Chicago Accident and Injury Lawyer Blog

The news of the death of 32-year-old Shantel McCoy, who died in a deadly high-rise fire in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, has saddened many in the Chicagoland area and beyond. Investigating officials have reported that a door left open by another couple fleeing the fire may have caused the fire to further spread. They also found that an elevator malfunction thwarted fire fighters' ability to contain the fire initially. However, one of the most upsetting findings, as reported by CBS Chicago, was that "fire safety requirements that might have saved McCoy’s life were recently pushed back three years."

Investigators have stated that after the fire was already well underway, McCoy rode the building's elevator to the 12th floor, where she was exposed to 1,500-degree heat and poisonous gas, and subsequently died. In 2004, Chicago's City Council passed an ordinance requiring owners of Chicago residential high-rise buildings to make "life safety" improvements by January 1, 2012. According to the Chapters 13-78 of the City of Chicago High Rise Building - Emergency Procedure Overview, those improvements included an elevator emergency recall system

"programmed into the elevator to send it non-stop to the main floor so the fire department can take control of the elevator in a fire situation or emergency. This control of the elevator is called fireman service mode. When elevators are in the fireman service mode, they cannot be used by anyone but firefighters."

City Council recently granted property owners an extension until 2015 to comply with the ordinance due to complaints about costs associated with implementing the improvements. The 2004 ordinance was instituted as a result of the deadly 69 W. Washington fire, which resulted in the death of six people. CBS Chicago reported that the elevator emergency recall system at the Lakeview building was not working properly at the time of the fire.

Each year, 450,000 Americans sustain burn injuries, which require treatment from a healthcare provider. According to the American Burn Association, each year, 3,500 people suffer fire and burn deaths, 3000 of which occur in residential fires. Individuals who suffer serious injuries in fires will often require lifelong care and treatment, including physical and psychological care. Many burn victims will sustain permanent scarring, disfigurement and emotional trauma. Common causes of burn injuries include: negligence, work place accidents, defective appliances, electrical shock, propane gas tanks, trucking collisions and car accidents.