2-year-old boy killed in West Pullman fire, mother injured trying to save him

CHICAGO - A 2-year-old boy was killed in a house fire Tuesday in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side.

His mother tried rescue to boy from the second-floor room where a small fire started, but was unable to and escaped with burns to her body, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

The child was identified by family as Ace Jackson. He would have turned 3-years-old in January.

According to the boy's uncle, Jackson was smart and articulate. He was into reading, writing, Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes and Spider-Man.

Firefighters responded to the fire around 11:30 a.m. in the 12200 block of South Lafayette Avenue, officials said.

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Paramedics took Jackson in cardiac arrest to Roseland Community Hospital. Despite resuscitation efforts from firefighters and hospital staff, the child was pronounced dead.

The mother was taken to the same hospital, where her condition stabilized, Langford said. Two other women in the home refused medical attention.

The fire was small and contained inside of the house, Langford said. The damage was mostly to the carpet and interior items.

Investigators were "paying attention" to a space heater inside the room where the fire started, but it was too early to determine the fire’s cause, he said.

There was no working smoke detector in the home, Langford said, adding that a working smoke detector could have alerted people downstairs.

"This fire was contained to the second floor and the people on the first floor may not have even known that the fire was in progress until later on. The smoke detector could have given them a much earlier warning and that could have resulted in a much different outcome," Langford said.

Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.