DES PLAINES, Ill. (WLS) -- A mother and her four young daughters were killed in a house fire in northwest suburban Des Plaines Wednesday morning.
The fire broke out at about 10:13 a.m. in the 700-block of West Oakton Street. Passersby spotted smoke and called 911.
Downstairs neighbor Pabel Marrero said he woke up first to the familiar sound of children running upstairs, and then to the unsettling smell of burning plastic and a passing stranger banging at the door.
"He's screaming at me to come out of the house because the house is on fire," Marrero said.
"I was shocked," said Yein Espinosa, whose brother lost his four daughters in the fire. "I was worried about the kids, the girls, pretty much and everyone who was inside. Where are they? What happened to them?"