When six people died in the fire at the Cook County administration building in the Loop on Oct. 17, people expected authorities to investigate what happened and fashion some response to reduce the risk of such a tragedy happening again. Enormous pressure has been brought on Mayor Richard Daley and Cook County Board President John Stroger, from other political leaders and from the news media, to do just that.
This is a time, though, to slow down, collect the facts and craft the most effective response.
About all we know for certain about the fire is that six people died. What precisely caused the fire? How did human error contribute to the deaths? What went wrong with the building’s fire protection system? Would sprinklers have contained it or put it out? Those questions will not be answered until several investigations are concluded. That may take several weeks.
Yet since the tragedy, proposals have rained from all quarters of the City Council and now from the mayor’s office.
Ald. Ed Burke (14th) has proposed sprinklers in commercial buildings of all types built before 1975. The estimated cost to do that that is anywhere from $2 to $10 per square foot. It would affect mostly older buildings–the so-called B- and C-class–a sector of the market that is already struggling under a 16 percent vacancy rate. Hiking costs and rents forced by additional regulations won’t fill them back up.
Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) has talked about requiring sprinklers only in non-residential buildings. He figured condominium owners–he owns one himself–and renters, particularly those on fixed incomes, could not afford thousands of dollars in assessments or higher rents to cover the costs of home installation. But that’s precisely where the greatest risk of death in a fire can be found. Approximately 83 percent of all fire fatalities occur in homes–while people are sleeping or cooking–not in office buildings.
A plan offered by the city’s Department of Construction and Permits tries to split the difference between the Burke and Stone proposals but has some whopping holes of its own. Pre-1975 commercial buildings would have 12 years in which to install sprinklers, but residential buildings–again, where most fire deaths occur–would be held to a less stringent standard. Sprinklers would be required in practically all new commercial and residential buildings.
Give credit to the Daley administration, at least, for recognizing that sprinkler systems may put a significant burden on owners and renters by making a general offer of tax breaks to partially compensate for the expense.
But the administration needs to be far more specific regarding costs. The suggestion that owners may apply for tax credits, perhaps from the feds or the state or the locals, hardly qualifies as a credible cost-benefit analysis.
Sprinklers may be an appropriate requirement in some or all business and residential high-rises and other properties. Savings in insurance premiums often partially compensate for installation costs. But the city has not offered any such calculations.
It ought to wait for answers from the probes into what caused the fire at the Cook County building and what could have prevented the deaths. Then, if they are warranted, the city should craft regulations that consider costs and effectiveness, keeping in mind that ultimately no regulation can guarantee the safety of all occupants of high-rises, either at work or at home.
