1976 — Jan 30, Arson Fire, Wincrest Nursing Home, Chicago, IL — 24

lornajarrettblanchard January 30, 1976

— 24 Cowan, David. Great Chicago Fires: Historic Blazes That Shaped a City. 2001, 137.

— 24 National Bureau of Standards 1984, p. 2

— 24 NFPA. Deadliest fires in facilities for older adults Since 1950. 2003

— 24 NFPA. Investigation Report: Wincrest Nursing Home Fire. Undated, p. 4.

— 24 National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 137.

— 24 National Fire Sprinkler Association. F.Y.I. 1999, p. 7.

— 23 City of Chicago. Report of the Investigation of the Wincrest Nursing Home Fire. 1976.

— 23 Emergency & Disaster Management, Inc. Chicago Disasters.

— 23 Wikipedia. “Wincrest Nursing Home Fire.”

— 22 National Fire Protection Association. Preliminary Report: Wincrest Nursing Home.

Narrative Information

City of Chicago: “The 1976 Wincrest Nursing Home Fire took place on Friday, January 30, 1976 in Chicago. The fire occurred when an arsonist set a wardrobe closet on fire at the Wincrest Nursing Home building. The alarm sounded at 11:30 a.m. and the fire was put out at 1:30 p.m. Although the building itself sustained minor smoke, fire and water damage, 24 people died from smoke inhalation. A 21 year old housekeeper was arrested by authorities and was charged with multiple accounts of arson.

“At the time of the fire, the building was occupied by 83 residents[1], three nurses, 2 aides and eleven office, kitchen and maintenance staff. 28 of the residents were in the chapel room on the third floor of the building.” (Chicago. Report…Wincrest Nursing Home Fire, p. 9)

“Fire was reported in room 306 by a nurse’s aide who pulled the fire alarm box. The alarm was received by the Chicago Fire Department at 11:43 a.m. (CDT). Attempts to put out the fire by staff proved to no avail. The first fire engine arrived at the scene of the fire 3 minutes and 40 seconds later as nursing home staff evacuated the burning building. More fire engines arrived seconds later as smoke was seen rising from the top of the building.” (Chicago. Wincrest., 10)

“At 11:46 A.M., firefighters fighting the fire, discovered the third floor heavily laden with smoke and trapped elderly patients in wheelchairs. The victims were immediately removed from the burning building and were transported to nearby hospitals.” (Chicago. Report…Wincrest Nursing Home Fire, p. 10)

“The fire was put out at 1:28 p.m. CDT. The room where the fire broke out was completely gutted and the adjacent corridor sustained only moderate smoke and heat damage. Three other rooms also suffered heat and smoke damage. No smoke damage was evident on the second or first floors and water damage was minor. However despite the minor damage to the building, 23 fatalities were reported due to smoke inhalation.” (Chicago. Report…Wincrest…Home Fire, 11)

“An investigation made by the Chicago Police Department and fire department. The survivors claimed that the fire was started in a plywood wardrobe closet in Room 306 which was unoccupied at the time. Although the actual cause of the fire was unknown, the Police Bureau of Investigation arrested a housekeeper who was charged with multiple counts of arson. It is unclear, however, how the authorities determined that the fire was an act of arson, and the arsonist‘s motives for starting the fire were never noted.

“The investigation also indicated that the smoke and heat from the fire raced down the corridor and entered rooms where doors were left open. In addition, a window was left open, reducing the amount of smoke and toxic gas entering the chapel area and the lounge room thus preventing further fatalities. Investigators also cited the difficulty of moving elderly patients in wheelchairs to the nearby stairway and the inability of elderly patients of evacuating themselves from the third floor where the fire took place.” (Chicago. Report…Wincrest…Home Fire, 12)

The City of Chicago and the Board of Health made several safety improvements after the fire. These improvements include:

Installing a sprinkler system in all new and existing nursing homes and that the new sprinkler systems must be connected with the fire alarm system.
Requiring emergency training for all nursing home staff which includes transporting patients during an emergency, maintaining designated areas for family members and establish a roll call system for nursing home personnel.

The abolishment of dead end corridors in nursing home.

Requiring all nursing home management to have a background check on all nursing home employees.

A disaster plan and regular emergency drills made by the Board of Health.

A requirement of residents to wear identification bands.

Stricter smoking rules were enforced after the fire. Now, residents or visitors must smoke in designated areas supervised by staff.”

(City of Chicago. Report of the Investigation of the Wincrest Nursing Home Fire. 1976.)

Cowan: “Fire was reported in room 306 by a nurse’s aide who pulled the fire alarm box. The alarm was received by the Chicago Fire Department at 11:43 a.m. (CDT). Attempts to put out the fire by staff proved to no avail. The first fire engine arrived at the scene of the fire 3 minutes and 40 seconds later as nursing home staff evacuated the burning building. More fire engines arrived seconds later as smoke was seen rising from the top of the building.”

“Hook-and-Ladder 47 was the first to arrive, within 3 minutes of the initial alarm. Wearing self-contained breathing apparatus, the firefighters raced up the stairs to the top floor, then felt their way along the walls in the blinding smoke. They found elderly residents either gasping for breath or already slumped over unconscious in their wheelchairs in the chapel. Needing help to remove the victims, they placed a special call for three additional flying squads. Three minutes later a 2-11 alarm was transmitted. The city’s disaster plan alerting all area hospitals and social service agencies was also put into effect.” (Cowan 2001, 137)

NFPA: “The Wincrest Nursing Home is a licensed intermediate care facility for 88 patients. Eighty-three patients were residents in the home when the fire occurred.[2][1] The home was Federally funded through the Medicaid program administered by the Illinois Department of Public Health.” (NFPA Preliminary Report)

“Many of the Wincrest residents were in the chapel where a Mission Priest was conducting services when the fire occurred. Some were sitting on wooden pews at the front (south) of the chapel and many were in wheelchairs in the main area of the room.” (NFPA, Prelim. Report)

“The Administrator of the nursing home had been through the third floor area approximately twenty minutes before the fire. The nursing home engineer was rinsing the corridor floor shortly before the fire. A nurse’s aide was working in rooms on the third floor. She went downstairs and then returned by elevator to the third floor. She saw smoke coming from room 306 and she noted that the door to the room was open. She yelled to those in the chapel and a nurse came running. The nurse activated the fire alarm station nearest to the chapel and then shut the door to room 306. The nurse’s aide called the switchboard for help and then she began to evacuate residents from the rooms on the east end of the building.

“The building engineer was on the second floor when he heard the fire alarm. He rushed to the first floor and was told there was a fire on the third floor. When he arrived at room 306, the priest was using a portable fire extinguisher, trying to direct the extinguishing agent over the top of the open door onto the fire. The engineer entered the room with another extinguisher and attempted to extinguish the fire, but was driven out by the heat and smoke. He described the fire as coming from the top of a clothes wardrobe inside the room. The engineer went downstairs to get fresh air and then helped to evacuate residents.” (NFPA Preliminary Report)

“All residents who died were located in the chapel. Thirteen patients died initially, but others have died since the fire and the total now is 22 dead.” (NFPA Preliminary Report)

Sources

City of Chicago. Report of the Investigation of the Wincrest Nursing Home Fire. 1976. Accessed at: http://tripatlas.com/1976%20Wincrest%20Nursing%20Home%20Fire

Cowan, David. Great Chicago Fires: Historic Blazes That Shaped a City. Lake Claremont Press, 2001, 169 pages. Partially digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=ZHPg3siVm4EC

Emergency & Disaster Management Inc. Chicago Disasters. Accessed 1-22-2008 at: http://www.emergency-management.net/chicago_di.htm

National Bureau of Standards. Fire Performance of Furnishings as Measured in the NBS Furniture Calorimeter, Part 1. Washington, DC: NBS, National Engineering Laboratory, Center for Fire Research, Department of Commerce, January 1984, 135 pages. Accessed at: http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire84/PDF/f84002.pdf

National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1983 (p137).

National Fire Protection Association. Deadliest Fires in Facilities for Older Adults Since 1950. Accessed 1-22-2009 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=795&itemID=20732&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fact%20sheets/Nursing%20homes/Deadliest%20fires%20in%20facilities%20for%20older%20adults

National Fire Protection Association. Preliminary Report: NFPA Fire Analysis Department, Wincrest Nursing Home. Boston, MA: NFPA. Accessed 1-29-2009 at: http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb9v19p0sd&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00008&toc.depth=1&toc.id=div00008&brand=calisphere

National Fire Sprinkler Association, Inc. F.Y.I. – Fire Sprinkler Facts. Patterson, NY: NFSA, November 1999, 8 pages. Accessed at: http://www.firemarshals.org/data/File/docs/College%20Dorm/Administrators/F1%20-%20FIRE%20SPRINKLER%20FACTS.pdf

Wikipedia. “1976 Wincrest Nursing Home Fire.” Accessed 1-29-2009 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Wincrest_Nursing_Home_Fire

[1] Average age, 87 (Cowan 2001, p. 136)

[2][1] Average age, 87 (Cowan 2001, p. 136)