Visitation held for CFD lieutenant who died battling Lake Shore Drive high-rise blaze

Lt. Jan Tchoryk, 55, was an outdoorsman and a Navy veteran who served in Desert Storm, fire officials said.
By Emmanuel Camarillo




A group of Chicago firefighters walk toward a firetruck after attending the wake for CFD Lt. Jan Tchoryk at Cumberland Chapels on Wednesday.

Mourners gathered in suburban Norridge on Wednesday to say goodbye to Chicago Fire Department Lt. Jan Tchoryk, who died while in the line of duty last week.

Visitation for the 26-year-veteran was held at Cumberland Chapels, 8300 W. Lawrence Ave.



Two Chicago firetrucks with their ladders extended hoist an American flag outside Cumberland Chapels in Norridge in honor of Lt. Jan Tchoryk, who died battling a high-rise fire in the Gold Coast on April 5.


Tchoryk, 55, died battling an extra-alarm blaze in a high-rise building on Lake Shore Drive on the morning of April 5 in the Gold Coast neighborhood. His cause of death was determined to be hypertensive-arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He was one of two firefighters who died while on duty last week. A day earlier, firefighter Jermaine Pelt died responding to a house fire in the West Pullman neighborhood.

Tchoryk was an outdoorsman and a Navy veteran who served in Desert Storm, fire officials said. He had a big family that included a son who recently joined the Chicago Police Department.





A group of Chicago firefighters leaves Cumberland Chapels, where a wake was held Wednesday for CFD Lt. Jan Tchoryk.