A life-saving sprinkler system was not installed, and residents that left their door propped open so that their cat could flee – both are issues thought to contribute to the wrongful death of a young woman when a fire erupted in a lakefront high-rise apartment, as stated by her mother in a lawsuit and reported by the Chicago Sun Times.
J.M. has filed the suit due to the death of her daughter, S.M., 32. The suit, so far, names building management for their failure to “warn (the victim) of a fire” and in allowing “the (victim) to use the elevators when defendant knew or should have known it was not safe to do so.”
On January 8 S.M. walked into her apartment building, on the 3000 block of N. Lake Shore Drive, and entered the building’s elevator. Unbeknownst to S.M. was that the apartment building adjacent to hers was on fire.
Once she reached her floor, the 12th, and the elevator doors proceeded to slide open she was allegedly hit immediately with a wall of heat – estimated up to 1,500 degrees per fire officials – and the act of inhaling one single breath was enough to take her life.
There were no sprinkler systems or hard-wired alarms in any area of the 21-story building. Also missing from the building were any systems that would disable the elevators, or warn residents in approximately 300 apartments, of a fire.
Because the building was erected before 1975 it falls under an exemption and is therefore not required to install a sprinkler system – there are 758 other buildings in Chicago that are in the same category. Other, less-costly, improvements meant to protect lives were supposed to be completed by this past January 1.
Fire officials lay blame on another reason that the blaze became deadly. One single apartment door that was left propped open allowed the fire to become uncontained. Deputy District Fire Chief J.T. said that had that door been closed the fire would have remained in the originating unit.
The door was left open as the couple that lived in that unit had a cat, and as the cat refused to be coaxed out, they used a rug to force the door to remain open hoping that the animal would flee on his own.
Instead, S.M.’s fate, per fire officials, had been doomed by the simple act. She died from a combination of carbon monoxide intoxication and inhalation of smoke and soot.
Since 1957 Chicago buildings, at least four stories tall, are required to have automatic door closures on units that lead to shared corridors. And this requirement was adhered to in the N. Lake Shore building – the mechanism was simply overridden during the fire.
In regards to the liability of couple that left their door forced open, Joseph Curcio, S.M.’s attorney said, “We don’t have their names, but I assure you as soon as we do they are going to be named as defendants in this case.”
S.M. seeks over $50,000 in damages in the suit.
The root of the fire is currently under investigation.
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