What does Life Safety look like?

City Council candidate Richard Dunne talks about Life Safety as a key concern in Elgin. He ought to know what he’s talking about, being a firefighter here for two decades.

But what does he mean by Life Safety problems?

Well, here’s an example from Anaheim California. The lease said two adults and two children lived in this small apartment. In reality there were ten people and eight dogs living there.

Here’s what the apartment looked like after the fire:

Forty people in all were displaced by the fire.

But fortunately no lives were lost.

Not so with this fire in Chicago.

Two children died here, and two adults were seriously injured.

Here’s what the Sun Times reported about the living conditions:
Larry Langford, fire media affairs director, said the brown brick bungalow in the 3200 block of West 66th Place has "the earmarks of a rooming house."
"Each room has its own little things, food, like a little hotel room," Langford said. "It just kind of resembled an SRO (single room occupancy)."

Langford said he had not seen the basement, but was told it was similar to the rest of the house with mattresses on the floor. Langford estimated there were at least 10 people living in the home.

A next-door neighbor estimated there were 13 people, including six children, living on the first floor and in the basement and attic.

…The fire was contained to the basement and smoke damage was limited to the first floor. There was no evidence of a smoke detector in the basement. A working smoke detector was found in the attic. Fire officials were trying to determine if a smoke detector found on the first floor was properly working.

I know at least one other City Council candidate who feels the solution is to build an affordable house for everyone. My guess is that his approach would appeal to…I don’t know…maybe FOUR BILLION PEOPLE around the world. That would make Elgin a destination, wouldn’t it?

I’ll spare you the details of violent crimes in Joliet and Aurora in recent years in overcrowded housing situations.

And I don’t buy the notion put out there by one city council member that the problem is a family with 12 kids in Sunset Park. The truth is, past inaction by our city council has resulted in rare situations of code enforcement problems when children are forced to move back home. Let’s put the blame where it belongs and leave the red herrings out of this.