Two people died in a fire at a home near 51st Street and Lorel Avenue on Aug. 29, 2015. (Courtesy Radioman911.com)
By Marwa Eltagouri, Alexandra Chachkevitch and Deanease Williams-Harris
Officials are investigating a suspicious fire in which two men died Saturday morning on the city's Southwest Side.
According to police, the fire broke out shortly before 10 a.m. at a structure on the 5200 block of South Lorel Avenue in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood, according to Officer Janel Sedevic, a Chicago police spokeswoman. Sedevic said two men were discovered unresponsive inside the building.
Chicago Police Department arson detectives are investigating a suspicious fire in which two men died in the morning Aug. 29, 2015, on the city's Southwest Side. (Marwa Eltagouri / Chicago Tribune)
The two men, ages 63 and 26, were the only people in the house at the time, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. A child also lived in the single-family home, he said, but had stayed somewhere else overnight.
Firefighters responded to the scene after receiving several calls from neighbors. They arrived within three minutes and weren't able to gain entry right away, said Chief Paul Foertsch, a district chief with the department.
The firefighters then fought their way through the heavy volume of fire on the house's first and second floors. Once the flames were controlled, they discovered the victims, Foertsch said.
The 63-year-old man was found on the first floor while the 26-year-old man was found on the second floor near the window, where he was crouched in a way that indicated he was trying to protect himself, Langford said.
"He was probably trying to get to the window but couldn't," Langford said. "The flames had to be just ferocious."
"There was no way they could've saved anybody. Within two minutes, the house was filled with heavy black smoke," said Eric Haak, who lives three blocks from the house and witnessed some of the fire. "There was fire coming out of all the windows and doors. At that point, anyone inside was already deceased."
Fire officials consider the fire to be suspicious, Langford said. He said the burn patterns were interesting, and that it was unusual for a morning fire to go from "first call" status to "fully involved" status in just three minutes, the department's response time for this incident.
"Houses don't become fully involved that rapidly unless there's something fueling the fire," he said.
No working detectors were found in the building, according to Langford.
The investigation is being conducted jointly by Chicago Police Department Arson and Area Central Detectives, along with the Chicago Fire Department Office of Fire Investigation, the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Langford said in a later news release.
Neither of the victims has been officially identified. Fire officials have not yet determined how or where the fire was started.
The Cook County medical examiner's office said it had been notified of the fire deaths at the Lorel Avenue address.
The Lowell Sun
Updated: AUGUST 28, 2015
TEWKSBURY, MASS.
A construction worker of an overnight Route 38 project is in critical condition at Brigham and Women's Hospital after a Lawrence man allegedly hit him with his car.
The victim, whose name is not released, is an employee of the Bronx Construction Company. He was working on Main Street about 2:30 a.m. when he was struck, according to police.
Police arrested Domenic Cataldo, 29, for operating under the influence of liquor resulting in serious injury, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and operating wiht a revoked license.
The victim, from Kingston, was transported to Lowell General Hospital and later airlifted to Boston for treatment. Police shut down Route 38 traffic for about three hours to investigate the incident with state police.
Dominic Cataldo
Cataldo was arraigned on Friday in Lowell District Court.
The incident is the third one in the past week that involves cars striking passersby. Last Saturday, a Pepperell police cruiser was struck and a sergeant was injured. Police arrested a Chelmsford woman for failing to yield at an intersection. Police say she was also inebriated and charged her with operating under the influence of alcohol.
Just three days later in Billerica, police arrested a Lowell man after he allegedly stuck a police cruiser while intoxicated, sending an officer to the hospital.
Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/breakingnews/ci_28719457/construction-worker-critically-injured-police-charge-driver-oui#ixzz3kJaNalDW
3 construction workers injured in Venice
Three men were injured when they fell from a forklift at the Island Court condominium complex in Venice on Friday morning. SNN PHOTO / KEVIN ANGELL
STAFF REPORT
Published: Friday, August 28, 2015 at 4:05 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, August 28, 2015 at 4:05 p.m.
VENICE, FLORIDA
Three construction workers fell from the top of a forklift Thursday morning, leaving one with traumatic injuries, the Venice Fire Department reported.
The men were installing windows at the Island Court condominium complex when they lost their footing and fell more than 10 feet from the forklift to the ground, the VFD reported. Emergency responders arrived at the scene shortly before 9 a.m.
One man received traumatic injuries and was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital by air ambulance, the VFD reported. One was transported to Venice Regional Bayfront Health for treatment of minor injuries.
The last man received scrapes and bruises from the fall and refused medical treatment, the VFD reported.
The Lake Villa Fire Department responds Aug. 29, 2015, to a car crash with injuries that involved two vehicles. Two people were killed.
(Joe Shuman / for the Chicago Tribune)
By Gregory Pratt Chicago Tribune
2 dead in crash near Lindenhurst
Two people died after a crash near north suburban Lindenhurst Saturday afternoon, police said.
The collision happened Saturday afternoon around 4 p.m., near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Route 45, police said. An adult and a teen were killed, a source said.
A Nissan traveling northbound with two people inside hit a Kia driving southbound with three people inside as the Kia turned onto Grand Avenue.
After the crash, the Kia hit a telephone pole. Both vehicles were heavily damaged and ended up at the northeast corner of the intersection.
The Lake Villa Fire Department responds to a car crash Aug. 29, 2015, that involved two vehicles. The crash near north suburban Lindenhurst killed two people and left three others injured.
(Joe Shuman / for the Chicago Tribune)
All five people were taken to area hospitals, and two people from the Kia died at the hospital, police said.
Check back for more details.
Freelance photographer Joe Shuman contributed.
China needs further action to stop water pollution: vice premier
BEIJING | By Dominique Patton
A polluted river flows past a workshop that is used for recycling electronic waste in the township of Guiyu in China's southern Guangdong province June 10, 2015.
Reuters/Tyrone Siu
China faces a "formidable task" to clean up its rivers and lakes and needs a fundamental change in attitudes to prioritize the environment over economic development at all cost, vice premier Wang Yang said.
China published a water pollution prevention action plan in April, promising to improve water supplies in the world's most populous country and second largest economy after years of heavy pollution caused by industrial development.
One-third of major Chinese river basins and 60 percent of its underground water is contaminated.
Speaking at a meeting to discuss the country's efforts so far, Wang said preventing water pollution remained a "formidable task".
"Not only do we need a fundamental change in thinking about development and ways of development, but we also need technological breakthroughs as well as commitment and legal support," he told the meeting on Saturday.
The new action plan aims to ban water-polluting paper mills, oil refineries, pesticide producers and other industrial plants by the end of 2016 in a bid to better protect China's scarce water supplies.
China has already blocked the approval of 163 state-level projects during the 12th five-year plan period (2011-2015), said Chen Jining, Minister for Environmental Protection.
But many companies ignore environmental impact assessments or find ways around environmental requirements, he said. Around 30,000 companies illegally constructed projects during the first half of the year, according to a nationwide MEP survey.
Enforcement of environmental rules has long been a problem in China, where state-owned enterprises routinely pay negligible fines instead of meeting regulations.
Local governments are often more focused on growth and generating tax income than environmental protection, said Chen.
He called for a revision of environmental laws to increase the penalties for violations and strengthen the legal status of EIAs.
Wang said more efforts were needed to improve accountability for water pollution, such as research into turning water-related environmental quality into binding targets.
Beijing has said it will require outgoing cadres to be assessed according to the state of the natural resource assets under their management and it wants to make local governments take full responsibility for water quality, he added.
China would accelerate the introduction of emission permits and use of other economic instruments to incentivize water protection, said Wang
Author: Jonathan Martinez, Anchor/Reporter, jmartinez@kprc.com
Published On: August 27 2015
HOUSTON, TEXAS -
A family lost a loving mother and devoted wife when she died from injuries sustained in a crash, something her loved ones say was entirely preventable.
The family filed a lawsuit Tuesday in a district court in Harris County against PJ Trailer Manufacturing Inc. The suit stems from a deadly car accident involving a tractor-trailer last year.
In the lawsuit the family claims if certain "safety regulations" were in place their relative would still be alive today.
Pictures show the mangled mess from the early morning crash on June 11, 2014, along Louetta and TC Jester in Spring. Kathryn Dodgen was driving to work in Houston when she slammed into a 40-foot flatdeck trailer.
"Her vehicle had gone underneath a trailer that was blocking all the lanes," said Dodgen's daughter, Lauren Bernard.
After suffering severe head trauma and undergoing two brain surgeries, Dodgen fell into a coma. She died 131 days after the crash. She was 54.
"Seeing my mom go through the pain and suffering she went through, I could never really describe it," Bernard said.
The lawsuit claims if the trailer had a "side under ride guard," their relative would still be alive.
"If there were a world full of Kathys, my mom, we'd be in a much better place," said Bernard.
"At minimum, the trailer industry has put their heads in the sands about the safety issues for decades," said attorney Stephen Fernelius.
In addition to monetary damages for pain and suffering, the hopes are the lawsuit also sends a message to trucking companies.
"Please make the effort and time to make everything safer for others. They can do it, and they have chosen not to," Bernard said.
Next up is a court date which has not been set.
KPRC 2 News contacted PJ Trailer Manufacturing, who said they can't comment on any pending litigation.
