Son pulls father from smoke-filled Crestwood apartment, can't save him

August 19, 2012|By Rosemary R. Sobol | Tribune reporter

• South suburban man dies after fire at home" alt="Authorities: South suburban man dies after fire at home" />

Authorities: South suburban man dies after fire at home (Tribune illustration)

An 18-year-old man desperately tried to save his father's life Saturday by dragging him from a smoke-filled Crestwood apartment before succumbing to heavy smoke himself.

The father was killed and the son remains hospitalized after inhaling a large amount of thick smoke.

Salvatore Runcio, 56, of the 12800 block of Hill Drive, was overcome by smoke during a fire at his home, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Runcio was taken to Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights  where he was pronounced dead at 4:06 p.m. Saturday, according to the medical examiner's office.

The man's 18-year-old son acted heroically and tried to save his father's life before collapsing himself after the cooking fire erupted in the 3^rd floor apartment's kitchen about 3:35 p.m., Crestwood Fire Chief Jon Bruce said today.

Bruce said about 50 firefighters rushed to the scene and when they got there, the son had already taken his father, who had been overcome by smoke, down three flights of stairs and outside the apartment building.

As firefighters were performing CPR on the elder man, the son collapsed.

"He pulled his father out and had him down but then he went down," Bruce said.

Neither man was burned.

The blaze began in the kitchen while the elder man was apparently cooking. He tried to put it out himself and then his son ran in to help him. The teen was in the intensive care unit this afternoon at Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights, the chief said.

"His overall condition is very good," said a hospital supervisor of the 18-year-old. "His condition has improved."

The fire was contained to the single room and no one else had been inside the home, which sustained about $65,000 in damage and has been rendered unlivable.

A firefighter injured his knee while tending to the father and was on crutches today, though he was not badly injured, Bruce said.

Foul play is not suspected. The fire was put out within about a half an hour. No other residents in the apartment building turned condo were affected.

An autopsy Sunday determined Runcio died of heart disease and from the kitchen fire, according to the medical examiner's office. Runcio's death was ruled accidental.

rsobol@tribune.com

Twitter: @RosemarySobol1