Chicago, IL – With the anniversary of the fire at 69 W. Washington Street just days away, the Chicago Fire Department has reported on the reforms it has implemented since then.
“The tragedy profoundly affected every member of our department and each day we challenge ourselves to make the changes and reforms that are needed to make our homes and businesses even safer,” said Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter.
Trotter went on to state that in the days, weeks and months following the fire, the Chicago Fire Department implemented significant changes including: conducting top-to-bottom stairwell searches early in the response to a fire, taking immediate control of building’s communication system, and improving coordination of ground communications.
Since Commissioner Trotter became commissioner even more change took place, the department implemented a new high-rise incident command Order, which dramatically changed the way high-rise fires are fought. The department began a series of hands-on high-rise training exercises and additional staff and resources have been devoted to training civilians on high-rise education. In addition, the department increased the amount of technology in the communication vans at the scene of a fire and equipped command level personnel with new hand-held devices to better improve ground communications.
On September 29, 2004, Fire Commissioner Trotter responded to 20 recommendations made by the Cook County Commission charged to investigate the tragedy. In that response, he reported that the department adopted 18 of 20 recommendations.
The biggest change to this department since the tragedy is the new high-rise incident command order. The key points of the new order are:
- Increases the number of personnel assigned to the initial response by 60%;
- Establishes a Rapid Ascent Team Search (RATS), which will be solely dedicated to all search and rescue operations for all floors, stairwells, hallways and elevators while fire extinguishment is being conducted simultaneously;
- Assigns a Chief Officer to oversee all search and rescue operations during the initial response;
- Establishes emergency medical service (EMS) as part of the initial response;
- Establishes the Tactical Command Board to increase accountability and verify completion of tasks; and
- Establishes detailed procedures for communications panel operation and smoke movement precautions.
Commissioner Trotter has also made training and education the backbone of the new high-rise incident command, which is a two-prong approach with an internal and external strategy.
The internal strategy has dramatically increased training of in-house personnel in classroom and real-life training settings. The commissioner promised to train every member of the fire department within sixty days. To date, nearly 500 members, including the top rank personnel, have received classroom training on high-rise incident command. The department has also held four hands-on high-rise training sessions with at least two more scheduled in the weeks to come.
An even more aggressive training program is underway, which includes the building management and security personnel and building occupants.
Training the public on fire safety is part of the external training strategy. The Fire Department increased the number of personnel assigned to civilian high-rise education and developed a consistent citywide Life Safety Program message consisting of the word CALM: Call, Alert, Listen and Move, to remind building occupants what to do in the event of a high-rise fire. A DVD was also created that can be downloaded and duplicated by every building tenant.
“Moving forward, I want our residents and visitors to know that we intend to use this format for other areas of Life Safety training and that we will continue to implement needed reforms and changes”, he added.
Trotter also said that the recommendations contained in the Witt report presented by the State of Illinois just two weeks ago are currently under review.
“From this lengthy report, which we need more time to review, we will implement valid recommendations that haven’t already been implemented in the last year,” he said, adding, “We are always open to good ideas about how we can better do our job.”
“I am not uncomfortable with legitimate criticism because we understand that we are accountable to Chicago’s residents. This is why we will continue to make changes necessary to make this an even better department and to make Chicago the safest city in the country.”
