The blaze started Friday morning in a fifth-floor unit near Foster Avenue.
CHICAGO, Ill. — A fire at an Edgewater apartment building Friday morning closed part of Sheridan Road and left one resident critically injured after the person jumped from a fifth-floor unit, Chicago fire officials said.
The fire began near West Foster Avenue and North Sheridan Road, a busy North Side area lined with apartment buildings close to Lake Michigan. Crews arrived around 5:47 a.m. after reports of heavy smoke from the fifth floor and found flames coming from a unit.
Fire officials said the resident who jumped landed on a mezzanine several floors below. Firefighters reached the person and turned the patient over to paramedics. Officials said the resident was alive and able to speak with emergency workers before being taken to a hospital.
The response quickly expanded as crews searched the building, checked residents for smoke exposure and worked to keep the fire from spreading. Several people were evaluated at the scene for minor smoke inhalation and were released. No deaths were reported.
Firefighters used a two-part attack, working from inside the building and from an aerial ladder outside. Officials said the heat and smoke inside the high-rise made the fire more difficult to reach. The flames were out by about 6:30 a.m.
The emergency response disrupted travel on Sheridan Road between Foster and Berwyn avenues. CTA bus routes serving the area were temporarily rerouted while crews worked around hoses, engines and ladder trucks.
The fire’s cause remained under investigation Friday. Officials had not released the injured resident’s name, age or updated condition by the morning report.
Author note: Last updated Friday, June 26, 2026.