Illinois Injury Law Blog

An apartment fire off W. Jackson on the Near West Side left one elderly woman trapped upstairs in the rear of the building. Fire crews were able to locate and rescue the 80-year-old, who was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital and remains in critical condition. A second uninjured victim was also rescued, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Chicago premises liability lawyers know that more than 3,500 American are killed and another 20,000 are injured each year in home and apartment fires that are, in most cases, utterly preventable.

With winter quickly approaching, now is the time for landlords, property managers and homeowners to perform annual maintenance on fire safety equipment such as smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and sprinklers, and have furnaces and ventilation systems checked. It is also a good time for tenants and family members to review – or make – a fire safety plan that includes an exit plan and a meet-up point a good distance from the structure. If there are children in the home, hosting a mock fire drill can be a fun family exercise.

In the U.S., fire claims a life every 162 minutes and most victims succumb from smoke inhalation. Lit tobacco products is the most common cause for residential fire-related deaths and cooking equipment is responsible for most home fires and home fire injuries. In 2006, fire departments responded to 412,500 residential fires that claimed 2,620 lives and injured almost 13,000 Americans.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration and FireSafety.gov offer several tips to help families prepare, plan and respond in the event a fire erupts:

~ First and foremost: get out – now is not the time to worry about gathering material possessions. It takes less than 30 seconds for a small fire to become a killer.

~ NEVER re-enter a home or structure that is on fire.

~ NEVER open a door that is hot to the touch.

~ Smoke, toxic fumes and heat are far more dangerous than the fire itself. Heat can cause clothes to melt to skin and fumes can render a victim unconscious or damage lung tissue in a matter of seconds.

~ Expect darkness – fires are bright, but smoke is dense and dark – be prepared to find your way out in total darkness.