'Loved by everybody,' firefighter dies after South Side blaze - Chicago Tribune

"An all around great guy and great fireman" died Friday night after an extra-alarm blaze spread quickly through a Gage Park home, apparently trapping crews in a flashover fire.

Capt. Herbert Johnson, a 32-year veteran of the Chicago Fire Department just promoted last summer, died and another firefighter was injured in the blaze on the 2300 block of West 50th Place.

Johnson, who was found in the home's attic, suffered second- and third-degree burns in a fire and was taken the University of Chicago Medical Center, while a second firefighter, who was in good condition tonight, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn for treatment, officals said.

Johnson is survived by his wife, Susan, one daughter and two sons, Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago said in remarks outside the U. of C. tonight. One son is in college and the other in the U.S. Marine Corps. 

"This fire is under investigation and our main concern right now is the family," Santiago said, choking back tears.

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Acknowledging Santiago's visible sorrow, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at the same news conference Santiago's reaction to Johnson's death shows how Johnson's friends and family feel about him.

"He touched everybody that ran into contact with him. He was a larger than life person," Emanuel said.

Tom Ryan, president of Local 2 of the Chicago Fire Fighters Union, was in tears as her addressed the media, telling reporters that "we lost a piece of our heart and our soul today."

"Herbie is everything the Chicago Fire Department is about. He's a shining example of what public service is," said Ryan. "We're at a loss of words."

Soon afterwards, a throng of Chicago fire and police vehicles escorted an ambulance carrying Johnson's body to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Firefighters lining the route saluted as the procession went by.

Johnson is the first Chicago firefighter to die fighting a fire since December 2010, when Edward Stringer and Corey Ankum died in the collapse of an abandoned South Shore laundry.

Johnson apparently went into cardiac arrest because the intense heat of the flashover blocked his airways, and he died at the U. of C. emergency room, officials said. Paramedics had to perform CPR on him at the scene, said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

Johnson was assigned to Engine Co. 123 in Gage Park for the night, but normally worked from firehouses all around the city.

Near the hospital tonight, Chicago Fire Department Truck No. 16 sat at the corner of 58th Street and Drexel Avenue with its ladder extended to mid-air and the roar of its engine sounding, a ritual saluting fallen brethren. A firefighter hoisted the American flag atop the ladder.

A group of people stood behind an ambulance outside the emergency room entrance, hugging one another as Chicago fire and police brass filed in and out of the building.

A group of police officers also huddled around one another in the parking lot of the ER.

One firefighter who knew Johnson since they were kids remembered his old friend.

"He was the best, he was the best guy,'' said Chicago Fire Dept. Lt. Steve O'Malley, who had been relieved by Johnson this morning about 6 a.m. from Engine 123, Tower Ladder 39, on 51st Street after O'Malley had worked a 48-hour shift.

"He was his usual crazy self, laughing,'' O'Malley said in a telephone interview, his voice shaking. "He always had a smile on his face."

O'Malley said he and Johnson talked about their old stomping grounds, the St. Basil neighborhood, where they both grew up near 58th and Winchester. They knew each other since grade school.

"I grew up with the whole family,'' said O'Malley, adding that Johnson had several brother and sisters, some of whom are Chicago Police officers. His friend was married and had children, and also was an instructor at the fire academy.

"He was an all around great guy and great fireman,'' O'Malley said. "What a big-time, huge loss to the department. He was loved by everybody.''

"We fight fires all the times, we had three that day. But now it hurts. Now it hurts,'' O'Malley said.

Firefighters on the fire scene called a Mayday response for a trapped firefighter, but the firefighter was located, and the response secured, Fire Department spokeswoman Meg Ahlheim said.

The firefighters may have been trapped in a flashover, in which a building bursts into flame suddenly, Langford said.

Firefighters were called to the scene at 5:15 p.m. for the fire in the Gage Park neighborhood. The building was a frame home, 2-1/2 stories tall and about 25 feet by 40 feet, Ahlheim said.

In addition to the 2-11 alarm, an Emergency Medical Services Plan 1, which sends six ambulances to the scene, also was called.

Four adults and four children were displaced by the house fire, Ahlheim said.