Over a dozen families were left homeless after a relentless blaze engulfed an apartment building in Justice Saturday morning.
The fire broke out on the third floor of an apartment building in the 8500 block of South 88th Terrace.
Roberts Park Fire Department crews arrived at the scene around 11:30 a.m. shortly after the fire began.
Even though most residents were out of the 16-unit building when firefighters arrived on the scene, they were able to evacuate the last few residents out of the building unharmed.
Both the residents and firefighters reported no injuries.
The alarms were upgraded throughout the day to bring in more help to battle the blaze.
Nearly 20 departments showed up to help battle the blaze. Some of those came from as far as Homer Glen, Hometown, La Grange, and Brookfield as well as nearby departments like North Palos, Oak Lawn, and Bridgeview.
Firefighters fought the fire for roughly seven hours. After the roof collapsed, the third and second floors followed suit. Firefighters were called out three more times as the fire rekindled at 6 p.m. Saturday and at 1 a.m. and 5:15 a.m. Sunday morning.
Nearby roads were blocked off until almost 6 p.m. to allow the firefighters enough workspace to fight the fire. Hose attachments could be seen stretching down 88th Avenue to connect to other water supplies.
The Red Cross was on scene to help residents as the building was left inhabitable due to fire and water damage leaving many homeless on the cold, winter night.
Residents have seen neighboring buildings in the massive apartment complex catch fire in recent years. Oaks and The Laurels of Willow Hill apartment buildings were the scenes of major fires in June and December of 2019.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation as of Sunday afternoon.
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