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Senior rescued while sleeping in a 4 unit Orland Park townhouse as fire spread through walls and attic

Two of four units in Orlando Park townhouse were severely damaged an uninhabitable, including the senior’s unit

The Orland Fire Protection District responded at 6:51 pm to reports of smoke coming out of the eves of a four unit townhome in the 10500 block of Illinois Court in the Eagle Ridge subdivision on Saturday August 10th, 2024.

The caller was unsure if anyone was home. The caller reported seeing smoke through a window in the structure, while Orland Fire Protection District companies were responding.

The alarm was escalated to a structure fire response after Orland Fire units arrived on the scene. They were met with smoke coming out of the eves.

Fire crews found the house locked and were unsure if anyone was in the structure. Crews forced entry and performed a search but found the homeowner was not home.

The Orland Fire District responded at 6:51 pm to reports of smoke coming out of the eves of a four unit townhome in the 10500 block of Illinois Court in the Eagle Ridge subdivision on Saturday August 10th, 2024.

Fire crews forced entry to the residence to the North Unit that was attached to the fire unit and found smoke in the structure.

A quick search found the elderly occupant asleep in a bedroom. The senior was safely removed from the structure.

Crews deployed hand lines through the front and through the garage.

Crews found fire in the walls and attic of the fire unit. The fire and smoke had extended to the adjacent unit, which was the unit first inspected, but was quickly extinguished.

Companies cut a hole into the roof to gain access to fire in the attic. The quick action by responding Orland Fire Companies stopped the fire spread and prevented the fire from spreading into all four units of the townhome through a common attic.

The fire was quickly brought under control.

An additional alarm was called for additional manpower and for coverage do to multiple others calls within the Orland Fire District. There were no injuries as a result of the fire.

Two of the four unit townhomes damaged by smoke and fire are not habitable due to fire and smoke.

If it was not for the actions of a concerned resident, the fire could have burned unnoticed and severely damaged all four units. And there were fears that the sleeping senior citizen might have been injured or worse.

The fire is under investigation by the Orland Fire District Origin and Cause team and were assisted by MABAS 19. The occupants were going to be staying with relatives.

Other departments providing coverage or manpower were Palos Fire, Lemont, Homer, North Palos, Tinley Park, Oak Forest, and other agencies.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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