Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — When firefighters approached the two-story brick warehouse early Monday morning, they did not know the building’s elevator shaft was an unprotected abyss, part of ongoing construction at the site.
The owners of the structure at 9213 S. Baltimore Ave. did not have proper permits for the work, the city’s building department says, and a complete removal of the building’s elevator was underway without authorization.
Unable to see the void through thick smoke and the glow of flames, firefighter Daniel Capuano, 42, fell down the elevator shaft as he searched with fellow firefighters for people and the source of the blaze, fire officials said. Capuano, a 15-year veteran of the department, was rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead less than two hours later.
“It’s maddening. It’s maddening. It didn’t have to happen this way,” Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. He said there was nothing around the open shaft to alert firefighters that a hazard was present.
“There was no partition, marker or barrier to keep someone from going in the hole or knowing they were approaching the hole. That is wrong,” Langford said. “If there was a rope (marking the opening) the firefighter would have touched that rope and froze.”
The building department, which inspected the building after the fire, said Monday that “unauthorized work was being performed at the site.” The owners had received permits in September for construction work, but none authorized the removal or demolition of an elevator. If they had, the city would have completed an elevator inspection to make sure it was safely decommissioned before issuing the permit for its removal, according to the building department.
Messages left with the man listed as the owner on recent permit applications, Fred Baker, were not immediately returned. City officials were still confirming ownership of the building.
Firefighters arrived about 2:40 a.m. at the warehouse near 92nd Street and Baltimore Avenue, reporting smoke billowing from the building and searching for a way inside the structure. Capuano was among firefighters from Tower Ladder 34 searching the building’s second floor, Langford said.
About the same time Capuano plummeted into the void, a warning was issued over the radios for holes in the floor.
“Emergency, emergency,” said a fire official over the radio. “Mayday, mayday. We got a fireman down, fell through a hole in the floor. Give me an ambulance to the front of the building.”
“As the firefighters went in there, they saw some holes throughout the floor,” Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago said outside the hospital. “They gave out an emergency alert, ‘Be careful.’ It looks like firefighter Daniel had just walked into the elevator shaft as he was searching, couldn’t see and fell.
“They were able to remove him quickly and get him on the ambulance,” he said.
Crews eventually found fire in wall insulation on the second floor that was giving off heavy smoke but not much heat, Langford said.
The grandson of a firefighter, Capuano is survived by his wife and three children, the oldest in high school, according to his family.
Capuano also worked part time as a firefighter in Evergreen Park and previously was a paramedic in suburban Lemont. In 1999, he was one of four paramedics who helped save the life of a golf caddie who suffered a heart attack during the Western Open at Cog Hill.
As word of Capuano’s death spread, Chicago firefighters and police officers lined the streets outside the Cook County medical examiner’s office, where the firefighter’s body arrived following a 12-mile procession from the hospital.
Two firetrucks bracketed Harrison Street, their ladders hoisted into the air to form an arch over the road. A city of Chicago flag was draped over Capuano’s body as it was taken into the morgue, members of the Fire Department lining both sides of the room.
In Capuano’s Mount Greenwood neighborhood, a Morgan Park District police officer waved reporters from the firefighter’s house, saying family members did not want to speak. The officer said a priest was visiting with the family. Later, a man could be seen going inside the brick, one-story home with bags of groceries.
The block was quiet and decked out with Christmas decorations. One neighbor a few doors down was speaking on the phone when she opened her door to a reporter. The person on the other end of the phone had broken the news.
“What?” she said into the phone, her eyes widening. “Oh, my God. What happened?”
This is the second death of a firefighter from Tower Ladder 34 in the past five years. On Dec. 22, 2010, Corey Ankum, 34, along with Edward Stringer, 47, of Engine Company 63, died while battling a blaze at an abandoned laundry at 1744 E. 75th St. in the South Shore neighborhood. The two died when the roof collapsed.
Lt. Gerald Glover, Ankum’s half brother who worked with Capuano, said he had 30 messages waiting when he checked his phone and learned what happened. “I just broke down on my phone, just started crying. I’m like, man, here we go again.
“He was straight into his family,” Glover said. “He was a good guy.”
Glover said when he first met Capuano, he was in an ambulance being treated by Capuano.
“This is how we got so close,” Glover said. “When he first got there, he was like, ‘You don’t remember me, do you?’ And I was like, ‘No.’ He’s like, ‘You don’t remember the medic when you passed out when it was 100 degrees outside … on Stony Island and you woke up in an ambulance? I’m the one who was giving you the IV.’ I was like, ‘Really? Is that why my arm is still hurting today?’ And he just started cracking up laughing.”
Monday morning, firefighters from Truck 17, one of the first at the fire on Baltimore, hung purple and black bunting over the garage doors and front entrance to the firehouse. They also put up a new American flag and a Chicago flag in front of the building. Both were raised to half-staff.
The firefighters exchanged hugs and handshakes outside the firehouse.
The building department will complete a full inspection, and any violations will be referred to Cook County Circuit Court.
Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, 10th, said the building is owned by a man she said was renovating it with plans to make it into a grocery store. Sadlowski Garza said she didn’t know when the sale was completed but said work on the renovations started this summer.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement saying, “Chicago has lost one of its bravest in Dan Capuano.
“As a 15-year veteran of the Chicago Fire Department, Dan spent his career putting the safety of others ahead of his own,” the statement said. “He made the ultimate sacrifice so Chicago’s residents could be safe. For that, there are no words that can truly express our sorrow for his loss nor our gratitude for his service and sacrifice to the City of Chicago. The thoughts and prayers of a grateful city are with Dan, his family and his fellow firefighters at this difficult time.”
A memorial fund for the Capuano family has been established. All BMO Harris locations are accepting cash or check donations for the Daniel V. Capuano Memorial Fund. Donations also can be made at www.widowsandchildren.org/daniel-capuano-memorial-fund.html or mailed attn: Daniel V. Capuano Memorial Fund, 20 S. Clark St., Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60603.
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