Purrs work again! According to this morning's news, 8 people remain
hospitalized, and all are described as being in "good" condition and
expected to recover.

Here's an article from today's Chicago Tribune (registration required;
the Chicago Sun-Times has a longer, more interesting article (to me)
with no registration required at
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-fire07.html ):

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Chicago High-Rise Fire Injures 37

By MAURA KELLY LANNAN
Associated Press Writer
Published December 7, 2004, 11:25 AM CST

CHICAGO -- A stubborn fire raged for 5 1/2 hours on the 29th floor of
a historic downtown skyscraper, shooting flames from windows and
sending at least 37 people to hospitals, most of them firefighters who
suffered smoke inhalation. Some injuries were serious, but city
officials confirmed Tuesday that there were no deaths.

Streets around the Art Deco-style building, the corporate headquarters
of LaSalle Bank in the city's downtown Loop business district, were
closed to pedestrians and traffic as officials investigated the cause
and tried to determine if the building was structurally sound.

More than 300 firefighters battled the blaze Monday night, shooting
water into the windows and sometimes standing on the building's
wedding cake-like tiers to gain better access. Office workers who
escaped the blaze in the 43-story building said firefighters escorted
them through blinding smoke to safety.

Of the 37 people injured, 22 were firefighters in moderate to serious
condition, said fire commissioner Cortez Trotter. Most were being
treated for smoke inhalation or minor injuries, officials said.

Investigators sealed off the 29th floor to preserve evidence and allow
engineers to ensure it is structurally sound, Chicago Fire Department
spokesman Larry Langford said.

Fire and police officials going above the first floor had to be
decontaminated so they didn't track anything into the scene -- a
problem identified after a fatal Chicago high-rise fire 14 months ago
that killed six people.

"We're going to do this very carefully and by the book," Langford
said. "We're going through extreme measures."

Bob Bailey, a partner in a commercial real estate law firm on the
building's 39th floor, said he had to keep his head outside a window
or near the ground because of the smoke until firefighters came and
led him down an elevator.

"We had our windows open in the office and I had to put my coat on the
door, so that smoke wouldn't start rolling in," he said. "And for a
while, we weren't sure we were going to make it."

The fire at 135 S. LaSalle Street was reported about 6:30 p.m. and
extinguished about midnight. Thick black smoke poured out of windows,
and metal window frames were twisted by the heat of the blaze on the
29th and 30th floors.

More than one-third of the city's fire equipment was at the scene, and
suburban fire departments sent crews into the city to act as backup.

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."

The fire comes little more than a year after a 35-story county
building in downtown Chicago caught fire, killing six people. A
state-funded investigation concluded 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.

Several people who escaped Monday's fire said none of the stairwell
doors were locked, fire alarm announcements told them clearly what to
do and that firefighters found them and led them to safety.

LaSalle Bank spokesman Shawn Platt said the bank conducted a safety
drill about a month ago, but there were no sprinklers on the 29th
floor, which holds the bank's trust division. He said the building was
putting in the infrastructure for sprinklers.

About 3,000 people work in the building, but only 400 to 500 were in
the building at the time of the fire, he said.

Lasalle Bank is one of the largest banks in the Midwest. Its building
was originally named the Field Building, after Chicago retailer
Marshall Field, whose estate developed the skyscraper in the early
1930s. It was designated a Chicago landmark in 1994.

Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha

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http://www.jhedge.com