With someone banging on his front door early Tuesday, Damon Cook stumbled out of bed and noticed a neon glow coming from his bedroom window.
“Oh, the blood moon.” he thought. “Cool.”
But it wasn’t the gory-sounding overnight lunar eclipse that was casting the reddish light into his bedroom.
It was the fire at a house next door.
The man banging on the door was a neighbor trying to alert everyone.
“I ran back in and my boyfriend was up and I was like ‘Grab the dog! Grab the dog!” recalled Cook, 23, who was wrapped in a Red Cross blanket Tuesday morning as he stood outside of four fire-damaged homes on the 2400 block of North Washtenaw Avenue in Logan Square.
“I’m just glad that our baby’s OK, that’s all I care about,” he said, referring to his tiny dog, Chester.
“I feel lucky we got out OK and no one was seriously hurt,” said Cook’s boyfriend, Brian Wahnon, 28.
A man from the neighboring home where the fire began was hospitalized for smoke inhalation but was in good condition. No other injuries were reported.
The extra-alarm fire gutted one home before causing significant damage to three others.
“Fire is scary, you never think this s--- is going to happen to you until it does,” Cook said. “But we’re OK. Now we just have to figure out where we’re going to go.”
The blaze began just after 6 a.m. at a three-story home before spreading. About 125 firefighters responded to the scene, according to Deputy District Fire Chief Robert Jurewicz.
2444 north Washtenaw will be a total loss. Rear has collapsed. Will have to be torn down. Three other buildings suffered heavy but less severe damage. OFI investigating. pic.twitter.com/lsq7nsBphB
— Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) November 8, 2022
The building where the fire started was gutted but lesser damage occurred at the three adjacent buildings, Jurewicz said.
At least seven people were displaced by the fire, officials said.
The blaze was under control by 8 a.m. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
