Officials: Man killed in Lawndale vacant building fire

A man was killed in a fire Friday morning in a vacant building in the Southwest Side Lawndale neighborhood.

Firefighters responded about 5:15 a.m. to the blaze at the back porch of a three-story vacant building in the 1800 block of South Hamlin, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

The building was vacant, but that it was occupied by a squatter at the time of the fire, the Fire Department said. A 61-year-old man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he later died.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not released details about the death.

The fire was extinguished by 7 a.m., fire officials said. The Office of Fire Investigation is investigating the blaze.