Family, colleagues reeling after local journalist killed in Brighton Park house fire
A Brighton Park family is “in survival mode” after a house fire Friday killed local journalist Rocio Villaseñor and seriously injured her father.
The fire broke out at a residence on the 3200 block of West 38th Street on Friday evening, according to the Chicago Fire Department. Eight family members were home “when an unexpected explosion from the rear end of the home immediately caught fire,” according to a GoFundMe raising money for the survivors.
According to the fundraising page, Crecencio Villaseñor, 69, tried to get his daughter out of the fire and is now in critical condition at a local hospital.
Family friend Salomon Navarro Melgoza said the blaze has left Villaseñor’s family home “unlivable.”
The Fire Department confirmed on social media that one adult had been taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and that one adult had died in the blaze.
While the Cook County medical examiner’s office has yet to confirm the fire victim’s identity as the 31-year-old Villaseñor, many employees of Block Club Chicago, City Bureau and other members of the Chicago media ecosystem posted tributes to her on social media, but deferred comment to her family.
Villaseñor’s family members are staying with relatives in Little Village. Melgoza said the surviving relatives declined to comment, saying they needed “space and understanding” as they grieve.
Villaseñor contributed to multiple local news outlets including Block Club Chicago, according to the online publication that covers the city’s neighborhoods.
“The Block Club team was heartbroken to hear of Rocio’s death. She was a talented journalist who deeply cared about her community and wanted to make the city a better place for everyone,” Block Club managing editor Janet Fuller told the Tribune. “Our thoughts are with Rocio’s family and we wish her father a speedy recovery.”
Villaseñor also worked for University of Chicago Laboratory Schools as a communications specialist from February 2023 until her death.
The school’s communications director Valerie Reynolds said Villaseñor managed a number of duties for the school’s print and online publications, including running all four of the school’s social media accounts. She remembered her as soft-spoken “yet very present” with a formidable work ethic.
”She was a really, really hard worker,” Reynolds said. “Her work spoke for itself. She … put her head down and got the job done.”
A pinned tweet on Villaseñor’s social media featured an update to a 2019 story she’d written as a fellow with the civic journalism organization City Bureau about a woman who was working to open a center for teenagers in Brighton Park.
Villaseñor also worked with the organization’s Documenters Network, according to her social media.
