Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― It was one of the deadliest school fires in American history. Fifty years ago today, Our Lady of the Angels school on the west side went up in flames. When the fire was finally extinguished, more than 90 children and three teachers were dead.

As CBS 2's Rob Johnson reports, for the first time, we hear from three survivors, including one man who is writing a book which highlights what he believes are the shortcomings of the city and the Archdiocese.

It was an intense fire with thick black smoke and it quickly swept through Our Lady of the Angels on that cold December day back in 1958. For Joe Borrelli, a fourth grader at the time, and Mike Fedanzo, then a sixth grader, the memories are still fresh.

"A hundred kids spinning around in the dark with the smoke, screaming tugging at each other's clothing, screaming 'mommy,'" fire survivor Fedanzo said.

"After a while I could see the flames were actually there. They were behind me and I had no choice but to jump out the window," fire survivor Borrelli said.

Borrelli broke his pelvis and was hospitalized. Fedanzo miraculously found his sister and escaped. They were the lucky ones. That day and night, firefighters had the grim task of pulling the bodies of 92 children and three nuns out of the charred ruins.

One of the victims was 10-year-old Joan Anne Chiappetta. Her brother Bob Chiappetta was 11 years old at the time.

"It's devastating," Bob Chiappetta said. "It destroyed my whole family."

For the last 15 years, Chiappetta has dedicated his life to getting to the bottom of this tragedy. For instance, why did the city's Fire Prevention Bureau overlook so many fire code violations at the school?

"Overcrowding, deficient fire alarm systems, lack of fire doors, fire walls, inadequate means of egress out of the building," Chiappetta said.

In fact, he is writing a book titled "The Immaculate Deception" because he believes it wasn't just the city that was negligent.

When asked if he holds the Archdiocese responsible for what happened that day, Chiappetta said, "I most certainly do because they failed to comply with the codes."

In a statement to CBS 2 News, the Archdiocese points out that unfortunately buildings built before 1949 were not required to follow the municipal fire codes. But the Archdiocese goes on to say that out of this tragedy came new safety regulations for buildings all over the country - like the presence of sprinklers, alarms wired directly to the fire department and supervised fire drills.

Survivors were told by nuns and teachers that to heal their deep emotional wounds, they should be silent about the horrors they endured that day.

"We lost our childhood. We were no longer kids, we were adults that had to live with that horrific memory," Fedanzo said.

"I think what haunted me the most was my parents in terms of what they went through," Borrelli said. "Their frantic search for me 'cause they had no idea where I was, they didn't know if I was dead or alive. They went to different hospitals to see if they could find me."

For Chiappetta, the book has been therapeutic - sort of.

"I'm enraged because I know that my sister could have been alive today. That I didn't have to watch my mother slip into insanity because of this whole affair," Chiappetta said.

For these survivors, everyday life would never be normal. Even to this day.

"This is what you live with on an everyday basis," Fedanzo said. "You go to a restaurant, the first thing you do is to look for exits."

But Chiappetta says because several of the existing codes were violated, he wants to see someone finally held accountable. He suggested a special prosecutor to look into the case.

One of the boys who attended Our Lady of the Angels is believed to have started the fire, but that charge was never proven.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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