May 20, 2008 7:56 am US/Central
Fire Breaks Out On Roof Of River North Condo Tower
No One Injured, But Residents Shaken Up
CHICAGO (STNG) ―
An apparently accidental fire started on the roof of a parking garage of a 48-story condominium building in the River North neighborhood Tuesday morning.
No one was hurt, but about 50 bleary-eyed residents stood outside after leaving the building on their own when an announcement was broadcast inside the building, called The Sterling.
The fire started in a recreational area on top of the roof of a 14-story parking garage attached to the building at 345 N. LaSalle St., Deputy District Fire Chief Tony Romano said.
Residents said there is a pool and tennis courts on the roof of the garage where the fire occurred.
Dispatchers received a call of smoke on the 14th floor of the LaSalle Street address at 4:31 a.m. and a still-and-box alarm and an EMS Plan 1 were initiated about a minute later. Upon arrival, crews saw flames from the ground floor and after investigating found the fire and were able to control it within about 10 minutes. The EMS Plan and the still-and-box were both canceled about 4:50 a.m., Romano said.
The request for an EMS Plan I response, which sends five ambulances to the scene, is standard procedure for any high-rise fire, Romano said.
Some re-roofing work was being done on the top of the parking structure, according to Romano, who said some roofing materials, including empty tar buckets, caught on fire.
"I just woke up because of the loud fire trucks," 30-year-old David Kinney, who was staying with a friend on the 12th floor of the building, said Tuesday morning. He looked out the living room window and saw "an orange flare" and noticed "the paint and ladder were in flames," he said.
Kim Wapole, 29, an interior design student at the Illinois Institute of Art who lives on the building's 16th floor, was the first to report the fire.
"I found the fire," said Wapole, who was already up doing homework. "I smelled it, I thought it was someone burning incense. I thought 'this is kind of weird'." She called the front desk attendant -- who then called 911 -- after she looked out and saw smoke right below her apartment window.
"At first I wasn't [worried]," Wapole said, "but then I thought this could lead to a little more than a roof on fire. Then, I was a little worried."
The fire department did not evacuate the building. Rather, an announcement was made instructing residents that they were safe and to stay in their apartments, according to Romano, who said many people evacuated the building anyway.
Heather Rink, 26, a financial analyst who lives on the 9th floor of the building, said there was an announcement over the building's intercom system informing residents there was a fire and telling them to evacuate to the 5th floor. While in the stairwell, she said she heard one or two people say the whole building was on fire and, fearing for her safety, she decided to go outside rather than stay in the building.
Alex Townsend, 24, a financial analyst for JP Morgan, who lives on the 32nd floor said he still had about 30 minutes to sleep before the fire happened. Townsend said he smelled smoke and decided to take the stairs all the way down.
"We [he and another male resident] were running a little,'' down the stairs, he said, adding it only took him about five minutes.
No one was rescued from the building or injured, and about 50 firefighters responded to the scene, Romano said.
"The fire department acted very professionally. We made thorough searches of all the stairwells," he said.
As of about 5:30 a.m., the fire department had left the scene, but some police officers were still directing traffic.
The fire does not look suspicious, but the cause of the blaze has not yet been determined early Tuesday. "It's under investigation,'' Romano said.
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Get More From cbs2chicago.com
