Cook County Building on fire downtown Chicago

[corarose]

OMG!

COOK COUNTY COURT BLG.

HUGE FIRE ON THE FLOOR.

EDITED BY ADMIN: NO INDICATION IT WAS A BOMB ACCORDING TO LOCAL NEWS

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Where did you hear it was a bomb?

[Demobrat]

2. What building?!!!!!

nt

[LittleApple81]

3. anything about this in the news? n/t

[wryter2000]

4. Please! eom

eom

[La_Serpiente]

5. AHHHHH

CRAP!!!!

[The Magistrate]

6. Local News Is Reporting It Only As A Fire

If you are refering to the County Building. One corner has been burning, about nine floors up, for some time.

[La_Serpiente]

7. here is a link

But it's from Faux News...but it's good enough

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,100470,00.html

[HEyHEY]

8. SHit

Still nothing yet

[Don_G]

9. I Don't Know If It's A Bomb, But It Is A Serious Fire

Link Here: http://www.cbs2chicago.com/

[Mike Niendorff]

27. from same source : SoS's offices possibly involved.

Fire Ignites County Building in Loop
Oct 17, 2003 5:25 pm US/Central
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_290183107.html

-----

The fire seems to have engulfed the 9th through 12th floors.
Offices in that area include the Secretary of State.

-----

Not sure what (if anything) to make of that, but I thought it was at least worth noting.


MDN

(on edit: typo)

[DUreader]

31. Elections

sos purview

[corarose]

10. Local News

One station is saying a bomb and the other station is calling it just a fire. But the bldg. is on fire and streets are closed.

[LittleApple81]

16. If it were terrorist, don't you think they would have detonated it

when the building still had all the people in it?
It is a tragedy, either way, but I hope it is just a fire.

[_NorCal_D_]

11. What!?

Not good.

[Wetzelbill]

12. Wow, I hope everything ends up ok

and nobody has been hurt. This is wild.

[AntiCoup2K4]

13. From FAUX (sorry)

CHICAGO — A fire broke out after business hours Friday at the Cook County administration building in the city's business district, sending flames and black smoke shooting from upper story windows.

Firefighters carrying respirators and stretchers were entering the building around 5:30 p.m. CDT, after the office normally would be closed for business.

Firefighters poured water from a snorkel truck onto the upper story floor where the fire appeared to be concentrated. Within minutes, the black smoke began to turn white, signaling that firefighters were making progress against the blaze.

At least one person was treated for minor injuries, according to Fire Department spokesman Will Knight. He said that firefighters were searching for any other people that might be in the building.

Hardly seems to be "Orange alert" terra stuff

[The Magistrate]

20. Indeed

Windows seem intact everywhere where there is not flame: that does not seem compatible with explosives.

[corarose]

14. My Dad was on his way to church "Holy Name"

They wouldn't let anyone pass and they were telling people that a bomb went off.
They heard a huge explosion and he said that it was loud.

I was on my way home from Culinary College and you can see the smoke in the sky.

[displacedtexan]

24. Hi, Darlin'! Keep us posted

on the court house and on your life! we love you!

[Shakespeare]

15. Perhaps you should edit your subject line...

...to something substantially less hyperbolic. All we know right now is it's a fire...nothing being said about a bomb. Please don't get people panicked.

[Dookus]

18. Yes, corarose...

could you please edit it? I can't do it, and I don't want to have to lock this.

On edit: Thank you!!

Dookus
DU Moderator

[_NorCal_D_]

22. I agree.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw that title.

[HereSince1628]

17. So let's stay sane until there is some real news...

.

[hedda_foil]

19. Channel 7 has been reporting it as a fire.

They're very good and have been on it continuously for an hour with many interviews, chopper and excellent reporting. It's out now. Everyone is out of the building.

Nothing about a bomb.

It's the Cook County offices and it seems to have been in the States Attorney's offices on the 12th floor.

[pilsengirl]

25. The Board of Elections is in that building.

69 West washington.

[corarose]

36. My Dad said they keep records on that floor

Could it be voting records?

[corarose]

Thanks I was trying to edit it

:kick:

[corarose]

21. Thanks I was trying to edit it

:kick:

[Dookus]

23. no problem...

thank you! And thank masked anonymous admin.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Calm down

here is one thing about explosions and fires... though a 4-11
alarm is major.

Lets assume for the moment that indeed somebody did hear
an explosion. Cook County is old.. could be a gas leak, or
a floor electrical generator, when they do go off, they do sound
like an explosion....

So I woudl wait for the fire department to do their investigation.

There are many caouses, just mentioned two, that can seem like a bomb

[chasqui]

40. Not only that

But the building has no sprinkler system.
All it could have taken was someone toking up in the grip of a nicfit.

[corarose]

28. Dick Devine was trapped for a while

It was on Dick Devines floor near his office and they just brought out a little child with a blanket wrapped around her/him.

[corarose]

29. There was a Day Care Center on the floor???

They are saying that there might have been a day care center on the floor.

[Don_G]

30. News Conference Soon From The Fire Department

We'll find out more then.

[corarose]

32. The explosion that was heard were the windows breaking out

:kick:

[corarose]

33. The Fire is out and they are reporting no injuries

They are not talking about what caused it and there were no sprinklers in the bldg.

[corarose]

34. A Verdict was read today on the Cop that killed the ball player

:kick:

[corarose]

35. Fire Dept is talking now about the fire

The Day Care was on the 2nd floor and the fire is under investigation.

Two people are suffering from smoke inhalation but they are not serious.
Dick Devine was in the stairwelln during the fire.

[RetroLounge]

37. I'm pretty sure that's the building the Blues Brothers

had to go into to pay the Cook County Assessor for the back taxes on the orphanage, right?

Hope everyone is okay.

[corarose]

38. The News just announced the 6 people are DEAD

They took more people to Northwestern Hospital that were hurt and overcome by smoke inhalation.

What the hell is wrong with the media they reported earlier that no one was hurt or dead and now they have dead & injured people to report on.

[greatauntoftriplets]

39. It has been on the Tribune website for some time.

Before that, the fire department was too busy putting out the fire to check the upper floors, which is where the dead were found. The injured were reported on WMAQ shortly after 7 p.m. when the fire department was first able to check out the upper floors.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-031017fire,1,4279158.story?coll=chi-news-hed