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2003 October 17th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: a fire, caused by a faulty light fixture, broke in a storage room on the 12th floor of a 35-story Cook County administration building at 69 West Washington in downtown was reported at 5:03 p.m. on Friday afternoon; the building was built in 1965 and underwent a $ 1.6 million renovation in the early 1990's. It has an alarm system but no sprinklers and holds as many as 2,500 people during business hours. Chicago's code generally requires buildings 80 feet and taller to have sprinkler systems if they were built since 1975. Those that are older, such as the county office building, are exempt from the city rules.
The building holds as many as 2,500 employees during business hours.
Response: The fire was reported a 5:05 p.m. on Friday afternoon. 13 people overcome by smoke. The first casualties were discovered around 7 p.m. after the fire had been brought under control and a floor-by-floor search was conducted. 175 fire personnel were dispatched to the scene. The building search was completed around 10 p.m. Most victims were found in stairways and hallways between the 16th and the 22nd floor. Many access doors leading from one smoke-filled stairway to the hallways were locked for security reasons, which is allowed and standard practice in many cities throughout the US (i.e., Los Angeles). Some of those trapped had called 911 on their cellular phones; 6 people died and 12 were injured.
2003 August 27th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago, South Side: workplace shooting by a former employee at a Windy City Core Supply, Inc. car parts warehouse: 7 people, including the attacker, died.
2003 June 29th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago, Lincoln Park: a second floor balcony of an apartment building collapsed during a party; 12 people died and more than 30 were injured.
2003 February 19th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: stampede in a second-floor E2 nightclub; 21 people died and more than 50 were injured.
1995 July 12th.
to 16th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: heat wave with unusually high
maximum daily temperatures, ranging from 93 F to 104 F (33.9 C to 40.0
C). On July 13, the heat index* peaked at 119 F (48.3 C) -- a record
high for the city. Deaths classified as heat-related by the Cook County
Medical Examiner's Office met one of the following three criteria:
1) core body temperature of the decedent greater than or equal to 105
F (greater than or equal to 40.6 C) at the time of or immediately after
death,
2) substantial environmental or circumstantial evidence of heat as a
contributor to death (e.g., decedent found in a room without air conditioning,
all windows closed, and a high ambient temperature), or
3) decedent in a decomposed condition without evidence of other cause
of death and with evidence that the decedent was last seen alive during
the heat wave period.
During July 11-27, a total of 465 deaths were certified as heat-related;
during July 4-10, no deaths were certified as heat-related. The number
of heat-related deaths peaked 2 days after the heat index peaked. Deaths
increased from 49 (July 14) to a maximum of 162 (July 15). Of the 465
decedents, 257 (55%) were male. Based on race-specific data, 229 (49%)
decedents were black; 215 (46%), white; and 21 (5%), other racial/ethnic
groups. Within racial categories, 128 (56%) blacks were male, and 114
(53%) whites were male. Of the 437 decedents for whom age could be determined,
age ranged from 3 years to 103 years (median: 75 years, mean: 72 years);
222 (51%) were aged greater than or equal to 75 years.
During July 13-21 (when most heat-related deaths were certified), a
total of 1177 deaths occurred in Chicago -- an 85% increase over the
same period in 1994 (637 deaths).
1993 March 16th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago, Paxton Hotel: fire in the single-room-occupancy hotel at 1432 North LaSalle; many people were trapped by burglar bars on first-floor windows; 20 people died.
1992 April 13th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago, Downtown: freight tunnel flood
1988 - USA, Illinois, Chicago: heat wave; 77 deaths were certified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office (CCMEO) as heat-related.
1979 May 25th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: an American Airlines DC-10 flight 191, lost an engine immediately after take-off from O'Hare Airport and crashed onto the ground; all 271 people aboard died.
1976 January 30th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: fire in the Wincrest nursing home; 23 elderly patients died from smoke inhalation.
1972 December 8th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: United Airlines flight 533 en route from Washington D.C. crashed on landing approach 1.5 miles short of the runway at Midway Airport; 43 people aboard the plane and 2 people on the ground died, 18 passengers survived.
1972 October 30th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: an Illinois Central Gulf commuter train overshot Chicago's 27th Street Station, backed up and was hit from behind by a fast moving train. The rear train was an older single level train which completely demolished the rear half of the rear car of the bilevel train in front; 45 people died and 332 were injured.
1958 December
1st. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: a fire in the Our Lady of Angeles
School at 909 North Avers started sometime after 2:00 p.m. in a trash
drum in the basement stairwell. The fire spread into the stairwells
and the second floor corridor, bypassing the first floor where heavy
wooden doors leading to the hallway were shut. Hot air and gasses in
the basement also filled an open shaft in a nearby wall, ascended two
stories inside the walls and filled the cockloft above the 2nd floor
ceiling. There, superheated air sparked flames in the north wing which
was built in 1910. The flames eventually fell into the second floor
corridor from ventilator grilles where they combined with dense smoke
and gasses and made the hallway impassable. Inside the classrooms, light
fixtures and transom windows exploded before the fire broke through
the ceiling itself.
Children and nuns were trapped. Windows offered the only egress and
before any equipment was available for evacuation, children began leaping
from them. The parish priests and civilians who were first on the scene
tried to evacuate the building.
At approximately 2:40 p.m. the first still and box alarms were called
in. By then, the fire had burned undetected and unreported for at least
20 minutes. Engine 85 arrived at 2:44 p.m. but was misdirected to 3808
W. Iowa, expected to find a fire in the parish church. The fire was
brought under control at 3:45 p.m.; 93 people (90 students and 3 nuns)
died, 160 children were saved.
1950 May 25th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: Collision between a streetcar and a gasoline tanker with subsequent fire at State and 62nd; 34 people died.
1946 June 5th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: Fire at the LaSalle Hotel at LaSalle and Madison; 61 people died.
1937 May 30th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago, Republic Steel Corporation near Burley Avenue and 116th. Street: Riots - Memorial Day Incident: in the afternoon city police dispersed a large group of striking steel workers and their sympathizers who were marching in the direction of the plant. The encounter occurred 4 days after the outbreak of a strike of union employees of the corporation and while picketing was in progress in front of the plant; 10 civilians died and approximately 90 members of the protestors were injured (30 by gunfire) as well as 35 police personnel.
1915 July 24th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago/River: excursion steamer "Eastland" filled with more than 3,500 picnickers (license was limited to a maximum of 2,500 passengers) capsized at its dock; 852 people died
1903 December 30th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago, 24-28 Randolph: fire in the Iroquois theatre filled with 1,900 people in the audience and 500 performers and employees; more than 600 visitors died.
1871 October
8th. to 10th. - USA, Illinois, Chicago: Great Chicago fire:
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