““When we pull up to the fire at one of these tenements, we size up the building visually,” said Tom Colleti of Engine Company 45, at Forty-Sixth and Cottage Grove, one of the busiest fire houses in the city. “The flames are running wild, the rats are fleeing the building, and we’re about to go in. We try to assess how the place is put together. And that’s hard to do because these buildings have been chopped apart. They were built for, let’s say 10 residences, and now there’s probably anywhere from 100 to 150 people living there, with plywood walls and jerry-rigged wiring.””
Tenement Tragedy
The smell of oil—or is it gas?—startles the young mother of six. She sits up in the bed; her eyes dart across the cramped room. She checks on Paula, her baby, and covers her with a towel, but doesn’t notice Roy, Jr. sitting against the wall, his eyes covered with tears. Then, an explosion flashes up the gut of the South Side tenement. Orange flames swallow the flimsy walls and floorboards and engulf the stairwells. Hers is the only voice: “My babies. My babies.” She opens the room’s only window, squeezes Paula against her chest, and pushes herself off the ledge.
Chapter 2