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Fire in high-rise office building kills six
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A fire in a high-rise county administration building Friday killed six people and trapped workers in smoke-filled stairways and hallways, officials said. Some of the victims inside the 35-story Cook County administration building were not found until after the fire was brought under control. Firefighters were conducting a floor-by-floor search when some of those trapped called 911 on their cellular phones. Fire Superintendent James Joyce said it is not unusual to find more people in the later stages of a fire in a building that can hold as many as 2,500 people during business hours. "Searching for all those people, at the same time fighting the fire is more complicated than it looks from the outside," Joyce said. Joyce said a comprehensive search of the building was completed about five hours after the fire was first reported. He said he did not know how the fire got started in the building, which has an alarm system but no sprinklers. "The people that have passed away appeared to be for the most part from one area in one stairwell," said Joyce. At least 15 people were hospitalized, including at least two in critical and two in serious conditions. Flames and dense gray clouds of smoke billowed out of the windows shortly after the fire broke out around 5 p.m. The smoke was so thick that it forced some people inside to retreat from the stairwells. Joyce said the injured were found in the stairways and hallways from the 16th to the 22nd floors of the building containing state and county offices. The fire broke out in the 12th floor housing Illinois secretary of state offices. Flames and dense gray clouds of smoke billowed out of the windows shortly after the fire erupted. Marienne Branch, who works in the public defender's office on the 17th floor, made her way down a smoky stairwell with colleagues. "I was scared for my life," Branch said. "I still am." Firefighters escorted others down stairways and evacuated a daycare center without incident, fire officials said. The rush-hour fire snarled traffic in the city's Loop business district and forced subway commuters to bypass underground tunnels. Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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