Firefighters battled rough waters during a storm Friday to rescue a man who had fallen into Lake Michigan in Rogers Park on the North Side.
About 6:15 p.m., authorities received a call of a person in the water near Pratt Avenue, according to Chicago Fire Department officials. The callers said a man who had been on the pier had disappeared, and they heard him screaming in the water.
A helicopter couldn’t make it to the scene in time because of the weather, and the man was about 400 feet out, officials said.
“The waves were high, the water temperature I believe was 58 degrees,” Battalion Fire Chief Frank Cambria said at a press conference. “We were worried about hypothermia setting in.”
As a result, two firefighters dove into the water to attempt a rescue, officials said. The waves initially kept them from getting to the man, so two additional firefighters tied a tether to land and jumped in to help.
They were able to keep the 20-year-old man afloat long enough for a boat to pull them out of the water, officials said. The man was taken to Weiss Memorial Hospital to be treated for hypothermia. His condition was stabilized.
One of the firefighters was taken to St. Francis Hospital for evaluation, but was treated and released, officials said.
