One firefighter died and another suffered minor injuries Tuesday morning while working to extinguish an extra blaze in the West Pullman neighborhood.
Crews responded to a house fire around 3:15 a.m. in the 12000 South Wallace Street block, the Chicago Fire Department said. The blaze eventually spread to three buildings, Chicago Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt told the media Tuesday morning.
Jermaine Pelt, a firefighter whom Nance-Holt knew personally, was fighting a fire with a hose from the second floor of a neighboring building when that building also caught fire.
Pelt was working his hose beside a lieutenant when the two received orders to evacuate the building due to deteriorating conditions, said Chicago fire department spokesman Larry Langford.
“He had face-to-face communication with his partner: ‘We have to go!' And his partner started to leave and thought he was right behind him. When they realized he had fallen, May Day was called out,” said Langford.
“It wasn't an explosion or stuck or anything like that,” Langford said. “They were all ordered out (of the building). He's in the hose line. They started out, but (Pelt) wasn't with them.”
Nance-Holt said Pelt, 49, was quickly found and taken out for treatment.
“Our firefighters and paramedics, they were working feverishly on Jermaine, performing CPR from the scene to Christ Hospital,” Nance-Holt said.
Pelt was pronounced dead in hospital, according to officials.
Three houses in the 12,000 block of South Wallace Street were damaged by the fire Tuesday morning.
Pelt joined the Chicago Fire Department in 2005 and was based on the South Side throughout his career, according to Nance-Holt.
Pelt's father, John Pelt, was devastated Tuesday morning but spoke briefly to the Sun-Times by phone.
“I would call him a hero. He is my hero,” he said. “Right now I don't feel that great.”
John Pelt said his son had a proud moment in November when he walked his 28-year-old daughter down the aisle to be married.
The newlyweds had put their honeymoon on hold and were just about to leave town for Jamaica when tragedy struck, he said.
“I don't think he feels that great either,” she said in a soft voice.
It was clear from a young age that his son was special, says John Pelt.
“When Jermaine was a baby, around 2 years old, he was very smart. He would take a knife and cut off his own arm so he could get a Band-Aid. And I said, ‘This child is going to be very special.' He ended up being a nurse and a paramedic and a firefighter,” his father said.
Pelt graduated from Corliss High School in the Pullman neighborhood before attending Olive-Harvey College, his father said.
He has celebrated his birthday in March and also has a son who is 6 years old.
The injured firefighter was lieutenant Pelt, who stepped in to help pull him from the blaze. He had minor injuries, Langford said. Another firefighter was being treated for high blood pressure, Langford said.
Two adults and two children were displaced in a house fire. Officials have not yet confirmed the cause of the fire.
The purple flag hangs over Engine Co. 75 where firefighter Jermaine Pelt is housed.
Stefano Esposito/Sun-Times