Questions remain after a fire in Blue Island tore through two buildings in south suburban Blue Island Monday morning.
The fire started about 4 a.m. in the 2000 block of Vermont Street. About midday, rubble was strewn on a sidewalk next to the most severely damaged home, while the charred roof of another home had caved in.
Edward Castellana was asleep around 4 a.m. when two officers pounded on his door and ordered him to evacuate.
“I was in deep fear of my home burning down because the flames were actually spewing out of the living room window behind the beauty shop and reaching out toward my home,” Castellana, 55, said. “It just looked like a horrific war zone.”
Castellana says it took firefighters roughly an hour and a half to extinguish it. Blue Island officials have not yet released information regarding how it started.
Though Castellana’s home has minor damage to the roof and possible some items inside, he’s grateful the building is still standing.
“Even though there was damage done to it, it’s still salvageable,” Castellana said. “I’m very, very happy and thank God for that.”
Castellana has lived in the neighborhood for about a year and a half, but his family has roots on the block dating back to the late 1960s.
His relatives once owned some of the homes on Vermont Street that were damaged by the fire. Castellana’s parents owned the home behind Vanessa’s Beauty Salon, and his brother once lived in the house for four years after getting married.
“I just feel like part of me is gone,” Castellana said. “I just have memories and it’s sad to see it that way.”
