that we started going up to the second floor."
No one was injured in the fire, though some suffered from smoke inhalation. Firefighters responded to the apartment from about a block away, at 67th Street and Vernon Avenue, and contained the fire to the single apartment. Responders had to contend with slippery conditions -- the water soon froze after discharged from the hoses, authorities said.
The American Red Cross of Greater Chicago fed the officers afterward, Perez said, and residents thanked them for their effort.
"At first -- I guessed they figured 'The police is here, what the hell,' but afterward when the fire department was there and they were outside, they were very thankful," Perez said. "It's not usual we get positive comments our way."
Wilson, whose family was ushered out by Perez and Shepler, said she appreciated the officers and firefighters who responded.
"I was so surprised the police was there," Wilson said. "To alert, to alarm us to come out the building, that was a shocker. I was so glad that we got ... the police department to come out and help save my family."
"I'm so glad, the police department and the fire department, they came right away," Wilson said. "They came right away."
WGN-TV contributed to this report.
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McClatchy-Tribune News Service
