Evanston Purple Line Worker Died Rescuing Woman From Fire

A maintenance manager who worked on the purple line in Evanston died Tuesday after saving an elderly woman from a high-rise fire in Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune. 

John Fasula, 50, had worked for the CTA for twenty years, but was working a part-time job at a 16-story building on the south side of Chicago when a blaze broke out on the seventh story, the Tribune reports. Fasula and another worker in the building, Jameel Johnson, both rescued an elderly woman from the seventh story, then returned to the building with fire extinguishers, the Tribune reports. They died of smoke inhalation.

Fasula talked regularly with Ald. Ann Rainey about purple line maintenance issues, and worked with city staff to remove graffiti and clean up trash along CTA property in Evanston, according to city manager Wally Bobkiewicz. In that role, Fasula was always attentive to the city's needs, Bobkiewicz said.

“John Fasula helped make the commute on the purple line better by his personal attention to getting things done,” Bobkiewicz said. “Evanston is a better place because of his work.”

Fasula leaves behind his wife and three children, according to his obituary in the Chicago Sun-Times.