Breaking: High Rise Fire Chicago 12/06/04

12/06/04 | GRRRRR

[FMS5]

"To my knowledge, sprinklers don't do didly till pumper trucks hook to the stand pipes down on the street...Can anyone here see that?" No that is not correct. Sprinklers have water and a pump in the building to keep the water coming. The standpipe is used to feed water under pressure to higher levels for fire hoses.The fire department will hook a line into the standpipe from and engine and pump water under pressure.

[usconservative]

More than 300 firefighters now on site fighting the fire.

(Waiting for my phone to ring now .....)

[BlessedBeGod]

Reminds me of when Arlington Park burned.

Was that a sight!

[hut1hut2]

If a building is sprinklered, it will have a pump and the lines will be pressurized at all times. Alternatively, the fire dept connection can charge the standpipe for hose connections or sprinklers.

[Jackrabbit Slim]

I am on 154.1300, are others on a different frequency so I am not missing anything

BTW There are two floors going at this time

[usconservative]

what do you do for the bank?

Do you work there?

[HiTech RedNeck]

The aerial can go up 10-12 stories and they can probably get a hose stream up there from that point to provide cover for the attack, but it's not going to put the fire out.

Any way to hoist a hose higher, such as by cable from a helicopter?

[prairiebreeze]

I had to step away for the last several minutes. Came back to see it looks like it's spread or jumped to another area. Damn.

[usconservative]

13 people now being reported in "Red" condition.

10 People reported in "yellow" condition.

8 being reported in "green" condition.

Dear God, the body counts are going to be pouring in soon .... this is not going to be pretty.

[LibertyRocks]

It certainly was... I and a girlfriend rode our bikes to the McDonalds (I grew up 5 blocks away on Thomas St.). We were in the parking lot of the Railroad station and saw the whole roof explode and get lifted about 10 ft. in the air... I was interviewed by Channel 11 but never did see it on air. (O;

Saw the granstand fall too... it was actually quite sad. My parents were so angry when they found out we went to watch.

[AnAmericanMother]

Occam's Razor.

No thermite necessary.

[flutters]

Thanks all. I heard a reporter earlier say that they are adding sprinklers to sections as they remodel them.

WGN isn't doing a great job reporting this. I'm getting more information here than watching live TV.

[CindyDawg]

I read somewhere here that people ignored the "stay put" and headed down. Hopefully they all got out. Praying for the firefighters.

[usconservative]

Fire Department now saying they're unsure if everyone is out of the building.

This is starting to look *exactly* like the Cook County building fire.

[AnAmericanMother]

Who wouldn't ignore a "stay put" order after what happened on 9-11?

[Piranha]

No. I used to do private equity deals and used American National Bank's trust department for escrow accounts.

I also am aware of LaSalle's ownership of the middle-market niche in Chicago before ABN Amro bought the bank, as well as Norm Bobins' leadership in the Chicago Business community.

[usconservative]

I read somewhere here that people ignored the "stay put" and headed down. Hopefully they all got out. Praying for the firefighters. They just interviewed someone I know from the 33rd floor who tried making it down before the FD showed up. They just got him out from the 33rd floor. They really have no idea who's left in the building, or where anyone is. I'm not liking how this is shaping up, and I desperately hope I'm wrong.

[flutters]

Sounds plausible: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermite

[bonfire]

That link isn't working!

[CindyDawg]

You got that right. I would take my chances. Americans don't sit and wait or take any crap from hijackers anymore.