A year after deadly South Side Chicago high-rise fire, advocates say city's sprinkler rules need to change
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A full year after a high-rise fire that left one woman dead in Kenwood, hundreds of residents are still displaced.
The massive blaze at the south tower of the Harper Square Cooperative, 4850 S. Lake Park Ave., was the first of 17 fires last year in residential high rise buildings that do not have sprinklers because they pre-date the requirement.
Illinois Fire Chiefs Association President Tom Styczynski said this week that the city's sprinkler rules need to change to avoid a repeat of such fires in 2024.
And of the Kenwood fire on Wednesday Jan. 25, 2023, Styczynski said, "One single sprinkler could have controlled or extinguished that fire."
But multiple floors of the south tower of the Harper Square Cooperative are still boarded up - more than a year after flames billowed out of the windows on the 15th floor of the high-rise.
The flames gradually climbed up the exterior of the building to the 24th floor - and took the life of a retired schoolteacher in the process.
The building is not equipped with sprinklers, because the city doesn't require it for construction prior to 1975. The Harper Square Cooperative towers were completed in 1969.
On Wednesday, April 5 last year, a fire broke out at the luxury high-rise at 1212 N. Lake Shore Dr. in the Gold Coast – which was also completed in 1969, and thus also was not required to have sprinklers, and did not.
Chicago Fire Department Lt. Jan Tchoryk lost his life while responding to the Gold Coast fire. Suffering from heart disease, Tchoryk collapsed and in the stairwell while leading his crew to the 27th floor where the fire had started.
"It's almost like going into a blast furnace," said Styczynski, who is also the Alsip fire chief.
Styczynski said unsprinklered buildings are particularly hazardous for firefighters.
"We are now putting our folks in those dangerous positions, because there's nothing stopping the fire," said Styczynski.
Again, there were 17 fires in high-rise buildings without sprinklers in 2023. Some of the high-profile fires included the following:
- On Thursday, May 4, an extra-alarm fire broke out on the 10th floor of the Lakefront Place Condo building, 6730 S. South Shore Dr. – causing no injuries, but seriously damaging the building.
- On Friday, Aug. 18, a man was seriously injured in a fire at The Eddystone, a vintage 1929 high-rise condo building at 421 W. Melrose St. at Inner Lake Shore Drive, in East Lakeview.
- On Saturday, April 8, one person was hurt in a fire in the Island Terrace Apartments building, at 6430 S. Stony Island Ave. in Woodlawn. On Dec. 10, a trash chute fire prompted the evacuation of several floors in the same building.
- On Sunday, Sept. 10, two people were hurt in a fire on the fifth floor of the Lawless Garden Apartments building, at 3620 S. Rhodes Ave. in Bronzeville.
- On Monday, Nov. 6, four people were injured in an extra-alarm fire at the Lake Grove Village Apartments building, at 3515 S. Cottage Grove Ave., also in Bronzeville.
So far in 2024, there have been three such fires – outpacing last year.
"It's going to be an ongoing issue, and it's just going to keep getting worse and worse. Buildings are getting older," said Styczynski.
Meanwhile, Erik Hoffer with the Northern Illinois Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board pointed out that there has not been much improvement back at the Harper Square Cooperative South Tower.
"It pretty much looks the same as it did one year ago," he said. "The only difference is we don't see if the charring from the fire."
Hoffer's organization estimates there are more than 600 unsprinklered high rises left in Chicago.
While retrofitting the old buildings with sprinklers might sound cost-prohibitive, damage like what was seen in the fire in Kenwood last year is more expensive.
"You can think of the millions and millions of dollars this is costing the residents," Hoffer said.
An Oct. 17, 2003, fire at the Cook County Administration Building at 69 W. Washington St. – now known as the George W. Dunne Cook County Office Building – left six people dead. They were killed after finding themselves trapped in a smoky stairwell when the doors locked behind them.
The aftermath of the 2003 fire ushered in more fire safety regulations.
An ordinance that followed in 2004 required all high-rises built before a 1975 fire ordinance to set up voice communication systems, sprinkler systems, or other suppression mechanisms, and fireproofing to protect stairwells and openings on balconies or vestibules.
The ordinance gave high-rises a choice of retrofitting for sprinklers or installing alternative safety features, such as fire-resistant stairwell doors and frames, and one- and two-way voice communication systems.
If the buildings passed the city's Life Safety Evaluation – showing there were enough fire containment protocols in place – they could avoid costly fire sprinkler system retrofits.
Records from the Chicago Department of Buildings indicated that the south tower at Harper Square Cooperative passed a Life Safety Evaluation on Aug. 18, 2017. Still, the 2023 fire in the building impacted approximately 140 units and killed one resident.
Meanwhile, Hoffer explained that cities like Schaumburg have successfully enacted fire sprinkler-retrofit ordinances.
The Schaumburg ordinance was enacted in 2004 – and required all non-sprinklered residential and commercial high-rises built before the village's 1982 fire sprinkler requirements. It was enacted in response to the 2003 Cook County Administration Building fire.
But while Chicago is on a different scale, Chief Styczynski said 2023 should be a wake-up call for local, state, and federal leaders to have a real conversation about helping sprinkler the buildings.
He called for providing funding or other incentives to landlords, if possible.
"This is one of the things that we really need to look at and push more and more every year," Styczynski said.
"Every day that goes on, there is another opportunity for a fire to occur," said Hoffer.
CBS 2 reached out to the Mayor's office about calls to require retrofitting, or funding to help landlords pay for sprinkler systems. Late Wednesday, CBS 2 was still waiting to hear back.