The two people killed early Sunday after fire broke out in a Vernon Hills apartment building were two mothers who are being called “gentle” and “selfless.”
The Lake County coroner’s office Monday afternoon identified the two women as Camille Lozano, 33, and Polly Jensen, 39. They lived in separate apartments at the six-unit building on the 900 block of South Court of Shorewood, Lake County Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Newton said.
Jensen was the mother of two, a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old, according to her sister-in-law, Julie Jensen, who set up an online fundraiser in her honor.
“She was the most gentle human, an extraordinarily strong person, and truly did everything she could to give her 2 daughters the best life ever,” Julie Jensen wrote.
She said the two girls were unharmed because they were spending the weekend with their father.
“There are no words to describe what they are going through, and how much their lives changed (Sunday),” the sister-in-law wrote. “Beyond losing their mother, who was their primary caregiver, they lost everything they owned and cherished.”
Lozano went through the building trying to tell her neighbors of the fire, according to Natalya Ulloa, who made an online fundraiser in her honor. Ulloa said Lozano “was a brave and selfless mother who put her needs aside to help others.”
Vernon Hills police and Countryside Fire Protection District officials didn’t release more details about the fire and the two women’s deaths Monday. On Sunday they said responders arrived at around 3:15 a.m. and found heavy fire.
During the response, authorities received a 911 call reporting that residents were possibly trapped inside the apartments.
Newton said Jensen was found dead inside the building.
Lozano was found and rushed to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville; she died later there, Newton said.
The building was left uninhabitable, officials said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the fire district and the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal.
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