By Mark Konkol
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — City crews on Thursday removed part of a concrete and steel barrier blocking a long-closed entrance to the far South Side apartment complex where two young children died in a fire this week.
The move came in response to questions raised by neighbors about whether firefighters might have been able to save 18-month-old Jeremiah Myles and his sister Destiny Myles, 3, if emergency vehicles would have been able to use the blocked entrance.
The fire department’s response was delayed by about 2 1/2 minutes because fire trucks had to travel a little more than a half-mile extra — over more than a dozen speed humps — to reach the scene, Fire department spokesman Larry Langford said.
On Wednesday, Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) asked the city transportation department to make the blocked entrance accessible to emergency vehicles. Concordia Place Apartments management also plans to remove half the speed humps and put new address numbers on buildings, Beale said.
Chicago Department of Transportation spokesman Pete Scales said the barriers were removed as an immediate response. Later, crews will install a collapsible gate more easily collapsed by emergency vehicles, Scales said.
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