Fire Expert Testifies Chicago High-Rise Blaze Was Not Intentionally Set

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CHICAGO (AP) -- An independent expert investigating the downtown high-rise fire that killed six people in October testified Wednesday that he found nothing to indicate it was intentionally set and that the blaze likely started in a light fixture.

Jeff Eaton's testimony contradicts a Chicago Fire Department ruling that a person started the fire and that the flames were fueled by gasoline. The department has not called the fire an arson, and no one has been charged in the case.

``In all the testimony and the depositions, I didn't read anywhere where there was some unknown person walking into the locked area, walking into the supply room, pouring a liquid accelerant, lighting it with an open flame and then walking out,'' Eaton said.

Testifying in front of the county panel investigating the blaze, Eaton said the fire likely originated in a ceiling light fixture in the 12th floor storage room.

The six people who died in the Oct. 17 fire in the county administration building were trapped in a locked, smoke-filled stairwell.

Another fire expert, William Strickland, testified Wednesday that fire department officers should have taken control of the command center and PA system, complying with the department's procedures.

Strickland cited ``a lot of indications people were going to be in the stairwell, and yet, no officer took control of that to direct them to a certain stairwell or to stay in place or do anything else.''