On June 29, 2003, the deadliest

porch collapse Porch collapse or balcony collapse is a phenomenon typically associated with older or poorly constructed multi-storey apartment buildings that have wooden porch extensions on the front or rear of the building. The collapses have a number of causes, ...

in United States history occurred in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. An overloaded

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

collapsed during a party in an

apartment building An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...

, killing thirteen people and seriously injuring fifty-seven others. The ensuing investigation was highly critical of the way the balcony was built, finding a large number of errors in its construction which ultimately resulted in the collapse. However, the building's owner, LG Properties, and its president, Philip Pappas, continues to blame overcrowding on the balcony for its complete structural failure, although he has taken steps to strengthen the balconies at other properties to prevent a recurrence of the disaster. The accident resulted in sweeping inspections of similar structures across Chicago, with 1,260 cases being acted on by the city authorities.

Background

The porch was attached to the rear of an apartment building located in the

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

neighborhood of the city's North Side.Chicago balcony collapse kills 12
-

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

- Obtained March 30, 2007. The second and third floors were being used as a party venue at the time of the collapse.I thought I'd die, says balcony collapse woman
- BreakingNews.ie - Obtained March 30, 2007. Most of the party-goers were in their early 20s, and knew each other from their days at

New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school, with its main campus for sophomores through seniors located in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, and a campus in Northfield, Illinoi ...

and Lake Forest High School of Chicago's North Shore suburbs. One witness says she warned other people in the building that the balconies were unsafe, but another later said that "it looked like it was newly built. It looked sturdy."

Collapse

About fifty people were on the top wooden balcony at the time of the collapse. According to one witness, the sound of splintering wood was heard immediately before the collapse, which occurred shortly after midnight local time. The collapse started on the third floor, pulling down other balconies below. The first, second, and third floor balconies all collapsed into the basement below, carrying a total of approximately one hundred people among them.Without Warning, Chaos - Who's To Blame For A Chicago Porch Collapse That Killed 13 People?
-

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

- Obtained March 30, 2007. Several people were also trapped in a

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

stairwell. Survivors helped to pull victims out from under the debris of the balconies, and rescue workers had to use

chainsaw A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable gasoline-, electric-, or battery-powered saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. It is used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, bucking, pruning, ...

s to free others. One of the survivors was a

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

, and had started a rescue effort before the

emergency services Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal wit ...

arrived. The

Chicago Fire Department The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) provides fire suppression, rescue services, Hazardous Materials Response services and emergency medical response services to the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chi ...

supplied the main rescue effort. Eleven people were killed in the collapse, with two more subsequently dying while hospitalized; fifty-seven people were injured.City officials sue Chicago building owner over porch collapse
- ''USA Today'' - Obtained March 30, 2007. The three-story illegal porch structure was pulled from the wall because of faulty mechanical attachment to the facade rather than the mandated mechanical attachment to the structure of the building. All three floors fell into the basement concrete stairwells. Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital’s ER went on "bypass" and more than 75 people made their way walking and limping south on Halsted to Children's Memorial Hospital, which also went on "bypass".

Investigation

Initial inquiries suggested that the collapse was probably due to overcrowding. This was backed up by neighbors, who told authorities that the balconies were designed to hold only between twenty and thirty people. Chicago's

fire chief A fire chief or fire commissioner is a top executive rank or commanding officer in a fire department. Nomenclature Various official English-language titles for a fire chief include ''fire chief'', ''chief fire officer'' and ''fire commissioner' ...

said that "It appears to be a case of too many people in a small space." Norma Reyes, the city's building commissioner, said "I have no indication of any substandard problems or insufficiencies with the porch at this time. The buildings are not made for large assemblies and parties." However, it was ultimately determined that poor construction was to blame. In 1998, a permit was issued to owner LG Properties to install furnaces, air conditioners and water heaters in the building, but not to build the balcony. The balcony jutted out eleven feet from the building, one foot farther than permitted by city codes, and had an area of , larger than permitted. The balcony also had inadequate supports, was floored with undersized lengths of wood, and was attached to the walls with screws that were too short. However, the City of Chicago's Inspectional Services Department visited this site over 5 times and never noticed or cited the code violations noted above.

Aftermath

Three days after the disaster, the city sued the owners and managers of the building in the

Housing Court Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether i ...

due to a number of breaches in building regulations. Those named in the complaint included LG Properties, the company's president Philip Pappas, and George Koutroumos, the contractor who built the balcony. The city was reportedly seeking $500 per violation for each day the structure was in existence, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out o ...

for the replacement of the balcony. The apartment block was legally uninhabitable until the balconies were replaced, as they provided mandatory

emergency exit An emergency exit in a structure is a special exit for emergencies such as a fire: the combined use of regular and special exits allows for faster evacuation, while it also provides an alternative if the route to the regular exit is blocked. ...

s. The city's Buildings Department inspected 42 other buildings owned or managed by Pappas and/or LG Properties for similar violations. The city also claimed that 21 other buildings owned by Pappas had similar problems. They did, however, note the fact that he had since made "dramatic improvements" to all 21 porches. In the aftermath of the disaster, Chicago inspected a large number of similar structures to ensure they were safe, with 500 cases being turned over to the city's Law Department for court action, and 760 cases referred to administrative hearing officers.City steps up porch checks in year since tragedy
- Chicago Sun-Times - Obtained March 30, 2007. Pappas continued to blame overcrowding for the disaster. However, an undercover press investigation discovered all his properties now display notices forbidding parties on the balconies. Pappas also claims that a police report says two unnamed witnesses informed a

paramedic A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...

that they saw several people "jumping up and down" on the balconies shortly prior to the collapse. In 2005, the city of Chicago filed a negligence lawsuit against two of the survivors, William Fenton-Hathaway and John Koranda. The city alleged that the balcony collapse occurred after defendants Fenton-Hathaway and Koranda "intentionally and negligently" began jumping up and down on the porch.http://media.www.dailyvidette.com/media/storage/paper420/news/2005/02/08/News/City-Blames.Men.For.Porch.Collapse-856122.shtml Koranda's brother, Robert Koranda, was killed in the collapse. The charges against Fenton-Hathaway and Koranda were later dropped. No criminal charges were filed and Pappas was fined a total of $108,000 as a result of the collapse. Twenty-seven families sued Pappas and the city over the accident. The balcony was rebuilt afterwards, this time with metal.

In popular culture

The disaster inspired the 2005 season finale of the '' ER'' television show, titled "The Show Must Go On".'ER' heroics in porch collapse enhance Carter's farewell
- ''Chicago Sun-Times'' - Obtained March 30, 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Balcony Collapse Building collapses in 2003 2003 disasters in the United States Building collapses in the United States Disasters in Illinois History of Chicago 2003 in Illinois 2000s in Chicago June 2003 events in the United States North Side, Chicago