Posted on 12/06/2004 5:15:28 PM PST by GRRRRR
A high rise in the Chicago Loop at 135 S. LaSalle has at least one floor on fire. Live shots show a raging fire through the windows.
This is the LaSalle Bank Building. Began just after 1830h.
G
The CFD is standing on the roof top of the building outcropping of the SAME BUILDING and are shooting water across the gap and into the windows of the fire floor...YEAH!!!
Getting water into almost all those fire windows...and now can't see flames in them....
It looks like the water is forcing the fire to get hotter in the first few rooms.
Every building violates the LAW OF GRAVITY. The builder erects a structure by creating, by some method or other, what I call a "Gravity Resistance System" (GRS). I used to tell my students to ask builders how they beat the law of gravity. One old carpenter threw down his hammer and declared "they got so many laws now you can't get nothing done!"
Paste this in your helmet :
"Fire disrupts the gravity resistance system. The exact moment the system can no longer carry the load the structure fails. There is no delay, no reprieve, no political clout , no 'years of experience,' which can stop or delay gravity in doing it's thing."
2 firefighters in serious condition
All others have minor injuries...smoke inhalation
A 3rd firefighter has been injured and is on the way to the hospital
Seemed from the video that the buiding was of more recent vintage -- not art-deco at all. One would think, given their past experience - what with the entire city burning to the ground -- that Chicagoans (Chicagoites?) would have madadeted retrofits of hi-rises long ago. Perhaps they thought, since the cow didn't survive the fire, that the problem no longer existed.
This looks like a remarkable well built building, considering it has survived a ferocious fire for two hours without extension to the next floor.
"Why do these news stations think we want to see their over-primped drama queens (ie reporters) instead of footage of the fireman dousing the fire?"
Well, I can not see them...I have NO TV...yeee haaa...I get all my news on FreeRepublic!!!!
The media has been their usual annoying selves. Didn't move back immediately when told to earlier and the cop had to speak gruffly to them. Wouldn't let the FD spokesman who did the news update get back to his job, just kept asking him questions when he'd already given the info. Showing distraught female victims crying.
Prairie
Good news, that was too close to maximum burn time.
Yet.....FNC still has H&C yakking away......
Per WLS-TV ABC7 Chicago, the 29th floor is occupied by the Chief Economist of La Salle National Bank.
Probably still smokes.
Flames Started At 6:30 PM, Witnesses Say
POSTED: 7:46 pm EST December 6, 2004 UPDATED: 9:33 pm EST December 6, 2004
CHICAGO -- Firefighters responded to a high-rise fire at 135 South Lasalle St. in Chicago around 6:30 p.m. Monday, and at 8 p.m., the fire still was not struck.
Flames could be seen shooting from windows on an upper floor, and witnesses reported that people were trapped inside and could be seen leaning out of upper-floor windows.
Within half an hour, firefighters began carrying people out of the building on stretchers. Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. At least 12 people were transported to hospitals, but he said none of the injuries appeared life-threatening. Eight of the injuries were reportedly related to smoke inhalation.
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.
The Chicago 911 center told Chicago television station NBC5 that there were initial reports of people on the 26th, 27th, 30th and 34th floors.
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.
"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."
Several fire engines have been called to the scene, as well as 15 ambulances. Several people are being treated with oxygen outside the building, and the Associated Press reported that 12 people have been taken to area hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening.
VERY sharp indeed!!! Your own name does not do you justice. Can I send you a prize for that reply?
Recognition is prize enough, thanks.
"Fire disrupts the gravity resistance system. The exact moment the system can no longer carry the load the structure fails. There is no delay, no reprieve, no political clout , no 'years of experience,' which can stop or delay gravity in doing it's thing."
I know about it...I woke up on a Sunday morning in 1991 to find my house in flames...Barely got myself, wife and daughter out...Lost one dog and there was nothing left but ashes.
CBS2 says the first 2 firefighters injured burned thier lungs attempting to enter the fire floor.
Man, that's ugly. Another FReeper said that the firefighters are still prepping to fight the fire. Probably sweeping for evaucatees first, then ON with the water. Seems they had better hurry.
Hey, help me out. Doesn't ABN-AMRO own this building? I work in the Chicago Board of Trade at LaSalle and Jackson ---- 2 blocks away.
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