CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Smoke alarms are being distributed and installed for free Saturday in the Little Village neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest Side, nearly a year after an apartment fire there killed 10 children.
The Little Village Community Council and the Red Cross teamed up for the smoke alarm giveaway. The groups said a working smoke detector in the building on Sacramento near Cermak where last August’s deadly fire broke out could have increased the chances some or all of the children could have survived.
Chicago fire officials said they found a smoke detector in the wreckage of the apartment. The smoke detector didn’t have a working battery, officials said. Previously, investigators had said they couldn’t find any smoke detectors in the building, though the landlord had insisted they were there.
Following a probe by city, state and federal investigators, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman said an open flame in an enclosed back porch started the fire.
City inspectors said the owner of the building was cited for more than 40 building code violations before the fire.