Chicago Fire Department Says Burn Patterns Point To Human Cause Of Deadly High-Rise Fire

Related Articles:

Chicago Fire Department Report Explains How Its Investigators Determined Cause Expert: High-Rises Should Be Sprinklered Fire Expert Testifies Chicago High-Rise Blaze Was Not Intentionally Set Chicago FFs Testify They Saw Civilians In Co. Building Stairwell Chicago Firefighters Testify In Cook County High-Rise Fire NIST Reenacts High-Rise Fire Fire Commissioner Accuses Commission Of Bias Evacuation Procedure Not Followed During High-Rise Fire Surveillance Tapes Show Inside Chicago High-Rise Fire Chicago High-Rise Fire May Be Arson Survivors of Chicago Fire Recall Escape Witnesses Describe Frantic Scene Chicago Official Pushes Fire Probe FD Admits To Not Thoroughly Searching Stairs Chicago Official Pushes Fire Investigation FD Admits To Not Thoroughly Searching Stairs Dueling Stories In Chicago Fire Investigation Chicago Officials Continue to Defend Response Chicago Fire Worries Wisconsin Fire Marshal Ex-FEMA Head to Investigate Chicago Fire Funeral Held For Man Killed In Chicago Fire Lawsuits Filed In Chicago Building Fire Chicago Fire Can Lead To Lessons First Victim Of Chicago Fire Laid To Rest Chicago Fire: Questions As Smoke Clears Chicago Fire Dept. Catching Heat For Fire 8 Still Hospitalized After Chicago Fire Fatal Fire Cancels Chicago, Events, Moves Scs. Six Die In Chicago Building Fire

CHICAGO (AP) -- Chicago Fire Department officials have broken months of official silence to explain why burn patterns and traces of gasoline in a supply room point to an unknown person as the source of a deadly fire at a downtown high-rise.

Six people died in the Oct. 17 fire at the Cook County Administration Building and investigators from state and local agencies have developed competing theories for how the blaze began.

An expert retained by a Cook County-appointed commission investigating the fire said that in his opinion the fire was accidental and probably caused by a faulty light fixture.

But burn patterns showed the fire burned upward among boxes lining a 12th-floor supply room's back and side walls, disproving the theory that the fire was started by a faulty light, Lt. Terry Sheppard said Tuesday.

``An examination of the supply room revealed no indication of electrical activity or heat-producing appliances as factors in the incident,'' Sheppard said.

Investigators also found gasoline amid charred paper material about 30 inches off the floor, Sheppard said.

Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter also responded to criticism that the department's investigation was not thorough, calling the report released Tuesday by the Office of Fire Investigation ``far from skimpy by anyone's definition.''

Lawyers who are already suing the building's management and security companies said they would have their own experts examine the reports and crime lab data.

Tuesday's news conference came after the city dropped its objection to the release of the office of fire investigation's report by a Cook County judge hearing civil lawsuits.

A Police Department investigation will be completed soon, a spokesman said.