Laura Rodríguez Presa, Sam Charles, Deanese Williams-Harris
Chicago Tribune
(TNS)
A 49-year-old Chicago firefighter died and two others were injured in a pre-dawn extra-alarm blaze where a mayday alert was called at a house in the West Pullman neighborhood, fire officials said.
Chicago Fire Department spokesperson Larry Langford said firefighter Jermaine Pelt died of his injuries Tuesday morning.
Shortly after 3:30 a.m., firefighters were called to a frame house located at 12015 S. Wallace St. where a heavy fire was on the second floor and in the attic. Officials said the fire spread to homes north and south of the building.
A 311 alarm was called and a mayday alert after 4 a.m., and three firefighters were injured, one critically. They were all taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, but one died of his injuries. The other two fighters’ conditions were stabilized, officials said.
All firefighters were accounted for and the mayday was called off. Two adults and two children were displaced.
Langford said Pelt went down on a hose line.
Jermaine Pelt was born and raised in the West Pullman neighborhood, the same area where he devoted his adult life to save and help others as a firefighter, said his father, John Pelt.
On Tuesday morning, the grieving father said he found comfort by surrounding himself with other firemen that worked with his son at the Firehouse Engine 115 and 75, the area where Pelt served most of his 18 years in the Chicago Fire Department and the one where he took his last call.
Though the family is broken by the tragedy, they are finding strength in their faith, he said.
“When God calls, we’ve got to answer,” he said in front of the Firehouse at 1024 W. 119th St.
Last November he had walked his only daughter down the aisle, and just last month Pelt celebrated 49 years of age.
The youngest of his four sons, Pelt was smart, ambitious and “the kindest person I’ve ever met,” said his father.
Growing up, Pelt spent his summers working for his father, a retired Chicago Transit Authority motorman. Pelt then became a locomotive engineer before making a decision to join the Chicago Fire Department instead of the Chicago Police Department.
“It was the lesser of the evils,” his father said.
But he was more than just a firefighter, said captain Rory Ohse, who worked alongside Pelt.
“He had a devotion to this job and this neighborhood,” he said. Pelt lived, worked and worshiped in West Pullman. He was also a registered nurse, a paramedic and had recently become an instructor at the fire academy. Pelt graduated from Corliss High School and attended Olive-Harvey College.
After the news of his death, they decided to keep the firehouse open despite their grief because that is what Pelt would have done, Ohse said.
“I want to continue doing what we do because that takes the pain away a little bit,” Ohse said.
On his last Sunday at the firehouse, Pelt cooked for his firehouse family: BBQ chicken, fried and jerk chicken with cornbread.
“He was a hell of a cook,” said Lieutenant David Bernicky with a smile. Though he only worked with Pelt for a few years, he had known him for more than 15 years.
“I’m leaving with a lot of love,” said Pelt’s father as he turned to the firemen that surrounded him, arms on his shoulder, the same ones that last saw his son.
Anthony Moore, who bought the property at 12017 S. Wallace in 2021, said he was in the process of fixing the building up so he could rent it out.
Moore said he got several phone calls early Tuesday from a neighbor across the street, telling him that his building caught fire after the blaze spread from the property to the north. Moore said he’s still unclear on the cause, and he’s waiting for an update from the CFD.
“I couldn’t see what was going on because everything was going up in flames when I got there,” Moore said Tuesday afternoon. “It’s a nightmare. I’ve been working to finally get it [the property] together and just keep on moving, you know, get some tenants in there and keep going.”
Though both the fire department and Moore said the fire started at 12015 S. Wallace, the owner of that property, Terry Blevens, believes the blaze originated at 12017 S. Wallace.
“They probably got the address wrong,” Blevens said, referring to the fire department’s initial description of what happened. “If it started in my building, how [did the other] building burn up but mine didn’t?”
County property records show that Blevens acquired the property in 2021. The property had come under repeated scrutiny from city inspectors over various housing code and municipal violations in the years prior.
Pelt, a member of Engine 75, joined the department in 2005, Langford said.
Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt spoke at a news conference in front of the Oak Lawn hospital Tuesday.
Clearly rattled by Pelt’s death, Nance-Holt said Pelt recently celebrated his 49th birthday in March.
“Jermaine has been in the Roseland community, serving it his whole career, since 2005,” Nance-Holt said.
She added Pelt had two children, one grown and a 6-year-old.
“He just walked his daughter down the aisle for a wedding,” she said. The daughter was on her honeymoon.
Langford said that state and federal officials were investigating to determine the cause of the blaze.
©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
