Fire department 'heartbroken' after firefighter battling Rogers Park blaze dies

A 32-year-old firefighter who was seriously hurt battling a fire in Rogers Mark Monday morning has died.

The firefighter, Michael Altman, was taken to Stroger Hospital with serious injuries and was pronounced dead Tuesday at 11:15 a.m., according to authorities.

Fire officials told reporters outside Stroger Altman would have made two years of service for the department in May.

"We are heartbroken by yet another loss of our own," said Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt. "Michael gave everything in service to the people of Chicago and we will never forget his courage and sacrifice."

It is a "profoundly difficult time for all of us," Nance-Holt said, while adding Stroger staffers "did everything they humanly could,'' to save him.

Altman, a fourth generation firefighter who served on Truck 47 in Edgewater, "comes from a long history of public service in the Chicago Fire Department," Nance-Holt said.

"Today, the City of Chicago not only lost a public servant, but we lost a hero," said Mayor Brandon Johnson who was also on hand during the press briefing. "Let this be a constant reminder of how it important it is that we continue to put our arms around our first responders and continue to support them."

"Firefighter EMT Altman displayed an incredible amount of courage, and bravery and strength," Johnson said. "We are in deep sorrow as a city for this tragic loss."

A procession from Stroger Hospital to the Cook County medical examiner's office on the Near West Side is taking place as of 12:45 p.m., according to a Monroe District police lieutenant.

Altman was among those responding to a fire at the back of the four-story multi-unit building at 1757 W. North Shore Ave. that began around 11:20 a.m. Monday when he fell through the floor, Chicago Fire Department Deputy District Chief Kelly Burns told reporters at the scene Monday afternoon.

“He was there one second, and he was in the basement the next,” Burns said. “They had him out within, I’m going to say, under a minute from the basement.”

The cause of the fire remained under investigation.

This is a developing story, check back for details.