Palos Hills Condo Resident Recalls Moments Before Christmas Fire

PALOS HILLS, IL — In the days leading up to the fire that displaced dozens of residents from a Palos Hills apartment building that had been converted into the condos on Christmas Day, residents noticed what smelled like burning plastic as they entered the building.

“The smell got thicker, but we didn’t think too much about it,” said Jessica Mendoza, one of 56 residents forced to flee the Green Tree Condominiums.

After dropping off her fiancé’s children early Christmas morning, the power went out in their section of the Green Tree Condos, 9954 84th Terrace. Mendoza and her fiancé, Jason Rodriguez, noticed that other sections of their 40-unit building still had power.

“We went to bed,” Mendoza said. “Then the emergency lights kicked on in the hallway and started beeping. I just remember the sound from previous jobs.”

There was a commotion in the hallway. Neighbors were talking louder than usual. Rodriguez looked out into the hallway.

We didn’t know that there was smoke at the point, just that the power was out,” Mendoza said. “It was smokey, like a cigar lounge. A neighbor was banging on doors. Without our neighbor doing that, we wouldn’t have known.”

Rodriguez said they needed to get out of the building. They grabbed Mendoza’s 6-year-old daughter, Xochi, shoes, jackets, wallet and purse. As they were evacuating, they banged on a few neighbors’ doors.

“Nobody knew how to get out of the building,” Mendoza said. “The hallway wasn’t well lit. Smoke was coming up the stairwell.”

Once outside, Mendoza called her father, who lived in another section of Green Tree Condominiums, to make sure he was awake and out of the building. They were among the lucky ones, in that they were able to grab coats, shoes and car keys. Other neighbors ran outside in their bare feet and pajamas, carrying children and pets on the coldest night of the year.

“One of our neighbors saw flames coming up outside their bedroom window,” Mendoza said. “They only had time to grab their cats.”

Mendoza and her family piled into her father’s car and to keep warm. They watched the North Palos Fire Protection District and other

“We had a front row seat from my dad’s car,” Mendoza said. “None of us saw a fire, we just saw smoke going on.”

Chief Paul Mackin, of the North Palos Fire Protection District, said fire crews arrived at the Green Tree Condos at 2:50 a.m. Dec. 25. The blaze was elevated to a 2-alarm fire and finally extinguished at 4:30 a.m.

“The fire appears to have started in a lower-level utility room but remains under investigation,” Mackin said. “We notified the Red Cross to assist the residents.”

The entire 40-unit building — built in 1972 — has been deemed uninhabitable by the Palos Hills building commissioner. Four units are totaled, others sustained heavy smoke damage, the fire district chief said.

While some owned their units which were converted into condominiums, others, like Mendoza and her family, rented theirs from the owner. Mendoza said firefighters briefly let some residents back into the damaged building to grab clothing and IDs. Residents will be able to move furniture and other belongings out of the smoke-damaged units this week.

Desperate to get out of the cold on Christmas day, Mendoza, her fiancé and daughter holed up in a hotel in Burr Ridge. Because their lodgings weren’t on the list of Red Cross hotels, they will have to wait to be reimbursed by their renters insurance. Mendoza’s father, Guillermo, is staying in another hotel that has an agreement with the Red Cross, which will pay for the displaced residents’ hotel stays until the end of the week.

Mendoza started a GoFundMe campaign to tide them over until the move into a new place.

“We’re just trying to conserve our wallets,” she said.