It must be a harrowing time to be a Chicago cop, with this Monday's murder of David Blake marking the fourth officer killed off duty in the last six months.
But at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, officers Kristopher Krizka and Christopher Davis were able to get back to the best part of the job: saving lives.
(Watch video from the scene of their heroics below.)
The two men were patrolling near the 7200 block of South Stony Island Avenue in the South Shore Tuesday night when they saw smoke billowing from the top of a two-and-a-half-story townhouse.
They kicked in the door to the building, according to NBC Chicago, to find an elderly, wheelchair-bound woman apparently trapped inside.
Krizka and Davis rescued the woman, and woke the other residents of the townhouse, alerting them to the danger. As the building burned, all 10 residents escaped unharmed.
"If it hadn't been for the police department, I don't know where we'd be right now," said Julius Riley, a resident of the building who escaped unharmed. "Thank you very much. Thank you and God bless."
...
"That's why I have this job," [Officer] Davis said. "To help people and save lives."
NBC also has video from the scene of the fire. Take a look: