One person was killed and seven others were injured, including 4 four firefighters, after a fire tore through a condo building in Des Plaines. The Sunday morning fire started quickly and people who did get out, only did with the clothes on their backs. Dozens of people that used to call this building home have had their lives shattered. Sandra Swetlek lost her home and all she owned when the 5 alarm fire tore through her condo complex. Her dog, Travis, woke her up around 7:30am as flames engulfed their floor. “You wake up and you gotta run outta your house and your house is gone. Everything you worked for and it's gone,” said Swetlek. Firefighters used aerial ladders to battle the blaze and it took hours to contain. Residents were told the building is likely a total loss. Ruslan Nairner managed to make it out, with his family, with just the clothes on their backs and says he has no idea what they will do. “It’s about as devastating as it gets. I mean whatever life we knew yesterday, is gone. Today is just a completely different day. You start out with zero,” said Nairner. The residents are asking for any kind of help. They have set up a GoFundMe page under the building's name, The Landings. Advertisement The cause of the fire is still under investigation.<doc-sep>A group of local fire departments, including North Maine Fire, responded to reports of a fire that broke out in a residential building in Des Plaines Sunday morning. Police said they were notified that a fire broke out in a building around 7:40 a.m. in the 9300 block of North Landings Lane. According to a resident, the fire started in the room of his unit and then spread out throughout the entire building. “I woke up, my bed was on fire...I tried to get a fire extinguisher, tried to put the fire out (and) came back, it was three times as worse,” Adrian Skorka explained. “It just happened too fast.” Another resident, Marina Dikanovic, said her unit is completely demolished. Dikanovic said that there’s a lot of kids that live in the building and she’s thankful that her husband and 3-year-old daughter made it out safe and sound. “It’s a very devastating thing,” Dikanovic said. Multiple families have been temporarily displaced, according to officials. Large fire impacted a condo building in Des Plaines displacing 35 units and impacting approximately 55 adults / 13 children. Red Cross volunteers are in clubhouse helping residents. Encourage impacted residents to come to clubhouse or call dispatch line 1 (877) 597-0747 for help. pic.twitter.com/nKMqdRJVb4 — American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois (@ChicagoRedCross) September 16, 2018 It was not immediately known what caused the incident or if any injuries were reported. Authorities say the investigation is ongoing.<doc-sep>One killed, several injured in Des Plaines-area condo fire One person was killed and at least six others injured, including four firefighters, Sunday morning when fire ripped through the top floor of a six-story condominium building in an unincorporated area near Des Plaines. The Cook County medical examiner's office said the victim, who was not immediately identified, died from burns. Fire officials said the person was found to be unresponsive and was later pronounced dead at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. North Maine Fire Protection District Chief Robert McKay said seven people in all were taken to a hospital for treatment, four of them firefighters who were treated for heat exhaustion and minor injuries. Two civilians also sustained minor injuries. The cause of the fire, which left 38 residents homeless and the building uninhabitable, is under investigation, he added. Two other residents trapped on their balconies by the fire were rescued by firefighters using ladder trucks. Firefighters initially tried to enter the building and fight the fire from the inside, but were forced out by flames. The fire broke out about 7:42 a.m. Sunday, forcing residents of the Landings condominiums on the 9300 block of Landings Lane, near Ballard and Potter roads, to flee with family members, pets and what belongings they could quickly gather. Many stayed and watched from nearby driveways as firefighters from North Maine and several surroundings departments used aerial ladders and hoses to send water cascading down on burning balconies. By 10 a.m., the fire was largely under control and firefighters put out hot spots and searched for anybody left behind. Meanwhile, Red Cross officials set up a command post at the complex clubhouse to answer residents' questions and arrange temporary housing. "Right now, we're trying to locate everybody and trying to find out if they have a place to go," Red Cross team leader Rick Lee said. "And if not, we're going to be putting them in a shelter." Sandra Swietlik, who lives on the building's second floor with her mother, was standing outside holding her dog, Travis, as firefighters worked to put out the blaze. "Now our house is gone," she said. "I don't know where you start from here." She said she heard a neighbor screaming there was a fire and urging everyone to leave about 7:45 a.m. "As we left and we turned the corner, we saw the smoke and within, I would say, two to three minutes, the windows blew out and smoke engulfed the whole apartment, through the roof," Swietlik said. "And then you could just hear glass shattering and you could hear things falling. And then everyone started running out of the building screaming." One woman was rescued off the balcony because she couldn't descend the stairs, she added. Damian Dikanovic, who lives on the sixth floor across the hall from where the fire started, said he and his family will be staying with their in-laws. "When I heard the fire alarms starting to go off, I opened the door. There was a bunch of smoke, and I felt some heat. So I closed my door and grabbed my daughter and the keys and wallet and I ran out down the stairs," he said. Lynn Gottfried, who lives in a building next door, said she was concerned the fire might spread. "From rooftop to rooftop. You never know," she said. Mary Swietlik, the secretary of the condominium board, said a representative from building management, Property Corporation of America in Glenview, visited the scene Sunday morning and is handling details such as insurance. "It's a shock for everybody," she said. "Everything is gone."<doc-sep>EMBED >More News Videos A four-alarm fire broke out early Sunday on the top floor of an apartment complex in the 9300 block of Landings Lane. UNINCORPORATED MAINE TOWNSHIP, Ill. (WLS) -- An elderly woman died in an apartment fire Sunday morning in unincorporated Maine Township near Des Plaines.Authorities did not identify the woman, but neighbors said she was in her 80s or 90s and was one of the original residents of the apartment complex.Just before 8 a.m., a four-alarm fire broke out on the top floor of an apartment building in the 9300-block of Landings Lane in the northern suburbs. "The fire was on the edge of my bed. I woke up to the fire on my feet," said resident Adrian Skorka. "I tried to get a fire extinguisher, tried to put the fire out. Came back, it was three times as worse. "Almost 70 people were displaced by the fire.All our personal belongings are pretty much gone but none of that really matters at a time like this," said resident Damjan Dikanovich.The American Red Cross was on the scene to help residents.The cause of the fire was not immediately known.Six people, including four firefighter, were transported to area hospitals for treatment, fire officials said.The firefighters were overcome by the heat of the fire, which started in a 6th floor unit.<doc-sep>
A person was killed and six others were injured, including four firefighters, in an extra-alarm fire Sunday morning at a condominium in northwest suburban Des Plaines. Firefighters responded at 7:42 a.m. to the blaze in the 9300 block of Landings Lane, according to the North Maine Fire Protection District and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Firefighters battling the blaze at its source on the sixth floor were eventually met with heavy fire conditions and had to back out of the building, the fire protection district said. Crews then fought the fire from the exterior of the building to allow firefighters to go back inside. During the response, firefighters were able to rescue two residents who were trapped on their balconies. An unresponsive person was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge and pronounced dead at 9:02 a.m., authorities said. The person’s identity hasn’t been released. Two other people were also taken to hospitals, the fire protection district said. Their conditions weren’t immediately known. Large fire impacted a condo building in Des Plaines displacing 35 units and impacting approximately 55 adults / 13 children. Red Cross volunteers are in clubhouse helping residents. Encourage impacted residents to come to clubhouse or call dispatch line 1 (877) 597-0747 for help. pic.twitter.com/nKMqdRJVb4 — American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois (@ChicagoRedCross) September 16, 2018 In addition, four firefighters were rushed to hospitals in unknown conditons after suffering heat exhaustion and minor injuries, the fire protection district said. The condominium was ultimately deemed uninhabitable by the Cook County Building and Zoning Department, the fire protection district said. American Red Cross volunteers arrived on the scene to assist residents who were affected by the fire, which impacted about 35 units and several families. Anyone who needs assistance should call the Chicago & Northern IL Red Cross at (312) 729-6258.