A fire at a home off of Roosevelt Road in Cicero was consumed in fire and took the lives of two occupants in the two-story building, a grandfather and his five-year-old grandson. Cicero Fire Chief Dominic Buscemi said that when firefighters arrived at the scene following a 911 emergency call minutes after midnight on Tuesday morning, the entire back of the building was consumed in flames and the front had damage that made it difficult for firefighters to enter the burning building.

Firefighters were told at least two maybe three people were in the building and they did force their way through the flames and structural damage through the front entrance making their way to the second floor where they found a five-year-old boy who was still alive. Attempts to save the child failed and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Firefighters also found the body of the grandfather nearby who had apparently died from smoke inhalation. One firefighter with minor injuries was taken to MacNeal Hospital for treatment. “This was a very difficult fire,” said Cicero Fire Chief Dominic Buscemi. 

“Our firefighters fought through the flames to get to the upstairs bedroom where we believed a man and a child and possibly others were located but we couldn’t save them. The child had a faint pulse but died at the scene. The grandfather was deceased in the burning structure and we were able to recover his body.”

Buscemi said that the effort to control and extinguish the fire at the two-story building at 4726 W. 12TH Place was severely hampered by strong 30 MPH winds that increased the fire’s intensity.

“The back entrance of the building was completely consumed by flames and we had to go through the front. The front had extensive damage from the fire, also, making access very difficult,” Buscemi said.

The 30 MPH winds pushed the fire causing minor damage to a home just west of the property.

The Fire Department ruled that the cause of the fire at the home on Tuesday morning was “undetermined” but they did rule out foul play as a cause. A vigil for the young boy was held on Wednesday at Liberty Elementary School.