Chicago Fire Department

Firefighters DeNiro and Russell: Robert DeNiro and Kurt Russell are getting a crash course on firefighting and arson investigation from the Chicago Fire Department. Instructors from the department's Fire Academy are giving up to three hours of training each night to the cast of "Backdraft," a movie about a conflict between two brothers, both firefighters, and life in an urban fire department, Fire Chief Stanley Span said.

After skeptical questioning of a Chicago city attorney, the Supreme Court justices sounded Monday as though they would rule that the city must pay millions of dollars in damages to black aspiring firefighters who were screened out by a hiring test given in the 1990s. Defending the city, deputy corporation counsel Benna Solomon argued that Chicago chose to offer jobs to those who had the highest scores on the firefighters exam. And she said the disappointed black applicants did not sue as required in the year after the city posted the test results.

Robert DeNiro and Kurt Russell are getting a crash course on firefighting and arson investigation from the Chicago Fire Department. Instructors from the department's Fire Academy are giving up to three hours of training each night to the cast of "Backdraft," a movie about a conflict between two brothers, both firefighters, and life in an urban fire department, Chief Stanley Span said. The film stars DeNiro and Russell.

Fire broke out high in a downtown office building Monday evening, belching smoke and flames from windows as firefighters helped workers to safety through darkened stairways. Twenty-five people were injured, including a dozen firefighters. Eight injured firefighters and five others were hospitalized in serious condition, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. The rest of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation or minor injuries, he said.

Chicago Fire Commissioner James T. Joyce unexpectedly announced his resignation Thursday after weeks of turmoil and criticism over alleged racist incidents within the department. Stepping into the job is Cortez Trotter, director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Trotter is the city's first African American fire commissioner. Joyce, who held the post for 4 1/2 years and had been with the department for more than 39 years, said he would leave at the end of the month.

At least 15 people died and another 30 were injured Tuesday in an early morning fire that raced up stairways in a hotel for transients that housed about 130 people near this city's downtown. By evening, 15 residents were still unaccounted for, fire authorities said. Neighbors of the yellow-brick Paxton Hotel woke to screams soon after the blaze began about 4 a.m. Dense black smoke cascading through the hotel's halls forced scores of residents to windows for gulps of air.

In a report released Wednesday, the commission investigating October's deadly high-rise blaze criticized the Chicago Fire Department's methods and said sweeping changes were needed to avert similar tragedies in the future. Among other failings, the 94-page report said, the department sent frantic Cook County Administration Building employees to the wrong location, fought the fire from the wrong stairwell and failed to use an available public address system to communicate with potential victims.

A series of racial slurs broadcast recently over the Chicago Fire Department's radio frequencies have sparked a political debate here, and officials are determined to find out who is behind them. Since Feb. 2, there have been at least six such transmissions, including one Wednesday. Fire department officials said some, but not all, of the slurs were aimed at African Americans. Mayor Richard M.

Special effects created for director Ron Howard's current movie "Backdraft" may sizzle, but they can't hold a candle to the back draft Paul Ditzel experienced as a Chicago firefighter. "I ran into a horrendous back draft during the great Chicago blizzard of '66," said the 64-year-old Woodland Hills man who is also a fire historian with 14 books to his credit. A back draft occurs when a smoking fire appears to retreat but instead explodes when fed oxygen.

After skeptical questioning of a Chicago city attorney, the Supreme Court justices sounded Monday as though they would rule that the city must pay millions of dollars in damages to black aspiring firefighters who were screened out by a hiring test given in the 1990s. Defending the city, deputy corporation counsel Benna Solomon argued that Chicago chose to offer jobs to those who had the highest scores on the firefighters exam. And she said the disappointed black applicants did not sue as required in the year after the city posted the test results.

In a report released Wednesday, the commission investigating October's deadly high-rise blaze criticized the Chicago Fire Department's methods and said sweeping changes were needed to avert similar tragedies in the future. Among other failings, the 94-page report said, the department sent frantic Cook County Administration Building employees to the wrong location, fought the fire from the wrong stairwell and failed to use an available public address system to communicate with potential victims.

Chicago Fire Commissioner James T. Joyce unexpectedly announced his resignation Thursday after weeks of turmoil and criticism over alleged racist incidents within the department. Stepping into the job is Cortez Trotter, director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Trotter is the city's first African American fire commissioner. Joyce, who held the post for 4 1/2 years and had been with the department for more than 39 years, said he would leave at the end of the month.

A series of racial slurs broadcast recently over the Chicago Fire Department's radio frequencies have sparked a political debate here, and officials are determined to find out who is behind them. Since Feb. 2, there have been at least six such transmissions, including one Wednesday. Fire department officials said some, but not all, of the slurs were aimed at African Americans. Mayor Richard M.

At least 15 people died and another 30 were injured Tuesday in an early morning fire that raced up stairways in a hotel for transients that housed about 130 people near this city's downtown. By evening, 15 residents were still unaccounted for, fire authorities said. Neighbors of the yellow-brick Paxton Hotel woke to screams soon after the blaze began about 4 a.m. Dense black smoke cascading through the hotel's halls forced scores of residents to windows for gulps of air.

Special effects created for director Ron Howard's current movie "Backdraft" may sizzle, but they can't hold a candle to the back draft Paul Ditzel experienced as a Chicago firefighter. "I ran into a horrendous back draft during the great Chicago blizzard of '66," said the 64-year-old Woodland Hills man who is also a fire historian with 14 books to his credit. A back draft occurs when a smoking fire appears to retreat but instead explodes when fed oxygen.

Firefighters DeNiro and Russell: Robert DeNiro and Kurt Russell are getting a crash course on firefighting and arson investigation from the Chicago Fire Department. Instructors from the department's Fire Academy are giving up to three hours of training each night to the cast of "Backdraft," a movie about a conflict between two brothers, both firefighters, and life in an urban fire department, Fire Chief Stanley Span said.

Fire broke out high in a downtown office building Monday evening, belching smoke and flames from windows as firefighters helped workers to safety through darkened stairways. Twenty-five people were injured, including a dozen firefighters. Eight injured firefighters and five others were hospitalized in serious condition, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. The rest of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation or minor injuries, he said.

An independent expert hired to investigate a fire that killed six people at the Cook County Administration Building found no evidence of arson, contradicting the Chicago Fire Department's ruling that someone started the blaze. The expert, Jeff Eaton, could not determine the cause of the Oct. 17 blaze. When the fire broke out, the building did not have sprinklers, and doors in its stairwells automatically locked. All the victims died of smoke inhalation in one of the stairwells.

Robert DeNiro and Kurt Russell are getting a crash course on firefighting and arson investigation from the Chicago Fire Department. Instructors from the department's Fire Academy are giving up to three hours of training each night to the cast of "Backdraft," a movie about a conflict between two brothers, both firefighters, and life in an urban fire department, Chief Stanley Span said. The film stars DeNiro and Russell.