There are some professions in which danger and injury is a normal part of the job. One of those professions is that of a Chicago firefighter. Despite the training, the safety gear and all of the precautions, it still happens occasionally that a firefighter suffers an on-the-job injury.
In Oak Lawn recently there occurred a house fire which resulted in extensive damage to the residence and an assortment of injuries to three firefighters that responded to the blaze. As these injuries occurred while during the normal course of their work, each of them should be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits as allowed according to the extent of their injuries.
The fire was reported at about 8:50 in the morning at a home on West 99th Street in Oak Lawn. The homeowner was attempting to put out the fire before the fire department arrived, but unfortunately the blaze had what was described as a good head start.
As they were putting the fire out, a ‘mayday’ was called when one firefighter became separated from the others. Apparently his air ran low and he became disoriented and was in distress when the other firefighters located him and escorted him out.
By the time the fire was put out, three firefighters had suffered what were described as non life-threatening injuries. The disoriented firefighter and one other suffered smoke inhalation types of issues and a third firefighter was injured when a heavy object fell on him. A full recovery is expected for all of three.
This is precisely the type of incident for which workers’ compensation was created. The three men can recover and heal and return to work without worry about the financial aspects of their work-related injuries.
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