Firefighter’s Wife and 3 Kids Dead After Fire at Their Home While He Was on Duty
Four members of a Chicago firefighter’s family have died after a fire broke out at their Montclare home last week.
The firefighter’s two children — identified as Emory Day-Stewart, 2, and Autumn Day-Stewart, 9, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office — died on Friday night. Autopsies have not yet been performed, a spokesperson told PEOPLE on Monday.
Their mother, 36-year-old Summer Day-Stewart, died on Thursday, while 7-year-old Ezra Stewart died Wednesday, the medical examiner’s office previously said.
The fire broke out on the 2500 block of North Rutherford Avenue Tuesday night, the Chicago Police Department said in a statement previously obtained by PEOPLE.
Afterwards, the mother and her three children, who all “suffered smoke inhalation,” were hospitalized “in critical condition,” police said at the time.
Chicago Fire officials previously confirmed the fire broke out at the home of an on-duty firefighter who rushed to the scene of the blaze after hearing the call, reported NBC News, ABC station WLS-TV and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Upon his arrival, Walter Stewart, a firefighter and EMT, performed CPR on his wife before she was taken to the hospital, fire department spokesperson Larry Langford told the Sun-Times.
According to the fire officials, their home did have smoke detectors
A Chicago Fire Department charity, Ignite the Spirit, is raising money to help support the firefighter’s family.
“We wrap our arms and prayers around our brother on the loss of his wife and children,” the organization wrote in a statement on social media over the weekend. “This is an unimaginable loss and we will be by your side.”
An investigation into the house fire was suspended on Friday, Langford previously told the Chicago Tribune, adding that it’s possible investigators will do a forensic analysis.
A fire department spokesperson previously told PEOPLE that preliminary information indicated the fire began in the kitchen.
Source: Yahoo News
