CHICAGO — A Wednesday night fire in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood — a blaze one politician said was intentionally set in an act of gang retaliation — left three firefighters injured and roughly two dozen residents displaced from their homes, officials said.
The fire broke out about 11 p.m. Wednesday near 45th Street and Hermitage Avenue, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said. The three firefighters were transported to nearby hospitals with minor injuries, he said, with one firefighter being released a short time later.
Merritt was unable to immediately confirm how many people were displaced by the fire, although multiple published reports have said more than 25 Chicagoans lost their homes. Videos posted online showed soaring flames consuming a three-story apartment building and spreading to the side and roof of another apartment building.
