There's a huge high-rise building fire happening in downtown Chicago right now, right outside where I work (and where I am right now). I don't think we're in any danger, but the area is completely in chaos outside - sirens and police barricades on every block, and people crowding around all over the place. It's pretty freaky stuff, considering this area is usually a complete ghost town by this hour.

Anxiety said:

Dude go home, Its Ferris Bueller's day off and get away from that dang thing

Scary!!!

Been smoking again, haven't you?




Hope no one is hurt

If the building is touching yours I'd get out. But you'd probably be evacuated if that were the case.

- your friendly neighborhood safety monitor

nah, it's not touching our building, though it is right around the corner. all our local network affiliates have preempted their programming to cover the fire. we called our boss to see what we should do, because all the streets are closed and most of us take busses home. she said we'd figure it out.

They just said a blurb about it on my local news. No injuries reported so far!

Cool Boss!UGH I hate those ho-bag types.

You should leave now and tell her you figured that leaving early would be better than leaving late...that you feared it would spread to your building like butter on a hot pancake.

Do an Ingrid..."It's just around the corner"

I think Anx should go down there and offer his commentary...I'm sure it'd be amusing and who knows, he may be discovered and be the Next Fabio or something. Just pretend he's "on the scene" and has it under control.

Anxiety said:

hope everyone's OK Anx...keep us up to date with what's going on!

This sounds like it....

Downtown high-rise on fire
December 6, 2004

BY ANNA JOHNSON ASSOCIATED PRESS

A major fire broke out in a downtown office high-rise Monday evening with flames shooting from upper-story windows, sending 18 people to area hospitals.

Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said the 18 injured included two firefighters in serious condition and the rest were treated for smoke inhalation.

A spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said they had not been called to the scene and had not been notified of any fatalities.

Langford said that as far as he knew there were no people trapped in the building but "we are still in the process of fighting the fire." Firefighters shot water into the windows of the burning building.

The fire on the 29th floor was reported about 6:30 p.m. at the LaSalle Bank building at 135 S. LaSalle Street, said police Officer JoAnn Taylor.

People who escaped the building described firefighters escorting them through blinding smoke to safety.

Jim Rubens, who works at a law firm in the building, said he held hands with other victims as firefighters escorted them down a smoky stairwell.

"It was horribly thick smoke and the halls were completely dark," said Rubens, who was sweating and covered in black soot. "And we were trying to touch the person in front of you to see where we were going to."

Tom Smith, a lawyer who worked in the building, said a firefighter escorted him to safety in a freight elevator after smoke in a stairway turned him back.

"It's kind of scary. When I started seeing smoke in the hall, that started getting disconcerting to say the least," Smith said.

Sarah Nadelhoffer, a lawyer who worked on the 39th floor, said she was working late when her office started to fill up with smoke.

"I was thinking it can't be over this way," she said. "I also thought I have no control. I'm going to pray the fire department gets me out."

The fire comes 14 months after a 35-story building in downtown owned by Cook County caught fire, killing six people. A state-funded investigation of the October 2003 blaze concluded in September that the deaths could have been prevented if there had been sprinklers and unlocked stairwells, and if firefighters had searched for victims sooner and kept out smoke and heat.




So my question is what the heck started this at a bank???
[Edited 12/6/04 19:36pm]

Yes, this is the same story, I just heard about this fire on my local news. It looks awful!

Hope everyone injured recovers quickly and that everyone else stays safe.

It's still being broadcast. I'm watching ABC7 right now.

The first thought I had when I woke up this morning was to go downtown to The Berghoff. Scary.

CRAZY!!!

endorphin74 said:

Ok I am so not ok with this... I will tel you why later... Call Chris and get a report please! I want him out of there.

What's happening now?

Not that I'm afraid for Anxiety or anything.






I'm not.

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

I don't have his cel #

I'm sure he's okay though, I promise

everything is cool...not with the building, but with us everything is okay. we can see the fire out the window, and it's pretty bad. i haven't ever seen anything like it. the entire loop area of downtown chicago is closed down. fortunately i was able to wrangle some free cab service out of our boss, so we will be able to get home safely. we can smell the smoke from the fire and see it clearly out the window at my job, but there's no risk of the fire spreading to us. and also, thank goodness, there have been no deaths reported thus far...it's just one hell of a fire, no pun intended.

Anxiety said:

We need to talk Org note NOW!

Thanks god he's safe.





Forget I just said that.

Anxiety said:

Glad you're safe Anx!

Hope everything else can get put under control.

Anxiety said:

whew!
c'mere you!

Ok I am at ease now!

althom said:

Awww a good truth!

I hope things went better than the last big fire in Chicago. There was a fire in a building where some were killed because they went into the stair ways and were trapped. The doors did not open once you went into the stair ways.

jbchavez said:

I'm a safety monitor at work...it is very fortunate that people got out of that fire. Many times they don't. There have been some crazy fires in Chicago over the past idunno a decade. I think several of our training videos we were shown featured chicago fires. Scary stuff.

Glad to hear Anx is ok...

There was a time when someone actually started a fire in our office kitchen as they put a burnt piece of toast in the trash. They didn't let it wait to cool down first.