Family loses everything in Cicero fire on Christmas, but father says, ‘We are alive and well’

© E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS Julio Avila walks near his burned family home on Dec. 27, 2022, in Cicero. Avila, his pregnant wife and three daughters lost their Cicero home and all their belongings in the Christmas Day fire.

Early Christmas morning, sisters Isabel, 13 and Angela, 11, saw smoke coming into their bedroom from downstairs and ran to alert their parents, who were sleeping in another room.

“They just had time to grab the youngest daughter and tell the others to run,” said Raquel Radice, aunt to the three girls.

The Christmas Day fire broke out about 1 a.m. in a downstairs unit in an apartment building on 29th Place near 50th Court in Cicero, according to the family.

All of the family’s Christmas gifts had been hidden under the back stairs, and were lost in the fire, said the girls’ father, Julio Avila. Their oldest daughter had wanted a cellphone for Christmas, the middle daughter wanted earbuds, and the youngest wanted dolls, especially a Little Mermaid, he said.

© E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS Isabel Avila, 13, looks through her family’s belongings on Dec. 27, 2022, that were lost in the Christmas Day fire that claimed their Cicero home.

Radice was thankful that her nieces, who are typically heavy sleepers, saw the smoke and alerted the family. The aunt said the family was shocked to lose everything on Christmas Day, but that they were grateful to be alive.

“I started a GoFundMe for my family, and I’m am just amazed by how many people have given money, sent clothing and offered furniture,” she said. “It shows that goodwill still exists.”

Radice’s brother, Julio, moved from California to the two-bedroom apartment in Cicero 10 years ago.

Currently, the family is staying at a hotel near their burned-down apartment so that the girls can return to school after their winter break ends.

Their mother, Lupe Avila, is taking the loss hard. She is seven months pregnant with a boy due in February, Radice said.

So far, the family has received about $9,300 in donations at GoFundMe.

The family had items for the baby, but everything was lost in the blaze.

Tuesday afternoon, Julio Avila thanked the pubic for its generosity.

“I’m just looking forward to my son joining his three sisters,” he said. “We are alive and well.”

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