Moments after a tenant calmly strolled out of a 14-story Rogers Park apartment building one afternoon, the smell of smoke drew Peter Holsten and other property management to the burning and locked apartment.
The blaze had been set by a pyromaniac.
Springing into action, Holsten, owner of Holsten Management Co., which oversees 45 buildings and 2,200 units citywide, and his staff followed instinct as best they could.
They summoned the Chicago Fire Department by calling 911. While waiting, they pulled a fire hose down the hall and attempted breaking down the door. Fortunately, the fire department arrived in short order–before the door yielded.
“It would have taken an hour for the fire to burn down that wooden door and the building was fire resistive,” Holsten recalls. “But we thought we should try to break in and put out the fire. When the fire department arrived, they told us to stop.
“From outside, they broke the glass window to give the fire and smoke somewhere to go, other than the interior hall. Then they broke through the door and extinguished the flames.
“We thought we were doing the right thing. In the end it was completely wrong.”
Holsten’s experience is a classic example of why apartment building residents and management staff should remind themselves frequently of exactly how to survive and avoid fires.
As adults in an era when improved building materials have dramatically curbed the occurrence of catastrophic fires, few think about how they might escape a burning building. Fewer still think about how they might prevent or avoid fire.
Rogers Park Community Action Network, formerly the Rogers Park Tenant Committee, responds to tenant queries and complaints, some of which address fire safety.
“We encourage tenants to be mindful of fire safety and hazards in the apartment selection process,” says Fran Tobin, board chair of the network. “Too frequently, tenants are willing to live in a death trap just because it’s affordable. But when they are looking, they should think about these things.
“Apartments that have been illegally divided into smaller living units often don’t have a back door through which to escape. While searching for a place to live, potential tenants should check windows to assure that they aren’t painted shut. They should check fire escapes to assure that they are not so corroded that they’ll fall apart in use.
“If possible, potential tenants should inspect basements, where many fires start, to see if they are well maintained. And because most fires these days are started by smokers, all apartments should have a working smoke detector in place and tenants should maintain the batteries.”
Since it was formed in the 1970s, the Chicago Fire Department’s Public Education Unit has evolved to provide sophisticated, personalized education to urban residents and building managers. Today that unit offers 19 education Eight of the programs are specifically tailored to apartment building tenants. In formal, on-site visits, fire officials routinely deliver programs in response to invitation. Groups, including adult communities, high-rise building residents, senior citizens and the physically or mentally challenged, can solicit training by calling the Public Education Unit (at 312-747-6691) or by writing to Edward P. Altman, Acting Fire Commissioner, Chicago City Hall, Room 105, 121 N. LaSalle St., Chicago, Ill. 60602.
Fire Chief Charles Burns Jr., public education unit coordinator, says he gets ever-increasing requests for his unit’s demonstrations. When their training is solicited, Burns’ staff will demonstrate on site how residents can most quickly evacuate their buildings in case of fire.
“We advise residents living in single-family houses to have a rehearsed evacuation plan in place, to do a head count after evacuation assuring that everyone is safe and then to call 911 from a neighboring house,” Burns says.
“In high-rise buildings, we tend to recommend several steps, from feeling the door for heat to staying put in the unit until help comes.”
Smoke detection is deemed the single most effective safety feature that tenants can provide for themselves and their families. Burns says detectors are especially important in modern buildings.
Noxious fumes emitted by burning contemporary building materials, which contain plastics and synthetics, integrate into smoke rolling through hallways, vents and doorways, he notes. Toxic smoke poses the most significant safety threat to tenants in burning buildings, Burns says.
While a city ordinance requires landlords to provide a functioning smoke detector in each unit, tenants themselves are responsible for maintaining the detectors.
Burns’ staff teaches tenants to monitor their environments, particularly focusing on performing weekly smoke detector inspections to assure that the batteries are functional. Monthly smoke simulations can assure the devices respond to smoke.
“We tell them to change their smoke detector batteries twice a year, when setting back and setting forward their clocks.” says Burns.
Fire Lt. Mike Kerrigan talks to tenants living in high-rise buildings, most of which are built with contemporary materials that contain fires to isolated units, hallways and floors. Aside from teaching smoke detector maintenance, he teaches defensive techniques to minimize smoke infiltration into tenants’ apartments.
“We tell them to keep duct tape around, to keep a piece of cardboard cut to fit over each vent opening somewhere nearby and handy,” Burns says. “Then if fire breaks out, the tenant can seal off vents and doorway openings.”
Groups of school-age residents are welcome to schedule day trips at the unit’s Survive Alive Learning Center, at 1010 S. Clinton St. (For reservations, call 312-747-6691.)
At the center, children see a video describing 10 fire safety steps. Then they are ushered into a mock residence that contains a kitchen, bedrooms and a living area.
“We use simulated smoke,” says Burns. “Children can actually act out the experience of being caught in a fire and they can enact what they should do to safely escape.”
In urban buildings, alert residents can help prevent the outbreak of fire, Burns notes, and such awareness can head off arsonists and juvenile fire-setters–the cause of many fires.
With that goal in mind, the Public Education Unit’s Arson Prevention Program encourages residents to report fire hazards and juveniles seen playing with fire.
“We get about one or two calls a month from parents who have observed behavior that suggests a tendency to at least play with fire among their own children,” says Burns.
Once the fire department receives such reports, the Juvenile Firesetter’s Intervention Program goes into action, Burns says.
“We intervene before the child’s problem becomes more severe. We take the child and his parents through interviews to find out what might cause this behavior. If more intense intervention is needed, we refer them to professionals for counseling and treatment.”
Resident groups and property managers should call the fire department’s education unit to participate in its programs, says Burns.
“These programs are free of charge. We prefer to visit buildings where we can talk to groups of residents and/or property managers. Tenants also can visit our fire prevention Web site at www.ci.chi.il.us.”
