High rise fire in Chicago

[HeeBGBz]

It was on Countdown just now. Can't find a link to put it on LBN. It's in a 45 story building and reports of people needing help to get out.

Edit to add a link:

http://www.nbc5.com/news/3976109/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=2265994&dppid=65193

<snip>

"The building is the LaSalle National Bank Building, which is a 45-story building built in 1934 -- before sprinklers were required on every floor in high-rises.

There are reports of people inside the building. Witnesses have said people are waving their hands out windows, and flames could be seen coming out of at least five windows.

The Chicago 911 center told NBC5 is has reports of people on the 26th, 27th, 30th and 34th floors."

<snip>

""The announcement said the fire was on the 29th floor, and it said for us to stay still and not to move," another woman who escaped from the building said. "We decided to just leave, despite the instructions."

At least people learned from the WTC. Don't listen when they say stay put.

[flamingyouth]

1. La Salle Bank Building

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/na/chi-041206fire,0,5132389.story?coll=chi-newsbreaking-hed

Scary. :scared:

[barb162]

2. 135 S. LaSalle Street, I used to work in that building. Probably

weren't too many people in there at this time.

[Newsjock]

3. Live video stream

http://www.wbbm.com

Click the breaking-news link at the top.

[Shopaholic]

4. Thanks for the link

pretty amazing live stream.

[benburch]

5. I've been in that building.

And I cannot imagine wanting to descend those emergency stairs when there was smoke. They are very steep and not really wide enough for two abreast.

[benburch]

6. There was just a flash-over and it blew out a window.

This is a bad fire.

[benburch]

7. They are saying that the FD has not yet gotten any water on the fire.

They are working on evacuation on the non-fire floors.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. They just started spraying a few minutes ago

Watching it on the live feed.

[alcuno]

8. Staying put seemed to have worked for some.

Because of all the concrete, it's contained to one floor. People said that they couldn't have gotten down the smoke-filled stairways without the CFD.

[benburch]

9. Two firefighters with "code red" injuries.

18 occupants transported.

Now a 511 alarm with special box alarms.

1/3 of all the cities equipment on the scene.

[alcuno]

11. Seeing the CFD on the roof of the wing of the building putting water

on the fire made shivers go down my spine. They're working on the roof 25 floors up. I pray they are all okay.

[benburch]

12. Another firefighter transported.

They didn't say what code he/she was.

[benburch]

13. Fire now on the 30th floor.

It has moved up a floor, which is not a good thing.

[benburch]

14. Thirteen in red condition.

Many firefighters injured.

[Bluebear]

15. It's a real live Towering Inferno.....

Not good :(

[benburch]

16. Weakening water pressure in the building.

Fresh personnel being brought in. They were "on the verge of a Mayday" before the pressure returned.

[benburch]

17. The steel of the building is transmitting the fire.

The hot steel makes fuel in contact with it smolder and then burn.

[benburch]

18. 8 of the critically injured are firefighters.

:(

[Skittles]

19. oh that just sucks

the way those guys go INTO burning buildings - I think they are nuts but I thank the heavens for them

[CornField]

20. Is it still burning?

I lost news coverage when WGN went back to regular programming... it looked like they had it contained to the 29th floor at that point.

[benburch]

22. Yes.

Still on http://www.wbbm.com on the web stream.

[benburch]

21. Seems they may be running out of charged oxygen bottles.

They have been on this fire for five hours.

[HeeBGBz]

23. I couldn't get the live feed

My puter sucks. There is little on the tv news about it.

[CornField]

24. Won't let me have it either

I can get the ad pre-feed to play just fine... but then it stalls. I wonder if they are getting slammed.

[benburch]

27. They seem to have cut off the web feed.

Likely we overloaded it.

[slutticus]

25. They don't have the sprinklers.

They are in the process of putting them in.

The spokesman is dodging the question...but there are no sprinklers on the 29th floor.

[benburch]

26. The building was built in 1935.

And retrofitting such a building takes months.

[slutticus]

28. Yeah...but why couldn't the spoksman just say "no,there are no sprinklers"

?

That was just wierd to me. I mean....they're in the process of installing them...that's fine. The guy was acting like they did something wrong. I hate it when spokespersons do that. Just answer the damn question.


Anyway, I hope everyone got out OK.

[benburch]

29. Fear of lawsuits.

That is the answer.

[benburch]

30. Fire was struck at 12:05 AM. 35 injured. nt

[Thoth]

31. How soon before the steel melts and the building collapses...

like the Twin Towers? If fire brought those buildings down, then this one should be coming down too. (I was being ironic here)

[benburch]

32. Ummm... I think you are not looking at the big picture here...

In WTC 1 & 2 there were tons of burning jet fuel and a totally different theory of construction.

This was a steel skeleton building with a masonry skin that supported only its own weight.

WTC was built as a steel skin-supported with the central services core supporting only itself. It was a needle tower wrapped in a monocoque building. In fact the two were to a degree dynamically separate structures during maximum wind load.

Into this you slam an aircraft full of fuel. All the fire needed to do was weaken one section of that skin enough for the floors above to slump an inch or so. Then momentum took over. All of the gravitational potential energy that had been put into that material to raise it to that height was given back in a few seconds.

THAT was your bomb.

In fact, I explored a similar effect for a book I was working on back in the 80s. I wondered what would happen should a New Madrid Earthquake repeat cause the Sears Tower to shift off its center of gravity (towards the river, obviously.) The result I calculated was like a tiny nuclear bomb going off...