CHICAGO (AP) -- The state fire marshal, responding to a report on the deadly Cook County Administration Building fire, said Friday he would work with cities across Illinois to ensure they follow a 2002 state code that calls for sprinklers in high-rise buildings.
The report, released Thursday night and discussed in detail Friday by investigation leader James Lee Witt, said lives could have been saved had there been a sprinkler system and other safety measures, and it recommends that all high-rise buildings install sprinklers and doors that automatically unlock during emergencies.
``Our hope is this incident will forever change how buildings are built and operated,'' said Witt, a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The report notes that the state in 2002 adopted the National Fire Protection Association's Life Safety Code, which requires sprinklers in buildings over 75 feet tall, or at least alternatives that provide an equivalent level of safety. But it says the state didn't effectively communicated those changes.
State Fire Marshal J.T. Somer said Friday he would work to change that.
``The first thing we need to do is sit down with all the leaders, the city and county and state and work out the best solution for compliance as soon as possible,'' Somer said.
The Witt report determined that the six deaths in the Oct. 17 Cook County Administration Building fire could have been prevented if the high-rise had had sprinklers and unlocked stairwell doors and if firefighters had searched those stairwells and not let in smoke and heat.
The victims were trapped in a stairwell that filled with smoke after firefighters opened a lower door on the 12th floor, where the fire burned in a storage room. The stairwell doors had locked behind the victims as they tried to evacuate the building.
The county has since installed sprinklers in the 35-story building and a system for unlocking the stairwell doors in an emergency.
The City Council also voted to prohibit stairwell doors that remain locked during emergencies. And two ordinances are pending before its Buildings Committee; one would require sprinklers to be installed in high-rise commercial buildings built before 1975 and the other includes high-rise residential buildings. A ``grandfather'' clause currently allows high-rises built before 1975 to operate without sprinkler systems.
Alderman Bernard Stone, the committee's chairman, said there is support for the ordinance that applies only to commercial buildings.
Neither Somer nor Stone knew how much it would cost to retrofit high-rise buildings with sprinklers; Stone said experts who have testified before his committee have been unable to give a cost because there are too many variables.
``If Mr. Witt wants to put them in, I think Mr. Witt should be generous and make an offer of billions to pay for them,'' Stone said.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich commissioned the Witt report because he said a county commission that had been appointed to investigate lacked expertise.
That county commission in July reached many of the same conclusions as Witt's team.
The Blagojevich administration on Friday defended the $1.8 million cost of the Witt report, which was nearly twice the cost Blagojevich originally estimated.
``This has to be a priority _ public safety and making sure this doesn't happen again,'' Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson said.
Witt said his investigation involved hours of work, many experts, computer simulations and a recreation of the fire to see how it spread.
Asked Friday if it was a good use of resources, considering the county commission reached many of the same conclusions, Witt responded: ``What's a life worth? What's the safety of a community worth? What's the economic vitality of a community worth?''
``It's important that we learn from this,'' he said. ``We have to do better.''
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