Two women and a man have died after a hazardous materials emergency at a high-rise housing seniors in the Edgewater neighborhood on Friday morning.
The first call came in at 8:08 a.m. at 5821 N. Broadway, Fire Dpartment spokesman Larry Merritt said. One man was dead on the scene and two women, who were possibly in their 40s and 70s, were taken to Weiss Memorial Hospital, where they died, Merritt said.
The Level I Hazmat call has been controlled, said Merritt, but it was unclear what happened at the building, the Judge Fisher apartments.
“It was not [carbon monoxide poisoning],’’ said Merritt. “It was not a fire.”
Chicago police confirmed three people have died but had no further information.
According to the Chicago Housing Authority’s website, the structure is a 195-unit, high-rise senior building with studio and one-bedroom apartments that was built in 1965 and renovated in 2006. The renovation was in conjunction with the CHA’s Plan for Transformation, according to the site.
Outside the building late Friday morning, Cora Allen, 68, said the apartment complex has been quiet since she moved in four months ago.
Nothing like this has ever happened, Allen said, adding the block is also quiet and calm.
“There’s no real violence in the building,” said Roberta Nunziato, 73.
Nunziato, who has lived in the building for more than five years, said she’s never seen this many police cars in front of the apartment building.
“This is totally unusual,” she said.
Nunziato said the building has a lunch program, a barbecue and meetings during the week. There’s a community feel, she said.
