Chicago high-rise cited for inspection violations before deadly Gold Coast fire
As authorities investigate the cause of a deadly Gold Coast high-rise fire, the ABC7 I-Team is looking into violations found by city inspectors at that high-rise building.
RELATED: 3 CFD firefighters injured, 1 dead after battling blaze at Gold Coast high-rise
There are more than 260 residential units inside 1212 N. Lake Shore Drive. Building violations there are among the items fire investigators and city inspectors are checking as they try to determine what happened Wednesday and whether it could have been prevented.
When Chicago Fire Department units arrived, firefighters knew the high rise had no sprinklers inside each living unit because sprinklers are not required in high-rise residences constructed before 1975. The condo building at 1212 North Lake Shore Drive was built in 1970.
In lieu of residential unit sprinklers, city ordinances require that pre-1975 high rises submit "Life Safety Evaluation" reports. More than 600 buildings have done so. They must also pass regular inspections of the notification and communication systems, fire-rated doors and other equipment.
RELATED: Advisory board urges Chicago to reevaluate fire safety ordinance, require fire sprinklers
According to City of Chicago inspection records, five building code violations were issued to the high-rise last fall because fire department water connections were blocked by landscaping. Nearly a dozen other code violations are listed from late 2021, most of them highlighting firefighting equipment and fire safety inspection issues.
The building is listed in city records for allegedly not repairing and maintaining the standpipe system that firefighters use for water hookups; and for allegedly failing to submit annual inspections of the fire pump and the sprinklers in the garage.
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Chicago Building Department officials call the last couple of days in Chicago "devastating and unprecedented" with two firefighters being killed, others hurt, and some residents being injured. There has been nothing further from CFD officials on the latest fatal fire, in which their crews had to climb flights of stairs because the elevators had stopped working during the fire.
"Our thoughts and condolences are with the family, friends and colleagues of the fallen firefighter who responded to today's fire. We are taking steps to assist residents of the building who are impacted by the fire. We remain in contact with the Chicago Fire Department as they investigate the fire," First Service Residential, the buidling's management company, said in a statement.
