TAKING LEADERSHIP DURING A CRISIS

August 2, 1999

Chicago Tribune

HIGH-RISES STILL DARK WHILE CITY COOLS OFF

Jeremy Manier and Anthony Colarossi, Tribune Staff Writers. Tribune staff writer Amanda Beeler, Diane Struzzi and Phat X. Chiem contributed to this report.

The number of new heat-related deaths reported in the Chicago area slowed Sunday as the overall death toll reached 56, but the frustrating effects of last week's heat wave lingered for thousands of residents as power outages dragged into their third day.

At some 20 lakefront high-rises on the North Side that lost power Saturday, firefighters helped about 100 elderly people and hundreds of other residents grope their way through pitch-black corridors and stairways.

Although the city lifted its heat emergency at 4 p.m. Sunday--as temperatures dropped to the low 80s from a high of 104 degrees Friday--tempers simmered among approximately 10,000 Commonwealth Edison Co. customers still without power early Monday. The majority were on the North Side of Chicago, especially in Wrigleyville.

The Cook County medical examiner's office confirmed 30 more heat-related fatalities Sunday, bringing to 56 the total since the start of the emergency Thursday. And while officials said as many as 10 deaths reported after 11 a.m. Sunday might be confirmed as heat-related when autopsies are performed Monday, they believe the worst of the tragedy appears to have passed.

"I hope it's over," Cook County Medical Examiner Edmund Donoghue said. "But I'm not a weatherman or a fortune-teller."

Blessedly average summer temperatures fill the National Weather Service's forecasts for the coming week, with highs in the low-80s and lows in the low-60s.

In a rare Sunday appearance, Mayor Richard M. Daley implored Chicagoans to remain vigilant.

"We still recommend that you check in today on your friends, neighbors, especially those who are elderly and homebound," Daley said during a news conference at the city's 911 center on Madison Street.

The medical examiner's current figures suggest a disaster on a different scale than the 1995 tragedy. That July, Donoghue said, more than 300 heat-related cases flooded his office in the first 72 hours on the way to a total of more than 700 dead.

The deaths of two people in Lake County were classified as heat-related Saturday. There were no deaths reported Sunday in the collar counties.

Fear of the heat was magnified in the towers along Lake Shore Drive that fell dark late Saturday. Sylvia Holtz, 85, and her husband Alfred, 88, found themselves virtually trapped in their 14th-floor apartment at 3200 N. Lake Shore Drive.

"It was horrendous," Sylvia Holtz said of the night without power. "It was hot and dark. You had to feel your way to get to the bathroom."

The Holtzes' daughter, Daryl Isenberg, and a friend arrived at 11:30 a.m. Sunday to help the couple down seemingly endless flights of stairs. Between the third and fourth floors, Sylvia Holtz sat down on the steps, exhausted.

"Now I'm beginning to feel my age . . . 39," she commented wryly.

Many elderly or disabled high-rise residents had to be carried by firefighters using a "stair chair"--a seat that resembles a nylon lounge chair.

A total of at least 22 hook-and-ladder engines, fire trucks and ambulances arrived with sirens blaring at the Lake Shore Drive strip at different times Sunday. More than 240 Fire Department personnel also were sent in shifts to help residents, said Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Tim Stokes.

Stokes estimated that 3,000 units on and off Lake Shore Drive were affected by the power outages, though he said there had been no serious injuries or fatalities.

"There's no real emergency other than the electricity being out," Stokes said Sunday afternoon. "We're just kind of weathering the storm until ComEd can give them their power back."

He said the pronounced Fire Department presence on Lake Shore Drive was precautionary.

In front of many high-rise buildings along Lake Shore Drive, buses belonging to private companies and the Chicago Transit Authority were lined up as makeshift cooling stations.

Few people took advantage of the cooling buses on what was a relatively breezy morning. But many people took advantage of the water, ice, flashlights and batteries being distributed at the cooling centers by ComEd.

ComEd service personnel also were going door to door at the site Sunday to see if people needed food or water.

Despite such gestures, many residents expressed outrage at ComEd for the blackout.

They were joined by Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), who went building to building along the drive, checking on residents without power. She said the utility should have warned residents to conserve energy and reduce the strain on the infrastructure.

"I think the biggest sin here is stupidity in terms of the messages being sent out," Shiller said. "They made a PR move when they should have made an appeal."

Some who weathered similar problems in 1995 were incredulous that their neighborhood once again was among the hardest hit.

"I'm appalled," said Hugh Musick, who lives on the 10th floor at 3534 N. Lake Shore Drove. "As far as I'm concerned, they owe us a year of free service."

Police rerouted traffic from Lake Shore Drive about midday Sunday and closed nearby streets. The scene approached bedlam in early evening as departing traffic from a Cubs game at Wrigley Field ran into a bottleneck at the crisis area.

Aside from ongoing problems with the blackout, officials predicted deaths from the heat wave should slow to a relative trickle this week as remaining victims are found. Donoghue said despite that experiencing the 1995 incident, he was shocked when heat-related cases began flooding his office late Friday.

"I called in at 11 p.m. and was told everything was fine," Donoghue said. "At 2 a.m. they said we had 17 in the previous three hours."

Patterns observed in 1995 revealed that heat deaths begin to occur in greatest numbers about 48 hours after the hottest period begins, Donoghue said. That helps explain why most heat-related deaths this year came to Donoghue's office on Saturday, after a hot week that started to peak on Thursday.

"You're probably building up stress all week, and this broke the camel's back," he said.

At a similar point during 1995's crisis, Donoghue said, his people had confirmed nearly 200 heat-related deaths and were investigating about 110 more. The emergency showed no signs of abating until the fifth day.

The 1995 disaster had directly touched at least one of the 30 new heat victims confirmed on Sunday.

When Gilbert Miller suffered heat stroke during the summer of 1995, it was his sister June who called 911 after she found her brother collapsed in their apartment in the 1600 block of West Augusta Boulevard.

Early Sunday morning, June Miller called 911 again after discovering her brother lying on the kitchen floor. Gilbert Miller, 72, was pronounced dead at 5:10 a.m.--a victim of heat stress, the medical examiner's office said.

"I hadn't been sleeping good myself because of the hot weather, and I noticed he wasn't in his room," June Miller said Sunday evening. "I went to look for him because the other rooms were dark."

Though Miller spent a week in the hospital in 1995, June Miller said they never considered getting an air conditioner and did not think they needed more fans.

Tragically, lack of air conditioning is the one unifying factor among all heat-related deaths, according to Donoghue.

"We've never had a heat-related death where there was functioning air conditioning," he said.

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