Jan. 03--Three Chicago firefighters were taken to area hospitals as a precaution after a fire in a basement in a Far South Side home left them disoriented, fire officials said Friday.
The fire was reported at 2:17 p.m. at the single family home on the 11300 block of South Elizabeth Street, said Deputy Fire Commissioner Mark Nielsen.
Two of the firefighters were taken to Roseland Community Hospital, and one of the firefighters was taken to MetroSouth Medical Center, Nielsen said. The two firefighters at Roseland were later released.
The firefighter taken to MetroSouth had run out of oxygen in his tank, Nielsen said. The firefighter remained hospitalized late Friday.
After firefighters arrived at the home, they discovered the blaze was in the basement, according to Nielsen. A "mayday" alert was called about 2:40 p.m. after one of the firefighters ran out of oxygen and others were "turned around" and disoriented.
"The basement was compartmentalized (with) a lot of partition walls and a lot of places to get lost in, that's essentially what happened," Nielsen said.
Nielsen said that the fire did not appear suspicious and that no one was at home at the time. Fire officials said a large dog died during the fire.
During the fire, a police officer who was conducting crowd control was struck by a man, police said. The man is in custody and charges are pending, police said.
Fire officials said the man, who knew the people who lived in the house, struck the officer after he was prevented from repeatedly trying to enter the home while firefighters battled the blaze.
