Five-year-old dies after being rescued from apartment fire in southwest Illinois
A 5-year-old child died after being rescued from an apartment fire on Monday night in Alton, the police chief announced Tuesday.
Malachi D. Scruggs was identified as the victim, according to Police Chief Marcos D. Pulido.
Alton firefighters and police officers responded at 7:19 p.m. Monday to a report of a fire with a child possibly still inside the Landings at Belle Meadows apartment complex in the 300 block of Mitchell Street, Pulido said in a news release.
Firefighters began to attempt to extinguish the fire while searching the structure for the child.
A child was found inside the burning structure and was immediately transported to an Alton area hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, the news release stated.
A cause of the fire was not announced.
The Alton Police Department, Alton Fire Department, the Madison County Coroner’s Office and the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating the fire.
The results of the autopsy are pending, the police chief said.
This was the second fatal fire in Alton in the past week.
LaDon Mick, 63, died in a house fire in the 1600 block of Nolte Place on Thursday, officials said last week. Her pit bull also perished in the fire.
This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 12:38 PM.
