Photos show shaft through which Chicago firefighter fell, suffering deadly injury
CHICAGO (CBS) -- After a firefighter fell through the roof of a Lincoln Park neighborhood building, CBS 2 obtained photos showing how firefighter-EMT Andrew Price lost his life.
CBS 2 Investigator Savini obtained photos from inside the building at 2430-2432 N. Lincoln Ave. that houses the Lincoln Station bar. The images also show where the rescue attempt was made.
Price was sent to attack the fire from the roof of the building. Ladders were placed at the back and the front as he and others from Truck 44 were there to break holes to vent the smoke.
It was moments later when something went wrong. Somehow, Price fell through one of the building's two light shafts – covered with wood and plastic to let in the sun but keep out rain and snow.
It appears a plastic corrugated roof covering the shaft somehow gave way. At the bottom of that light shaft, Price's fellow firefighters frantically tried to save him.
It was not clear late Monday whether some or all of the roof over the light shaft collapsed at the time of his fall or if parts were moved during the rescue attempt.
The CBS 2 Investigators obtained photos of the shaft where Price was found four stories down - still alive.
The view in the photo shows windows to apartments on the walls. Pipes running up to the roof are seen on one side, cords or cables on another.
The light shaft is one of two on the roof, intended for apartment building residents to get some natural light without rain or snow getting in. One light shaft is now missing its top, and the other has holes poked in it – holes possibly made during the attempted rescue or when Price and other firefighters from Truck 44 were sent to the roof via ladders to vent the fire's smoke.
After Price fell, his fellow firefighters started a feverish attempt to get him. Price's fellow firefighters were seen carrying tools through the Lincoln Station bar door. They used axes, pry bars, and pipe poles to break through a wall in the back of the bar – making a passageway to pull Price out.
The photos showed some firefighters buckled over in exhaustion and others covered in sweat and soot.
CBS 2 looked through city inspection reports and found no recent violations for the light shaft or the roof. The only recent building permit was for new windows last year, and the building passed inspection back then.