Report: Mistakes By Chicago Firefighters Helped Lead To Workers' Deaths In High Rise Blaze

CHICAGO (AP) -- A Cook County commission investigating a deadly fire at a downtown high-rise will point to a series of mistakes by the Chicago Fire Department as factors in the deaths of six people, according to a published report.

The mistakes included fighting the fire from the wrong stairwell, directing fleeing employees to the wrong place and failing to seize control of a public-address system, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in Thursday's editions.

Although Fire Department protocol did not require it at the time, firefighters also failed to conduct a top-to-bottom stairway search while they fought the fire, causing a 90-minute gap between the time firefighters arrived on the scene and the time the six victims were found, the newspaper reported, citing a commission member who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Six people died and several others were injured in the Oct. 17 fire at the Cook County Administration Building.

Cook County Board President John Stroger appointed a panel of retired judges led by Abner Mikva to investigate the fire. They have held months of hearings, interviewing experts, engineers and fire officials.

Mikva declined to comment until the report is formally released next week, the Sun-Times said.

``I don't think it's healthy for the public to get this in dribs and drabs and leaks,'' Mikva said. ``It's healthier for the way the report gets digested if it all comes out at once. For all I know somebody might want to change their mind.''

Craig Antas, an attorney for the commission, said the full report will be released July 7.

``It's unfortunate that a portion of the commission's report was released. The most valuable thing is to release it in its entirety,'' Antas said.

He said the portions leaked to the Sun-Times were those most critical of the Fire Department and not necessarily indicative of the tone of the report as a whole.

According to the newspaper, the commission has determined the Fire Department should not have fought the fire from the southeast stairwell. Propping open the 12th-floor door to the stairwell blunted the ability of a ventilation system, known as a smoke tower, to pull smoke away from the stairs where the bodies were found.

Firefighters should also have directed people to the northwest stairwell, away from the smoke, the commission member told the newspaper.

The final report will also criticize the building engineer for his decision to evacuate, sending people down the smoke-filled stairs.

Despite an Office of Fire Investigations report that the fire was ``incendiary,'' the commission will conclude the cause was undetermined, the commission member said.