A late December house fire that claimed the life of a family’s dog in La Grange Park has resulted in an outpouring of support for the residents of the heavily damaged home in the 500 block of North Catherine Avenue.
Officials said a neighbor on Dec. 28 reported fire coming out of the back windows and appeared to be spreading to the second floor and attic of the two and one-half story frame house.
Emergency responders said nobody was home at the time, and no human injuries were reported. While firefighters did rescue the family dog, it was unresponsive and later died, apparently from smoke inhalation, they said.
La Grange Park firefighters were assisted by the La Grange Fire Department and several other nearby departments, through the MABAS Mutual Aide Box Alarm System.
La Grange Park Fire Chief Dean Maggos indicated that the origins of the fire are still unknown, but that the house was uninhabitable and initial estimates are that the damages to be in the neighborhood of $200,000. He also said that the family lost most of their personal belongings.
An online donation drive to support the family at gofundme.com indicated “they will need to rebuild their lives from scratch.” As of Thursday afternoon, it had generated over $60,000 of a $65,000 goal.
In a message posted on the site, the residents, the Dryfoos family, said they are “beyond grateful and so incredibly humbled” by the outpouring of support from friends and neighbors. Beyond financial support, the family has received “clothes, shoes, toys and letters of support,” they said.
“We are so thankful and cannot believe how generous people have been,” they wrote. “The Dryfoos family will rebuild one day at a time.”
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
