The Chicago Tribune has a followup article to yesterday’s house fire in Prospect Heights where authorities originally thought a 14 year old boy was trapped.
A 14-year-old boy faces felony arson charges after a morning fire at his Prospect Heights home injured his parents and an officer, police said.
The teen also faces three counts of aggravated arson in connection with the three injuries, said Prospect Heights Police Chief Jamie Dunne. He is not being identified because he has been charged as a juvenile.
Around 3:30 a.m. a fire was reported in the 1200 block of Stratford Road, according to Mark Oeltgen, battalion chief for the Prospect Heights Fire Protection District. The rest of the family, the parents and three other children, escaped. The fire engulfed the single-family house. Crews from 20 fire departments worked hours to control the fire, which also shut down nearby roads, police said. The house is a total loss, police said.
The boy’s father told the first police officer who arrived that the teen was still inside. The officer searched the boy’s bedroom but did not find him, police said. That officer, along with the boy’s mother, were both hospitalized for smoke inhalation at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. They were treated and released, police said. The boy’s father also injured his hand trying to get back in the house but initially refused treatment until the boy was found, Dunne said. The boy’s three siblings were not injured.
After firefighters could not locate him in the house, police declared it a missing person case. The boy was found by Arlington Heights police around 9 a.m. Monday, Dunne said. Arlington Heights patrol officers went to an apartment complex on West Euclid Avenue because of a “suspicious person” report. The missing teen identified himself to police, said Capt. Mike Hernandez of the Arlington Heights police.
thanks Dan
