Charge In Collapse That Killed 2 Firefighters

citizen |

Alvarez said the action sends an important message to other owners with vacant properties that could pose safety hazards. (Photo: Wesha)
Alvarez said the action sends an important message to other owners with vacant properties that could pose safety hazards. (Photo: Wesha)

CHICAGO - The owner of a vacant building where a collapsed roof crushed and killed two Chicago firefighters last year now faces a criminal contempt of court action.

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez announced the charge, the eve of the anniversary of the firefighters' deaths. Alvarez said the action sends an important message to other owners with vacant properties that could pose safety hazards.

A roof collapse killed 47-year-old Edward Stringer and 34-year-old Corey Ankum, and injured more than a dozen other firefighters called to battle a blaze at the vacant laundry facility on Dec. 22, 2010.

Chuck Dai, 62, of South Holland, is scheduled to appear in court on the charge. Prosecutors allege he had failed to comply with a court order requiring him to secure and repair the South Side property. The now-demolished building had been cited for sagging ceiling tiles, rotted roof trusses and other safety violations. Documents show it had 14 code violations in 2007.

``With the extensive amount of vacant and abandoned buildings as well as foreclosed properties in our communities right now, this action should also send an important message to property owners that they have a legal and a civic responsibility to maintain their property in a safe and responsible fashion,'' Alvarez said in a statement.

In the years before the fire, Dai failed to appear at numerous court dates. He was eventually fined more than $14,000 for failing to address the violations. In October of 2009, Dai agreed to make all of the required repairs and secure the building from trespassers. But he still hadn't made the repairs when the fire started more than two years later.

The Associated Press attempted to reach Dai but there was no answer at a phone number listed for him. He also faces a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Stringer's family in October.

A federal agency found a lack of radios contributed to the firefighters' deaths. In a September report on the fire, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health concluded that only five of the 13 firefighters inside the building when the roof collapsed had radios, and none described to supervisors outside what they were seeing. So the supervisors had no clue the firefighters could see flames climbing wooden beams to the ceiling. AP

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

STARR Community Services International, Inc.