An investigation by the Better Government Association (BGA) and the Chicago Tribune has found that, since 2014, at least 61 people have died in Chicago buildings where city officials were aware of fire safety problems. Buildings where the deaths occurred, 23 of which were children under the age of 17, included apartments the city knew lacked smoke detectors, abandoned buildings the city was supposed to demolish, and homes where tenants had complained to the city about heating problems.

Of the 42 deadly fires, nine contained unaddressed fire safety issues previously reported to city officials, which were later noted as potential causes of the fires. These include fires started by stoves or space heaters in buildings that the city knew had no central heating, or faulty wiring and electrical issues unaddressed by the city for years. In 24 fires, the city was warned about fire mitigation measures that were not properly provided, such as missing smoke detectors, that would have saved lives. In the other nine fires, city officials did not ensure people stayed away from vacant buildings that the city itself had deemed dangerous to occupy.

The investigation also uncovered evidence of overcrowding and unsafe internal building design. In one case, a 63-year-old man died in a two-story building partitioned into 16 rooms, violating city building codes. In addition to a lack of smoke alarms, investigators also found the building's front stairs blocked by the internal partitions, labeling the building a "death trap." The BGA/Tribune investigation attributed 10 deaths to buildings containing unauthorized apartments. 

The investigation also found that people of color were disproportionately affected by the building fires, which occurred in areas of Chicago highly segregated by race and income. Of the 61 people who died in the fires, 39 were Black, 15 were Latino, six were White, and one was South Asian.

Linking the fires to a lack of oversight from city officials, the BGA/Tribune investigation explains that in 2017, the City Council eliminated an established requirement that all residential buildings of more than three floors be inspected annually for health and safety. As a result, the onus shifted from the city identifying issues to residents reporting the issues. In total, city records suggest that 599 complaints of serious violations related to the 42 fatal fires were unaddressed, with almost half of the complaints not triggering an inspection.

In response to the investigation, city officials pointed to the building department’s “outdated” record-keeping system, which they claim underestimates the measures they took to investigate the tenant reports. While agreeing that the fires were tragic, they also deferred portions of blame back to landlord and tenant actions, as well as abuse of their complaints system by tenants. While the city also claimed that tenants were sometimes unavailable to allow city officials entry to investigate complaints, this is disputed by the BGA/Tribune investigation who found no evidence of this in city records.

Full details of the BGA/Tribune investigation are available on both the Chicago Tribune and the Better Government Association websites.