(CHICAGO) — Eight people, including six children, were killed when a fire broke out early Sunday at a Chicago apartment, officials say.
Two other people were hospitalized in very critical condition, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said. At least one firefighter was injured and was hospitalized in good condition.
Officials have not released the ages of the victims, but fire Commissioner Jose Santiago told reporters that one of the children who was killed was an infant.
“We have not had this in many, many, many years — this amount of fatalities and injuries in one location,” Santiago said.
Officials say firefighters were called around 4 a.m. to the fire in the city’s Little Village neighborhood. At least two buildings caught fire, one of them a coach house. The cause of the blaze hasn’t been determined.
Merritt said those killed were all from the same residence. He said investigators have not found working smoke detectors.