Through My Eyes...: FIRE!

If you have a fire in your belly, you might have an unyielding determination to succeed. To light a fire under someone is to encourage that person or persons to take action. Whatever the word means to you, it's clear that fire is powerful.

"You're fired!" A phrase you never want to hear shouted at you during your working career. "Fire!" A word that you never want to hear shouted in a crowded building. Two different meanings, both harmful. The definition of the first one is a burning mass of negative energy exhibited by your boss (just kidding), and the definition of the second one is 'a burning mass of material.' [i]

Chicago has had its share of fires. Three that come to mind are the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, the Iroquois Theater Fire in 1903, and the Our Lady of Angels School Fire in 1958. All 3 are famous, and all are tragic.

Perhaps the most famous fire to sweep an American city – and certainly the most infamous case of farm animal arson – the Great Chicago Fire claimed up to 300 lives in 1871. After starting in a barn on a particularly dry October night, the fire spread through the Windy City's unregulated wooden structures. It wreaked miles (and millions worth) of property damage. The Great Chicago Fire was transformative for the city of Chicago, sparking political upheavals and restoration efforts that led to a population boom in the decades to come. Of course, it also changed the way we construct, insure, and regulate buildings – and not just in the city of Chicago. After the devastation of this historic event, City Council stepped up within a year to ban wooden building materials and require flame-resistant materials instead.[ii]

Aftermath of Chicago Fire - 1871

Just a few decades after the city's Great Fire, Chicago suffered another fiery tragedy when the opulent Iroquois Theatre caught fire, with 602 people trapped inside. These mass casualties inspired federal and state overhauls of codes that affect public spaces, and these codes continue to govern our theatres and other entertainment and hospitality venues to this day. Like the "unsinkable" Titanic, the "fireproof" Iroquois Theatre proved to be anything but. Tragedy struck on December 30, 1903, when a stage light sparked and ignited a curtain during a packed performance of a play. Some exit doors opened inward, but the vast majority – 27 of 30 total exit doors – were blocked with curtains or locked with strange mechanisms. The audience panicked as many failed to escape, and nailed-off vents trapped the smoke and heat inside with them. [iii]

The Our Lady of Angels School Fire is known as the deadliest school fire in U.S. history, killing 87 children and 3 nuns. Survivors and family members of this tragic fire still mourn the loss of their loved ones 60+ years later. If any good came out of this tragedy, it is the improvements made to school safety. Today, fire drills are a regular part of the school experience, allowing teachers and students to learn what the fire alarm sounds like and practice a safe exit. [iv] ^, [v]

In 1884, the Home Insurance Company Building, designed by William LeBaron Jenney, was the original site of the world's first skyscraper. It was ten stories tall with a steel skeleton, stone curtain walls, and an elevator. It was demolished in 1929 to make way for what would then become known as the Field Building. The Field building was erected by the estate of department store magnate Marshall Field. The 44-story building was designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White. Construction completed in 1935;

135 Building - 1935

it was intended to be the largest office building in the Loop. It is considered to be the last true Art Deco skyscraper built in Chicago's Loop district. It was the last major building erected in Chicago before a lull in construction brought on by the Great Depression and the Second World War. On the fifth floor are 17 panels depicting Robert Cavelier de la Salle's exploration of the area. He is believed to have made camp at this location. Considered by some to be Chicago's Empire State Building, the building was outfitted with mail chutes in the shape of the building and is crisscrossed by pedestrian bridges. Eventually, the building would be known as the LaSalle Bank building or simply by its address, 135 South LaSalle. [vi] ^, [vii]

I feel very fortunate that I have never had to escape a burning building. However, I did experience a close encounter. Back in 2004, I worked on the 14th floor of the LaSalle Bank Building located in the heart of Chicago's financial district. It was December 6, 2004, about 5:45 pm… forty-five minutes past my standard quitting time. I was going to stay longer, but I was tired and decided it was time to go home, have some dinner, and relax on the sofa. I got in about 6:30 pm. Thirty minutes later, I received a phone call from a friend of mine, checking to make sure I made it home alright. I was confused. I asked her why she thought I wouldn't have made it home? She said, "turn on the news."

A fire had broken out on the 29th floor of the 44-story building. The building was in the process of putting in infrastructure for sprinklers at the time of the fire, but on the night of the blaze, there were no sprinklers on the 29th floor. The fire was reported about 6:30pm and continued to burn until midnight. The stubborn blaze shot flames out of the windows of the beautiful art-deco designed building along with thick, black smoke. The intense heat from the inferno caused window frames between the 29th and 30th floors to twist. Over 300 firefighters responded to the fire. In all, about 37 people sustained injury, mostly firefighters due to smoke inhalation. However, several suffered minor to serious injuries according to news reports at the time. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. Bank employees had recently participated in a safety drill, about a month or so earlier. Those individuals still in the building knew what to do. [viii] Firefighters found everyone and led them out of the building to safety. It's important to note that none of the stairwells were locked, and fire alarm announcements provided clear and concise instructions.

A few days before Christmas, employees were allowed back in the building on the lower floors. The upper floors remained closed for weeks. The acrid smell from the fire still hung in the air, but lessened each day. Fire and safety inspectors had gone through each floor of the building to identify the cause. Eventually, it was determined that the root of the fire was faulty wiring. Space heaters that some people had under their desks were piled up in the middle of the floor. I found sooty boot prints from the firefighters on top of my desk as they used it as a way of accessing the windows to repel down the side of the building. They stood on the wedding cake-like tiers of the building's design to gain better access to the flames with their hoses.

I don't know how I would have reacted had I been in the building at the time of the fire. I like to think that I would have stayed calm, followed instructions, and made a safe exit out of there, but I'm glad that I never had to find out.

I have attached a couple of documentary videos below on two of the fires related to this post. Both are interesting, as well as very sad. They're approximately 10 minutes or less in length, but very informative.

RESOURCES

[i] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fire