Injuries at juvenile jail raise questions
Lake County officials said Friday they will examine the emergency evacuation procedures at the local juvenile detention center after some prisoners and staff members suffered minor smoke inhalation during a fire Thursday afternoon.
Four teenage prisoners and two employees at the complex near Vernon Hills were hurt when smoke from the blaze billowed to the outdoor area where they had gathered, said Robert Zastany, executive director of court administration for the 19th Circuit.
Additionally, the only available shelter for the staff and teens at the start of the emergency, which occurred during the afternoon's torrential rain and lightning storm, was an awning on the side of a building, officials said.
Because of those circumstances, court officials on Friday said they'll investigate changing the emergency plans.
"We want to revisit everything," Lake County Chief Judge Christopher Starck said.
The blaze started about 3:40 p.m. Thursday when lightning hit the roof of a gymnasium at the complex, formally called the Robert W. Depke Juvenile Justice Complex and Minard E. Hulse Juvenile Detention Center. It's on the east side of Milwaukee Avenue, south of Route 60.
Firefighters from 14 suburban departments responded. They were able to quickly contain the blaze to the roof, stopping it before it could spread to the rest of the building, said Assistant Fire Chief David Gnadt of the Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District.
The fire smoldered for hours, however. The last firefighters left the scene about 8:45 p.m.
About a dozen employees and 34 young prisoners who had been in a building attached to the gymnasium were evacuated, Zastany said. They were sent to a fenced-in, outdoor "safe zone" he said.
The entire complex was not evacuated.
The evacuees were hit with the smoke when firefighters turned up the water pressure on the blaze, Starck said. Gusting winds carried the smoke to the assembly area, he said.
The teens and workers were taken to an indoor cafeteria after being exposed to the smoke, Zastany said.
The six people who complained of smoke inhalation, including a teen with asthma, were taken to Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where they were treated.
The prisoners and workers were allowed back into the buildings Thursday night after the fire was extinguished. Normal operations at the center resumed that night, Zastany said.
None of the teenage prisoners tried to escape, he said.
The gymnasium will be closed until the building is cleaned up and the roof is repaired, Zastany said. That could take a week.
Although the complex has been evacuated before because of power outages and other emergencies, this was the first time in more than 20 years a fire caused staff and prisoners to evacuate, Zastany said.
"Everybody did exactly what they needed to do," he said. "No one panicked."
Still, because of the smoke-related injuries and weather exposure, the evacuation plan needs to be scrutinized, Starck said.
"I don't think anyone would have foreseen that this (evacuation area) was not perfectly safe," he said.
Unlike an emergency at a school or other public building, officials couldn't simply let the teenage prisoners roam free, Starck said. But moving prisoners and employees to an enclosed building might be a better option, he said.
"I want them to re-evaluate what we have," Starck said.