another "Freak Accident" in an elevator kills another ad exec. go figure!
this one combines both of the nyc "Accidents" with an elevator death, a yound female exec and a fatal fire.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/09/shantel-mccoy-killed-in-l_n_1193838.htmlA woman returning to her North Side
apartment was killed Sunday morning when she took the elevator to her floor --
not knowing that a fire was raging in the hallway outside her unit.
Shanel McCoy, 32, was "hit with a superheated blast" when elevator doors opened
on the 12th floor of 3130 N. Lake Shore Dr. about 2 a.m. Sunday, Fox Chicago
reports. McCoy, a marketing executive who moved to Chicago less than a year ago,
was found dead in the elevator by firefighters responding to the scene.
NBC Chicago reports that a fire broke out on the 12th floor of the building
around 2 a.m., and when a man and a woman living on the floor escaped with their
dog, they left their front door open.
"If the fire is in your apartment, we tell people to get out and close the door.
Each unit is a compartment to itself," Chicago Fire Department Chief Joe
Roccasalva told NBC. "... The door to the apartment where the fire started was
not closed, and the super-heated toxic gasses all got into the hallway there.
The heat in there is probably 1,500 to 2,000 degrees at the ceiling. And if she
was standing in the elevator, she probably got it full, right on."
If the door had been closed, McCoy likely would have survived.
Nine other people, including two firefighters, were injured in the blaze, the
cause of which is being investigated.
“She's my only daughter and I have one son so we were very close," McCoy's
devastated mother told Fox Chicago Sunday. "I spoke to her yesterday evening and
I asked her are you home and she said mom I do rest sometimes... but the last
communication we had was 9:00 last night.”
The Chicago Tribune reports that older Chicago buildings are not required to
have sprinkler systems in their hallways, and the city council recently passed
an extension allowing building owners to implement safety upgrades later this
month.
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/shantel-mccoy-joann-chicago-fire-high-rise-lake-shore-drive-elevator-20120108Chicago - Fire officials believe 32-year-old Shantel McCoy was doomed the moment
she stepped into the elevator to return to her apartment Sunday morning.
McCoy apparently was bringing carryout food back to her place on the 12th floor
of 3130 N. Lake Shore Dr., unaware of a fire raging in the hallway. When the
elevator doors opened at her destination, she was hit with a superheated blast.
Firefighters found her in the open elevator after responding to the call shortly
after 2 a.m. McCoy, a marketing executive and a recent arrival in Chicago, was
pronounced dead at St. Joseph Hospital, officials said.
In a tearful phone interview, JoAnn McCoy sat in her Philadelphia home and
described her daughter. “She just loved life and loved to do things. For her
30th birthday she went skydiving, she wanted to go skydiving, then she went to
Switzerland on a trip by herself, she just wanted to go places.”
And she came to Chicago in March. The 32-year-old was driven by ambition. She
was young, energetic and full of life.
The fire started in a unit on the 12th floor - the residents of that unit
escaped but their door was open allowing the flames to quickly spread. McCoy
never stood a chance.
JoAnn McCoy went on to say, “I just have a lot of questions because I don't know
why the elevator was working if there was a fire in the building. They say she
was the only one on the elevator and when it got to the 12th floor, I guess the
doors opened and she was engulfed in the flames and smoke or something so I
don't know why the elevator didn't shut down.”You could still see the aftermath of the early Sunday morning fire hours later
outside the 21-story building on North Lake Shore Drive.
McCoy spoke of her daughter, “She's my only daughter and I have one son so we
were very close. I spoke to her yesterday evening and I asked her are you home
and she said mom I do rest sometimes... but the last communication we had was
9:00 last night.”
Amy Linnenbringer, another resident of the building, said residents were working
together to escape with their pets. “I banged on a couple of peoples' doors in
our hallway, woke them up. We gathered all of our animals and went down the
stairwell, it was a lot of black smoke.”
Customer Service Manager, Simona Herlo refused to comment but a letter greeted
the residents in the lobby asking them to report maintenance concerns.
Sara Echols, a Response Coordinator for the American Red Cross stated, “We are
working with building management to make sure that everybody has safe shelter
and a place to go and we've actually brought out a mental health team to make
sure people's counseling and psychological needs are met.”
The emotional damage of losing a loved one could last a lifetime for the McCoy
family.
“Everybody loved Shantel.” JoAnn McCoy said.
btw, just like the WTC elevators this elevator should have never gone to a floor with a fire burning.
in both situations they should have gone to a preprogrammed floor and waited for fire department to take control.
lawsuits should be filed for violations of the fire code.
http://www.affiliatedinc.com/elevator-recall.html
