2 Dead in Early-Morning Fire on Kensington

A man and woman died after a three-alarm fire broke out in a home on the 900 block of Kensington Avenue in La Grange at around 1:38 p.m. on Saturday morning.

The man, who was in his 90s, was pronounced dead at Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital at 3:32 a.m., the Chicago Tribune reported; according to the La Grange Fire Department, he had perished on the scene. The woman, also taken to Adventist La Grange, was pronounced dead at 5:18 a.m. 

The names of the victims are being withheld while family is notified.

Next-door neighbor Tony Kenagis told Patch his family was woken at around 2 a.m. by a police officer and relocated outside their house, which suffered some smoke damage from the blaze.

The home at the corner of Kensington Avenue and 51st Street was billowing smoke and flame, Kenagis recalled. "There was no way they could have gotten out," he said.

Kenagis said that the home's occupants were elderly, spent most of their time at a second home in Florida and were only back in La Grange for the holiday season. He said he did know the man from occasional neighborly encounters.

"It's sad," Kenagis said. "He was a nice guy."

An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing, assisted by the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office, the Fire Department said in a press release.