CHICAGO _ A man was killed and about two dozen people were driven from their home in a string of fires set within blocks of each other in Chicago's Heart of Chicago neighborhood early Friday, police and fire officials said.
At least seven separate fires were reported around 3 a.m., apparently set in alley trash cans that spread to garages and at least one home in the South Side neighborhood, according to officials.
"The whole alley was red," said Jessica Ocampo, standing a few houses down from a fire in the 2200 block of South Blue Island Avenue.
The fatal fire was in the 2100 block of West 21st Street, where a man was found dead inside a garage. Police were conducting a death investigation, and no other details were available.
A few blocks away, in the 2200 block of South Blue Island Avenue, about two dozen people were displaced from their home after a fire in a residential building. No injuries were reported.
The other fires were reported in the surrounding blocks, including in nearby garages in the 1700 block of West 21st Street, the 2100 block of South Wood Street and the 1800 block of West 21st. Nobody was reported injured or displaced in those fires.
Ocampo said she was lying down when she heard what she thought was a pipe bursting. She heard sparks and then felt the heat from the fire. Fearing it would spread to her backyard, Ocampo called her uncle, who stores his vehicles at their home.
Ocampo's mother, Sandra Ocampo, said she was woken up by a noise that sounded like fireworks. She thought it was part of a celebration for Mexican Independence Day until she got out of bed and saw police in the neighborhood.
As she watched firefighters, she was amazed. "How many engines are here?" she said. "My God."
She has lived in the neighborhood since the 1970s and remembers when vehicles would sometimes be set on fire in the alleys. She thought that was the case early Friday until she saw the apartment building down the street on fire.
