 | | Firefighters battle a 2-11 alarm fire at 6013 N. Cicero Friday morning. The fire gutted at least three businesses and caused commuters to be rerouted. (Allen Kaleta/ for Pioneer Press) |
3 businesses damaged
in fire in Sauganash BY AMY LE
STAFF WRITER Sauganash residents living near the interection of Peterson and Cicero avenues awoke to flames shooting out of the windows and rooftop of a neighboring building early Friday.  | | Owner of the Bread Basket Restaurant, Lea Sarikas (at left), is consoled by her daughter, Kleo Sarikas, after seeing the destruction from the fire. (Patrick L. Pyszka/Staff Photographer) |
The Bread Basket restaurant, Food Service Educational Seminars and Edens-Mortgage sustained the bulk of the damages, Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. The blaze caused the roof to cave in on the building, at 6013-6015 N. Cicero Ave., and also temporarily closed a Peterson Avenue exit ramp on the Edens Expressway. Charred debris lay scattered on the sidewalks and streets around the property. A still-and-box alarm for the fire was called at about 5:15 a.m. Langford said firefighters arrived to find smoke pouring from the windows of the single-story commercial building. He said the cause of the fire is still being investigated, but it is believed to have started in the kitchen of the Bread Basket. The alarm was upgraded to a 2-11 when firefighters issued a mayday call after the roof collapsed, “putting the crew in serious danger,” Langford said. A firefighter on a ladder over the roof briefly was caught in the middle of the blaze, but sustained only minor burns to his ear and was treated on the scene. A second firefighter was transported to Resurrection Medical Center with a fractured finger. The fire was contained by 6:59 a.m., Langford said. A brick wall in an adjoining building prevented the fire from spreading to George Uhrik Furs, 6021 N. Cicero Ave., and other neighboring stores.  | | Chicago firefighters work to put out the blaze. (Patrick L. Pyszka/Staff Photographer) |
The intersection of Peterson and Cicero avenues, as well as the expressway ramp, were temporarily closed off as firefighters worked through the morning to put out the flames. Police said roads were reopened by 10:30 a.m. By 10:45 a.m., neighbors standing outside watched in shock as firefighters continued to pour water on the smoldering building. “This is just so sad,” said Diane Klima, who watched the fire Friday morning from her backyard on Keating Avenue. “A lot of people around here used to go (to the Bread Basket). The owner put so much work into making her store look so nice, and now it’s gone.”  | | Water floods the street near the scene of the fire. (Patrick L. Pyszka/Staff Photographer) |
| Sauganash Chamber of Commerce President Lynne Uhrik (right), with an unidentified woman, looks at the scene of the fire. (Patrick L. Pyszka/Staff Photographer) |
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| Chicago firefighters walk near the scene of the fire. (Patrick L. Pyszka/Staff Photographer) |
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Chicago firefighters battle the blaze. (Patrick L. Pyszka/Staff Photographer) |
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| Chicago firefighters strategize at the scene of the 2-11 fire Friday morning, Jan. 20. (Patrick L. Pyszka/Staff Photographer) |
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