The Potawatomi Trails Pow-Wow Committee Certificate Of Honor
Reprinted from the News Sun (1-25-2000)
By Chris Brenner
The fire was reported at 7:30 p.m. in the 24-unit Hickory Manor apartments at 4110 Continental Drive, according to Waukegan Fire Department Lt. Don Young.
When firefighters arrived, there was smoke and fire coming from the window of a first-floor apartment, Young said. Cause of the fire has been traced to children playing with matches in a bedroom in that first-floor unit.
Four people raced through the building knocking on doors and helping people to safety, Young said. They were Christopher Long, 16, and his father, Tom Long, 45, who live nearby in Continental Village; Lenny Kitson, 57, of Hickory Manor; and Waukegan Police Lt. Paul Hendley.
All four suffered minor injuries and smoke inhalation, Young said. Kitson and Christopher Long were treated and released from Provena St. Therese Medical Center in Waukegan, and Hendley and Tom Young were treated at the scene.
"I was on a complete adrenaline rush," said Christopher Long, a sophomore at Warren Township High School.
His parents picked him up from his job as a cashier at Rinkside Sports in Gurnee and were coming home when they noticed the smoke.
As they rounded a corner, they saw the flames.
"I didn't even think," Long said.
He said he jumped out of the car even before it came to a complete stop and ran toward the building.
Long couldn't get in because the security locks were still locked. However, a woman with her baby came out, and he was able to get into the building.
Pounding On Doors
Long said he then ran through the building on all three floors pounding on doors and alerting people to the fire. At one third-floor apartment, a woman said: "Don't forget my baby," Long said. He grabbed a little boy and took him outside, he said.
Long said he and Kitson helped a man in pajamas out of the window in the first-floor unit next to the one where the fire began. "He was not a small guy, but we yanked him out," Long said.
They were on the scene before police and fire personnel arrived, his mother, Bonnie, said. She called 9-1-1, but was told firefighters were on their way.
"I am very, very proud of him," Bonnie Long said. "There are not many 16-year-olds that will run into a burning building to try to save people."
Young said all the families were put up in the Ramada Inn by Ludwig & Co., the firm that owns Hickory Manor. "They did an excellent job of getting the families relocated," Young said.
On Monday, the residents of the 16 units on the second and third floors were allowed into their apartments, Young said. The residents of the first-floor units, except the one where the fire began, will be moved back in soon, Young said.
The burned unit is unlivable, he said. He estimated damage at $75,000.
Twenty-three firefighters from Waukegan, Gurnee and Newport fire departments responded, Young said.