Building where Chicago firefighter died to be demolished
The owners of a South Side warehouse where Chicago firefighter Daniel Capuano was killed last month agreed Wednesday in court to allow the city to demolish the building.
The owners of a South Side warehouse where Chicago firefighter Daniel Capuano was killed last month agreed Wednesday in court to allow the city to demolish the building.
Attorney Patrick Cummings, who represents Anilroshi LLC— a contracting company that owns the building and was doing work on it at the time of the fire — said his clients agreed to pay to have the building torn down despite the fact that it remains structurally sound.
“It’s a matter of doing what’s right and my client continues to be concerned about this tragedy,” Cummings said Wednesday after a court hearing at the Daley Center.
But demolition of the property at 9213 S. Baltimore will have to be delayed because on Wednesday morning inspectors found a neighboring building at 9227 S. Baltimore to be structurally unsafe and potentially hazardous. The building houses a chicken packaging plant.
The business was ordered shuttered, and city attorneys plan to file a complaint seeking emergency demolition of the neighboring building.
Large amounts of ammo- nia were being drained improperly from the packaging plant into the sewer, Deputy Corporation Counsel Kimberly Roberts said.
Circuit Court Judge Pamela Hughes Gillespie said Wednesday that it was fortunate flames didn’t reach 1,500 pounds of ammonia that was stored in the basement.
The city hopes both buildings will be torn down at the same time. A hearing on the case was scheduled for Feb. 10.
A wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Capuano’s wife against the building’s owner is pending. Capuano, a 15year veteran of the Chicago Fire Department, had three children.