Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

A year to the day after Chicago Firefighter Daniel Capuano died, the warehouse where he suffered a fatal fall during a smoky fire is being demolished.

The razing of the property at 9213 S. Baltimore Ave. is scheduled to begin Wednesday with the deconstruction of the building’s roof, Chicago Department of Buildings spokeswoman Mimi Simon said. The move comes following a year of hearings regarding the Southeast Side property, including several held in the weeks after Capuano’s death.

The city moved to have the warehouse knocked down because of an array of code and building violations, including an open elevator shaft where Capuano, 43, fell during the Dec. 14, 2015, fire.

Demolition of the brick warehouse was delayed, Simon said, because of “design and structural challenges” related to the building’s location near railroad tracks and because it shares a wall with another building. Railroad tracks used by Metra Electric trains are located immediately to the east. The 93rd Street station is next door.

The Chicago Fire Department held a memorial bell-ringing ceremony Wednesday morning at Capuano’s firehouse, Engine Co. 72 on South Chicago Avenue, deputy district Chief Jeff Lyle said. Capuano was a part of Tower Ladder 34. The memorial was held during morning roll call. Bernard Farmer, a battalion chief who died Dec. 14, 1954, in a building collapse at 224 W. Illinois St. also was honored.

thanks Dan

Tags: , , , , , ,