Nearly a dozen suburban fire departments fought a two-alarm house fire in Norridge early Wednesday.
The fire broke out around 5 a.m. in the 7900-block of West Gunnison east of Canfield. Witnesses on the scene reported multiple people were injured.
There were eight people in the house when firefighters arrived, unable to get out safely on their own.
“They were all trapped. They were screaming for help when we showed up. And as quick as we could, within a minute of us showing up, we had a few ground ladders thrown. And we were carrying people down the ladders to safety,” said Norwood Park Fire Commander David Blondell.
Tammy Le says her family members were taken to two area hospitals, and everyone is expected to be OK.
“My uncle went to save my cousins, his children, and my aunt. They were out first. And then he went back upstairs to help my grandparents,” said Le.
Two police officers were hurt helping the family get out safely. Rescuers worked swiftly to put out the fire, but then their efforts stalled.
“For the first half-hour, we were able to get water for a minute,” Blondell said, but water main breaks hampered the efforts.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
