Two Chicago police officers are being lauded as heroes this morning after rescuing a couple and their young daughter from a burning apartment on Chicago’s West Side, CLTV reported.
Passersby reported the fire about 2 a.m. in the De Mar’s Grill building, with a restaurant on the first floor and an apartment above at 1701 W. Chicago Ave. in the West Town neighborhood, authorities said.
Officers Carlos Mayas and Brian Brosnan were the first responders on the scene, CLTV reported.
“We heard the victims yelling, ‘Help us! We can’t see! We’re up here!’” Mayas told CLTV. “We tried the door. It was locked. We had to kick it in. We ran up the stairs (and encountered) thick black smoke. We couldn’t see anything.”
Brosnan said, “We worked our way in there, and we were lucky to get in contact with (the family) right away.”
The officers led a man and a woman and their 6-year-old daughter out of the building, CLTV reported. The family, whose names were not immediately available, had just moved into their apartment Sunday.
The city Department of Human Services was assisting the family today. The cause of the fire was under investigation.