By LORRAINE SWANSON
Editor
The Chicago Fire Department has determined the cause of Tuesday's fire at Lawrence House, 1020 W. Lawrence, suspicious in nature.
The Chicago Fire Department has declared the cause of Tuesday’s fire at Lawrence House, 1020 W. Lawrence, “suspicious” and has turned its investigation over to Chicago Police.
CFD spokesman Larry Langford told Lake Effect News that there “were multiple points of origin” inside a seventh-floor unit were firefighters found a male victim on the floor using a thermal imaging camera. The victim, who suffered smoke inhalation and second-degree burns, is in serious but stable condition at Weiss Memorial Hospital.
According to the Illinois Secretary of State website, the building is registered under the name Lawrence House LLC. The managing members’ names are listed as Hodo and Sam Menetti at 2200 N. Ashland Ave. in Chicago.
Lawrence House building manager David Quinn said the Menettis own the building.
Jeff Harvey, who lives next door to unit 718 where the fire was contained and extinguished moments after firefighters arrived, said he heard what sounded like a fuse blowing around 3 p.m. Tuesday. He then notified the front desk when he smelled smoke. The Lawrence House building engineer came immediately to the seventh floor and searched the floor until the origin of the fire was located.
Residents who had been evacuated complained that they did not hear the building’s fire alarm go off at the time of the fire as reported by Lake Effect News on Tuesday.
Langford re-confirmed that the fire alarm system was not in service during Tuesday’s fire.
“We don’t know if the alarm system wasn’t working yet due to a maintenance or service issue,” Langford said, “but the alarm system was definitely out of service at the time of the fire.”
Quinn, the building manager, said that the fire alarm system was in working order on Tuesday when contacted by Lake Effect News the day after the fire.
“That’s not true,” Quinn said. “My engineer who’s been here 16 years found out there was a problem at the apartment. When he opened the door the smoke was unbearable. The engineer called downstairs at our switchboard who called the fire department asap.”
Quinn said that the alarm was not pulled because he didn’t want to set off panic among the building residents, where a large number of seniors live. He said that no one had been evacuated because the units have concrete walls designed to contain fire.
“By the time the fire department came I would have had 80 people running around this building if we broke the alarm,” Quinn said. “My engineer used his judgment and we saved that apartment. No one else was injured except for the person inside.”
Quinn said that the building has had problems in the past with residents pulling the fire alarms for no apparent reason. He also invited Lake Effect News to call the alarm system company used by Lawrence House. LEN did make an attempt to reach the company, but the person in charge had already left for the day. We will try again on Thursday.
Inspection reports obtained Wednesday from the Chicago Department of Buildings show 46 open code violations recorded between October 2005 and December 2009, ranging from mechanical, plumbing and ventilation issues and cockroach infestations, to cracks and holes in walls throughout the building and loose handrails.
The inspection reports also cite open violations for the building owners’ failure to file a Life Safety Evaluation Plan with the Department of Buildings and the Chicago Fire Department in December 2009. Similar violations were noted to repair, replace or install smoke detectors in each residential unit, hallway and furnace room.
Buildings Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey said that it would be likely that life safety evaluation plan and other violations, if any, related to Tuesday’s fire would be separated from the building code violations and heard in a separate court specifically for city fire code violations.
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i was working on that day. i was on the 9th fl painting. i smelled smoke and i checked each apt in that wing, as i was doing this i firemen came to the floor and told me that there was a fire on the 7th floor. i made my way down to the main office and asked mr. quinn why the alarm did not go off. he told me that the owners have not paid the bill,one of the owners (hodo) had walked in and he told me to keep that information to my self. my job was on the line.
i no longer work in that building.