Fire Safety Reports Available Online After Deadly High Rise Fires

By Chris Bentley in News on Feb 3, 2012 9:40PM

In the wake of two deadly high-rise fires that highlighted flaws in Chicago's fire code, the city will release fire safety reports online. Starting this afternoon, residents can search for reports from nearly 700 high-rise apartment buildings and condos by searching “Life Safety Evaluation” at data.cityofchicago.org, according to a press release from the Mayor’s office.

A fire last weekend claimed the life of 44-year-old Leela Rani Choudary, who lived in another pre-1975 high-rise at 5415 N. Sheridan Rd. in Edgewater. The building was also the site of a fatal fire in 2010, but did not have sprinklers.

In Chicago, high-rise towers built before 1975 predate safety codes requiring sprinkler systems and a hard-wired alarm system. A recently delayed city ordinance requires old high-rises to get retrofitted by 2015.

Such precautions might have prevented the death of 32-year-old Shantel McCoy in a blaze on the 12th floor of 3130 N. Lake Shore Drive. The 1950s-era building had individual smoke detectors in each unit, but the sprinklers could not reach McCoy as she boarded the elevator bound for 1500-degree heat.

Illinois' fire marshal cited Planned Property Management, the owners of 3130 N. Lake Shore Drive, with 19 fire code violations. They included not having a system that would have grounded the building’s elevators during a fire. McCoy’s mother filed a lawsuit against the building’s management.

Automatic sprinkler systems have been required under state law since 2002, but Chicago’s municipal standards grandfathered hundreds of pre-1975 buildings into a less stringent code. The new reports are part of an effort by city officials to expedite the compliance process—the owners of 3130 N. Lake Shore Drive were among many who had not yet submitted acceptable fire safety improvement plans by the original 2012 deadline.