A Chicago firefighter was doing well Saturday after falling down an elevator shaft from the second floor of an apartment building in Austin while fighting a fire that left a man dead Friday.
The elevator wasn’t working, and the city had cited the building’s owner in February for building-code violations.
The firefighter, who wasn’t seriously injured, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital along with another firefighter who was treated for minor injuries in the fire at 312 N. Central Ave., officials said.
The firefighter who fell down the elevator shaft was released from the hospital Saturday and was doing well, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Juan Hernandez said.
A man whose name hasn’t been released was found dead at the scene of the fire, which was contained to a room on the second floor of the four-story building, Hernandez said.
Thirty people were left homeless by the fire, which started around 10 p.m. Friday. The cause remained under investigation Saturday.
Mimi Simon, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Buildings, said Saturday that “the elevator system had not been repaired despite two building-code violations issued on Feb. 23. The elevator remained out of service and stationary on the third floor of the building.”
