Wonder what caused the Chicago fire? Dozens Injured In Downtown High-Rise Fire
Chicago Fire Department Calls For Mutual Aid
nbc5.com
POSTED: 6:46 pm CST December 6, 2004
UPDATED: 12:28 am CST December 7, 2004
CHICAGO --
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Firefighters responded to a high-rise fire at 135 South Lasalle St. around 6:30 p.m. Monday. The fire was officially struck at midnight.
Dozens of people were injured, including 12 firefighters -- several of whom were transported in serious condition. Just before 11 p.m., 10 of the firefighters were upgraded to fair condition. However, two firefighters were listed in critical condition on ventilators at John H. Stroger Hospital, NBC5 reported.
When the blaze broke out, flames could be seen shooting from windows on the 29th floor, and people could be seen leaning out of upper-floor windows. Glass fell to the ground below as the fire grew until around 9 p.m., when steam shot from the windows in an apparent interior attack on the flames. But the blaze seemed to flare back up around 10 p.m., when fire could again be seen shooting from several windows. Officials later confirmed the fire had spread to the 30th floor as crews continued to dump water on it.
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To check on people who may have been inside the building, call the city information number at (312) 743-INFO.
A staging area has been set up at 30 S. LaSalle St. for family members of people who work in the building.
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Within half an hour, firefighters began carrying people out of the building on stretchers. Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said 25 people had been transported to area hospitals. But late Monday night, NBC5 reported the number of injured had been updated to 28 people.
Thirteen people were listed in red, or serious condition. Ten were in yellow condition, which means they likely suffered some smoke inhalation, but not serious injuries. Two people were listed in green condition, Langford said.
Several people were seen being treated with oxygen outside the building.
"We were leaning out of our office window. I was just trying to breathe."
- Sara Neddlehoffer
"I don't know if there are any people in the building. We're doing our check to find out," Langford said.
Langford said two firefighters were transported to area hospitals in red condition, with serious injuries. The 911 center said both firefighters' air bottles ran out while they were inside the building. According to the center, one of the injured firefighters had been sharing his air supply with victims before his tank ran out.
Nicholas Russel, a district chief with the Fire Department, said he spoke with several of the injured firefighters. He said their wounds should serve as reminders of how dangerous a firefighter's job is.
"You have to kiss your family every night. You don't know whether you'll be there tomorrow. So we hope all our guys get back tonight," Russel said. "(It's) one heck of a fire, and we're still fighting it, so that's what I'm heading back to now."
Langford said that at its peak, the fire was upgraded to a five-alarm blaze with three special alarms. NBC5 reported that an estimated 300 firefighters responded to the scene. At 10:20 p.m., flames could still be seen shooting from some of the building's windows. But by about 11:30, the flames had been replaced by the twinkle of firefighters' flashlights as they searched the burned-out floors.
Late Monday night, the Chicago Fire Department enlisted the suburban mutual aid system, which hasn't been used since the Chicago flood of the 1990s.
Several suburban fire departments sent about 20 pieces of equipment to the city to ensure that Chicago would be covered in case another emergency broke out anywhere else.
In all, about 10 area fire departments sent truck companies and firefighters to Chicago Monday night.
Thousands Work Inside Building
The building is the LaSalle National Bank Building, which is a 45-story building built in 1934 -- before sprinklers were required on every floor in high-rises, NBC5's Don Lemon reported. The 29th floor houses the bank's trust operations, according to Shawn Platt, a LaSalle Bank spokesman.
Platt said the building is the bank's corporate headquarters, and it houses around 3,000 employees at full capacity, most of whom work for the bank. He was unsure how many people were inside when the flames broke out. Platte said bank employees and customers could go to LaSalleBank.com for information about how the fire may affect bank operations. However, he did say all LaSalle branches would be open Tuesday, except for 135 S. LaSalle St.
Platt initially said there are sprinklers throughout the building. However, he later clarified that comment, saying there were no sprinklers on the 29th floor.
"We're working on putting the infrastructure in place," Platt said. "At this time there were no sprinklers on the 29th floor."
Platt would not say what was housed on the building's 30th floor.
Another man who works for the bank told NBC5 that many workers tend to stay in the building late.
"Quite a few people stay until 7:30, 8 o'clock at night," he said. "My main concern is if the fire is still going, how can we tell that everybody got out?"
The man also said the building had just conducted a fire drill about a month ago.
Victims Describe Harrowing Escape
The Chicago 911 center told NBC5 that there were initial reports of people on the 26th, 27th, 30th and 34th floors. Just before 9:30 p.m., the center confirmed the primary surge on the east side of building was clear of any victims. However, rescue crews were still conducting a secondary search of the building at 10:30 p.m.
One woman who works on the 40th floor spoke with NBC5 after she escaped from the building. She said she made her way in a stairwell to the 35th floor, where the smoke became too much for her. The woman said firefighters were able to rescue her and several others.
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"The announcement said the fire was on the 29th floor, and it said for us to stay still and not to move," another woman who escaped from the building said. "We decided to just leave, despite the instructions."
Roderick Powell, who was on the 29th floor, said he did not hear a fire alarm, but saw and smelled smoke.
"I did not hear a fire alarm, I saw smoke and I immediately went down to the lobby," Powell said. "The first people who came down did not hear a fire alarm, we just saw smoke."
Jim Rubens, who works at a law firm in the building, said he held hands with other victims as firefighters escorted them down a smoky stairwell.
"It was horribly thick smoke and the halls were completely dark," said Rubens, who was sweating and covered in black soot. "And we were trying to touch the person in front of you to see where we were going to."
Tom Smith, a lawyer who worked in the building, said a firefighter escorted him to safety in a freight elevator after smoke in a stairway turned him back.
"It's kind of scary. When I started seeing smoke in the hall, that started getting disconcerting, to say the least," Smith said.
Sara Neddlehoffer, an attorney who works in the building, spoke with NBC5 after she escaped. She said she and her coworkers tried to make their way through the stairwell, but blinding smoke turned them back.
"I was working late, and the office started filling up with smoke ... so we left the office and went down the stairs, and as we went down it became more smoky," Needle said. "We went back to our office, and it was even smokier then, but in my office it wasn't as bad ... I went to my office and I called 911. They told us to stay where we were."
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Firefighters lean out window during LaSalle Bank blaze.
"We were leaning out of our office window. I was just trying to breathe," she said.
Elena Pradie, who works for LaSalle Bank on the building's 42nd floor, said she was trapped until firefighters came to her rescue.
"I don't know how the fire started, but I was trapped on the 35th floor for 10 or 15 minutes," Pradie said. "At first it was just a little bit of smoke up there, and then it got worse ... I got stuck ... they came and got us and we got down and got out."
Several fire engines were called to the scene, as well as 15 ambulances. Langford said a five-alarm fire would bring more than one-third of the city's fire equipment to the scene.
A staging area has been set up at 30 South LaSalle St. for family members of people who work in the building. Any family member who needs more information about people who may have been in the building can go to that address.
Several streets have been shut down around the building, which could make travel in the Loop difficult at this hour.
This was the second major Loop fire in little more than a year. A blaze on Oct. 17, 2003, killed six people at the Cook County Administration Building, a high-rise at 69 W. Washington St., and city officials have proposed a number of changes in high-rise fire responses as a result of separate county and state investigations.
Monday's fire was at the site of the world's first skyscraper, William Le Baron Jenney's Home Insurance Building. That structure was 10 stories tall when it was finished in 1885 but was razed in 1931 to make way for the modified Art Deco style Field Building, at 135 S. LaSalle St. , which became the LaSalle Bank Building. The structure has 23-story corner wings, according to Frances H. Steiner's "Architecture of Chicago's Loop." |
