The farmost right window is "#10" window. The fire skipped the ninth window and burned into 10 and has now back fed in to the #9 window area...traveling through the ceiling???
OK, there is NOW a hose coming out of a window three floors down below and is shooting directly into windows 9 and 10.
Durn, wish I had photo space still..they have the hose on some sort of extension and are hanging it out the window or something...
The CFD is standing on the roof top of the building outcropping of the SAME BUILDING and are shooting water across the gap and into the windows of the fire floor...YEAH!!!
Getting water into almost all those fire windows...and now can't see flames in them....
Flames Started At 6:30 PM, Witnesses Say
POSTED: 7:46 pm EST December 6, 2004 UPDATED: 9:33 pm EST December 6, 2004
CHICAGO -- Firefighters responded to a high-rise fire at 135 South Lasalle St. in Chicago around 6:30 p.m. Monday, and at 8 p.m., the fire still was not struck.
Flames could be seen shooting from windows on an upper floor, and witnesses reported that people were trapped inside and could be seen leaning out of upper-floor windows.
Within half an hour, firefighters began carrying people out of the building on stretchers. Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. At least 12 people were transported to hospitals, but he said none of the injuries appeared life-threatening. Eight of the injuries were reportedly related to smoke inhalation.
The building is the LaSalle National Bank Building, which is a 45-story building built in 1934 -- before sprinklers were required on every floor in high-rises.
The Chicago 911 center told Chicago television station NBC5 that there were initial reports of people on the 26th, 27th, 30th and 34th floors.
One woman who works on the 40th floor spoke with NBC5 after she escaped from the building. She said she made her way in a stairwell to the 35th floor, where the smoke became too much for her. The woman said firefighters were able to rescue her and several others.
"The announcement said the fire was on the 29th floor, and it said for us to stay still and not to move," another woman who escaped from the building said. "We decided to just leave, despite the instructions."
Roderick Powell, who was on the 29th floor, said he did not hear a fire alarm, but saw and smelled smoke.
"I did not hear a fire alarm, I saw smoke and I immediately went down to the lobby," Powell said. "The first people who came down did not hear a fire alarm, we just saw smoke."
Several fire engines have been called to the scene, as well as 15 ambulances. Several people are being treated with oxygen outside the building, and the Associated Press reported that 12 people have been taken to area hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening.