Tribune staff reports
A Monday night fire that damaged two floors of a Loop high-rise burned as long as it did because firefighters gave top priority to evacuating building occupants, officials said.
The fire burned for 5.5 hours, damaging the 29th and 30th floors of the LaSalle National Bank building, 135 S. LaSalle St., because “we wanted to make sure we could contain the fire until we were sure everyone was out of the building,” Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter said.
“This fire was a difficult fire, not only because it was a high-rise fire but because of the location and the need to try and get in to attack the fire in extreme conditions of heat and smoke in confined spaces,” Trotter said at an afternoon news conference.
Indeed, a flare-up occurred Tuesday afternoon as smoldering embers re-ignited materials on the 30th floor, CLTV reported. Two fire companies responded and quickly extinguished the flames.
The initial fire was reported about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on the building’s 29th floor, and the first contingents of what eventually would be 450 firefighters and paramedics — one-third of the city’s firefighting force — rushed to the scene.
A Rapid Ascent Team of up to 75 firefighters immediately started floor-by-floor search-and-rescue operations while other personnel sought to contain the blaze, Trotter said.
Responders quickly determined two stairwells were available, he said. They designated one to evacuate civilians, and the other to bring up hoses and other equipment to fight the fire.
This contrasted with the confusion in the fire on Oct. 17, 2003, at the Cook County Administration Building, 69 W. Washington St. In that fire, six people died after they became trapped in a smoke-filled stairwell that also was being used to battle the blaze.
On Monday, operators at the city’s 911 center handled 62 calls from trapped office workers in two hours, said Ron Huberman, director of the Office of Emergency Management.
Following procedures established after the County Building fire, operators kept callers on the line, getting their locations and instructing them to stay where they were if not in immediate danger. Callers were told to wait for firefighters to rescue them.
The 911 operators then relayed the civilians’ locations to the fire department, and communications personnel at the scene – beefed up since the County Building fire — passed the information to rescuers. Several workers in the building have said they were found and led to safety within 30 minutes after calling 911.
“We asked people to stay in place and call us and we’d find them, and that’s what happened last night,” Trotter said.
City operators also handled more than 90 calls from the public seeking information about loved ones who may have been in the building, Huberman said.
Mayor Richard Daley commended fire personnel. “They all acted bravely and acting professionally averting what could have been a major disaster. The response was well organized and well executed,” Daley said.
“To their credit, the people inside refused to panic and from all accounts firefighters led them safely (out) as quickly as possible. Building management conducted regular fire drills, and I’m sure they contributed to the orderly response to an extremely stressful and frightening situation.” Daley said.
Many office workers have said that as their floors started filling with smoke, they opened windows to breathe while awaiting rescuers.
Trotter acknowledged the Fire Department advises people in a fire situation not to open windows so they do not feed oxygen to the flames, “but in this case, things worked out” because workers were on floors removed from the flames.
Officials have said 135 S. LaSalle did not have sprinklers.
Daley said, “I don’t think so” when asked if, as a result of the latest fire, he would seek changes in a proposed city ordinance that would require owners of older city high-rises to retrofit them with sprinklers.
But the mayor added, “I’m going to look at (the ordinance) again.”
Of the 37 people reported injured in the fire, mostly due to smoke inhalation, 23 were firefighters who sustained moderate to serious injury, and four remained hospitalized this afternoon for observation, officials said.
Fire investigators, the police Bomb and Arson Unit and Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were at the building this afternoon conducting what Trotter described as an “initial investigation into the cause and origin of the fire.”
“Until we’re able to get in and assess the situation I’d like for us to just leave that to the investigating team,” Trotter said.
Officials also would review the way the blaze was fought to see what could have been done better, he said.
Trotter and Daley commended 22 suburban fire departments that responded to the city’s request for mutual aid by sending personnel and equipment to neighborhood fire houses as their usual occupants were occupied downtown.
In a conference call with news media this afternoon, officials of LaSalle National Bank also thanked city firefighters. The bank said its business functions have been relocated and are operational, and its branches and ATMs are open for business except at 135 S. LaSalle.
No customer records, data or other critical assets were lost in the fire, officials said. They now are waiting for the Fire Department to release their building so they can make plans to return. In the meantime, the bank’s 3,000 employees at 135 S. LaSalle have been assigned alternate places to report to work.
In 1997, ABN Amro Bank, the Dutch parent company of LaSalle Bank, purchased the building, the Chicago bank’s headquarters. LaSalle occupies nearly 80 percent of the 1.2-million-square-foot building. The 44-story high-rise, an Art Deco landmark, was completed in 1934 as the Field Building.