1964 — Nov 4, Fire (ceiling wiring?), Dorchester Manor Apartments/Hotel, Chicago, IL– 11

— 11  Bugbee. “Fire Protection Developments in 1964.” NFPA Quarterly, 50/2, March 1965, 10.

— 11  Chicago Tribune, IL. “Amendments Sought for Building Code.” 12-20-1965, Sec. 10, p. 3.

— 11  Hyde Park Herald, IL. “Coroner’s jury asks building code revision…” 11-25-1964, p. 1.

— 11  National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).

— 11  NFPA. “The Major Fires of 1964.” Fire Journal, Vol. 59, No. 3, May 1965, p. 17.

 

Narrative Information

 

NFPA: “In Chicago, on November 4, eleven persons were killed in an apartment house when fire started in the ceiling above the first story and traveled upward via stairways with doors held open by fusible link devises.” (National Fire Protection Association. “The Major Fires of 1964.” Fire Journal, Vol. 59, No. 3, May 1965, p. 17.)

 

Nov 4: “Chicago, Nov. 4 (AP). At least eight persons, including a mother and her four children, were killed early today in a fire which raged through the Dorchester Manor Hotel on the city’s South side, hospital and police officials said. Fire Commissioner Robert J. Quinn said the victims apparently were killed by smoke inhalation. He said the fire was under control. Quinn said some 20 other residents of the four-story, brick structure were rescued from windows by ladders.

 

“At least 12 persons had been hospitalized. Officials at Billings Hospital said two bodies had been brought there and three persons had been hospitalized. Illinois Central Hospital reported two dead.

 

“The building is in Hyde Park. Quinn said the fire apparently began in the basement and quickly spread through the interior of the building. Quinn said the cause had not been determined and that damage was estimated at $30,000.

 

“Fire officials said some 120 persons lived in the apartment hotel. Most were helped from windows by firemen on ladders, Quinn said. Witnesses said flames were seen through the windows, but that they were contained inside the building.” (Southern Illinoisan, Carbondale, IL. “Eight Killed as Chicago Hotel Burns.” 11-4-1964, p. 5.)

 

Nov 5: “Chicago (AP)…Among the dead were a mother and her four children, trapped by iron bars across the windows of their first floor apartment. The bars were installed to protect against forced entry….Firemen said two of the four dead children of the Ted Stevens family had battered their heads against the bars of the windows in a futile attempt to get out. Valiquet said the bars were illegal….

 

“Fire Marshal Edmund Valiquet said there was no indication arson was involved in the $30,000 fire….

 

“The dead were identified as Mrs. Doris Mae Stevens, 41; her children, John, 16, Dennis, 12, Eugene, 4, and Pamela, 2; Mrs. Sophia Cohen, 69; James Brasher, 62; and Mrs. Mae Moran, 75.” (Journal-Standard, Freeport, IL. “Seek Cause of Blaze Killing Eight.” 11-5-1964, p. 25.)

 

Nov 11: “Firemen inspect the damage in the rear of the first floor of 5226 Dorchester [referring to photo]. A fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning raced through the building and caused

the deaths of ten people….

 

“City and county officials are reported considering the advisability of outlawing the use of residence window bars and grill-works that can not be easily opened from the inside.

 

“Investigators said that faulty wiring in a first floor apartment may have caused the fire which spread rapidly to the stairwells and hallways of the four story brick structure.

 

“Mrs. Sophie Cohen, 69, James Brasher, 62, and Mrs. Mae Moran, 75, third floor residents, apparently died as a result of smoke inhalation. Mrs. Harriet Riley, 70, died Thursday and Joseph

Newquist, 62, died Sunday as a result of the fire.

 

“Acting building commissioner Sidney D. Smith said that the building was structurally sound. The first floor bars which prevented the Stevens family from leaving the flaming structure are apparently legal.

 

“Area residents and the Red Cross disaster unit sped to the aid of the victims as rapidly as possible. Residents of the burning building, the Dorchester Manor Apartments, were cared for in the lobby of the Versailles Apartments, 5234 Dorchester, and the Hyde Park YMCA.” (Hyde Park Herald, IL. “Ten people die as a result of apartment hotel fire here.” 11-11-1964, p. 1.)

 

Nov 25: “The eleven deaths resulting from the fire at 5226 Dorchester in the early morning of Nov. 4 were accidental. This is the verdict of the coroner’s inquest held last Friday. The fire was of an undetermined source, according to testimony given by the Fire Department. Fire Department investigator Michael Alletto testified that the fire started in the first floor corridor ceiling outside the Stevens’ apartment. Theodore Stevens, a University of Chicago utility man, testified briefly about his discovery of the fire at about 2:15 A.M. and the deaths of his wife, Doris, and their four children in the fire. The Stevens’ family was unable to leave the burning building because their first floor windows had bars across the lower half and steel mesh embedded in the upper window sashes.

 

“The eleventh victim of the Dorchester Manor apartment building fire was Mrs. Beatrice Gallagher, a first floor resident who died on Nov. 13 as a result of fire burns. Eight died at the time of the fire and three more succumbed later.

 

“The blue ribbon coroner’s jury recommended that the building code permitting barred windows be revised. Combustible ceilings of the type present in the first floor corridor and the apartments should be banned. An extensive program of education by the fire department on how people should handle themselves in a fire was also recommended by the coroner’s jury.

 

“There was no indication that the fire started in any one room, according to Deputy Chief Fire Marshall Thielmann. Thielmann stated that the fire started in the first floor corridor ceiling and spread through the other ceilings and then down through the pine doors and devices which are supposed to close the doors automatically when the temperature in the adjacent area reaches a certain level. The coroner’s panel recommended that apartment buildings of the Dorchester Manor type be equipped with a safer type of door….

 

“Chief Otto told the coroner’s inquest that approximately 20 people were taken out of the building on ladders and 50 down the two stair cases. All the first floor window bars were cut off by the firemen but the Stevens’ family was already dead of smoke inhalation. The other five victims, all older people died on the second and third floors. Four of these died of smoke inhalation caused by the heavy smoke and heat generated by the first floor fire.

 

“Stevens related his frantic efforts to remove his family from outside the building through the barred windows. Stevens discovered the fire when he heard a man yelling for help across the hall. He opened his door, saw a trickle of smoke from an apartment across the hall and banged at the door. He found no one there and ran down the hall to the front of the building to call the fire department. He stopped to tell his wife to get the kids out of there. The heat and smoke then forced him out the front door. He ran around to the side of the building and tried to smash in the windows and pull off the bars.

 

“Charles Edward Stallings, the occupant of the apartment where Stevens heard the yell, testified that he awoke to find himself choking from the smoke. He tried to open the latch on his bedroom door and found it stuck. He then shouted for help. He finally managed to open the door and ran out the front door in his shorts. He says he did not see or hear anyone in the hall.

 

“Building inspectors testified that the wiring in the Dorchester Manor building was sound. Assistant building commissioner Alex Zimmerman reported that the building, whose owner is Philip Chroman, 5000 East End, had some minor code violations reported in June of this year which were either corrected or in the process of correction when the building was reinspected in September.

 

“Thielmann said that some of the difficulties encountered by the fire department were the parked cars around the entrance to the building which prevented putting up ladders in certain spots. He showed pictures of what he claimed was over 2,000 feet of fire ladders used to bring down the fire victims…” (Hyde Park Herald, IL. “Coroner’s jury asks building code revision as a result of Dorchester apartment fire.” 11-25-1964, p. 1.)

 

Dec 20: “Recommendations that the city building code be amended to outlaw barred windows and combustible ceilings are now under study by the building commission. The recommendations were made by a coroner’s jury which investigated the cause of death in the Nov. 4 fire at the Dorchester Manor hotel, 5226 Dorchester av. The jury ruled the 11 resulting deaths were accidental.

 

Give Protection

 

“Building commissioner Sidney D. Smith said his department is studying the recommendations closely before making any firm proposals. He said the bars over the windows afford protection from thieves and intruders, a consideration which cannot be overlooked. ‘We are trying to determine if adequate equipment is available. There are metal screens that will open from the inside, but whether or not they will provide proper protection from intruders has not yet been determined,’ Smith said.

 

“As for the future of the building itself, Smith said plans were under way to rehabilitate it and that architects had already made preliminary inspections. He said the building was structurally sound.

 

Found Violations

 

“Building department inspectors had found several violations in September, but they were corrected or in the process of being corrected less than three weeks later, department officials said. The owner, according to building department records, is Philip Chronan…” (Chicago Tribune, IL. “Amendments Sought for Building Code.” 12-20-1965, Sec. 10, p. 3.)

 

Sources

 

Bugbee, Percy (NFPA General Manager). “Fire Protection Developments in 1964.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 50, No. 2, March 1965, p. 10.

 

Chicago Tribune, IL. “Amendments Sought for Building Code.” 12-20-1965, Section 10, p. 3. Accessed 11-14-2014 at: http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/12/20/page/169/article/amendments-sought-for-building-code

 

Hyde Park Herald, IL. “Coroner’s jury asks building code revision as a result of Dorchester apartment fire.” 11-25-1964, p. 1. Accessed 11-14-2014 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=240436333&sterm=dorchester+manor

 

Hyde Park Herald, IL. “Ten people die as a result of apartment hotel fire here.” 11-11-1964, p.1. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=240436290&sterm=dorchester+manor

 

Journal-Standard, Freeport, IL. “Seek Cause of Blaze Killing Eight.” 11-5-1964, p. 25. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=164815520&sterm=

 

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

 

National Fire Protection Association. “The Major Fires of 1964.” Fire Journal, Vol. 59, No. 3, May 1965, p. 17.

 

Southern Illinoisan, Carbondale, IL. “Eight Killed as Chicago Hotel Burns.” 11-4-1964, p. 5. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=95906390&sterm=dorchester+manor