Two men were killed in a fire Wednesday that caused massive damage to a West Chicago home.
The fire was reported about 9:30 p.m. at the two-story home in the 100 block of Grand Lake Boulevard, according to a statement from the West Chicago Fire Protection District. The initial calls reported three people trapped inside the home.
Crews arrived to find “a significant amount of fire” throughout the home, fire officials said. Firefighters attacked the blaze from outside and used ground ladders to enter and look for the residents.
Fire Chief Patrick Tanner said a man was found dead in the rear of the home on the second floor.
The DuPage County coroner’s office identified him as 52-year-old Winfield resident Brian Bachman.
Firefighters carried 92-year-old Richard Henning down a ladder from a second-floor window, Tanner and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. He was taken to Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield before being transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.
Henning succumbed to his wounds Friday, the medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy conducted Sunday ruled his death an accident, saying he died of thermal and inhalation injuries.
A woman, whose age was not immediately known, was able to get out of the house on her own, Tanner said.
The front of the house partially collapsed as crews were putting the blaze out, according to fire officials.
The Illinois fire marshal’s office, the DuPage County coroner’s office and the DuPage Fire Investigative Task Force were called to the scene, officials said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
