My mother had a terrible fear of fire, having been through one herself. She also had a fascination with it. As a child, I remember that if the sirens were close, we had to find out where they were going, and if it was close enough, we stayed to watch the firefighters put out the fire. She spoke often of the Our Lady of the Angels fire, of my aunt's heartbreaking stories of the cases she assisted with that day in surgery, the terribly burned children. I don't think my aunt ever got over it.

My mother passed this fascination and fear of fire along to me. I wanted desperately to become a firefighter or a paramedic, but knew that there was no chance that I'd pass the physical. Instead, I decided that I would learn as much as I could about being prepared for any kind of disaster, and that I would always be one that could be relied upon in the event of an emergency.

I had my life changing experience on 2/4/77, when the Lake St. "L" train that I was a passenger on crashed into the back of another train and fell to the ground at Lake and Wabash. Eleven people died, including the man I was seated next to. The fact that I was aware of my surroundings and knew that we were going to crash was probably the only thing that saved my life. I was injured badly enough to miss six weeks of work, and to have nightmares that led me to two years of psychological counseling.

After reading both "The Fire That Will Not Die" and "To Sleep With the Angels", I was led to this website, which I'm certain has been catharsis for those who have posted their stories. Reading the books, and the stories posted on these pages makes me relive the memories of the sirens, the chaos, the terror. If you've been through it, I'm sure that you know what I mean.

Ironically enough, in reading some of the stories posted here, I ran across one from Julie Seagraves, who I graduated from High School with. I never knew her story then, but I can testify to her fear of being trapped in a high rise fire. I work in a high rise myself, and I am a floor fire representative. Julie, if your building management doesn't have safety protocol team in place, they're in major violation of the revised City of Chicago Building Codes. Since the 69 West Washington fire, and more recently the LaSalle Bank fire, high rise building management companies have been required to put together comprenhensive fire evacuation plans, and to have drills regularly.

Any of you who work in high rises that haven't been through a fire drill, or haven't seen a evacuation plan, etc., get in touch with your building management, and if you get no satisfactory answer, call your local Fire Department and report it! Being proactive rather than reactive may save your life. Many of the stories on these pages are proof of that very fact, as my own experience has shown.

May God give His gift of strength, peace and closure to all victims of tragedy.

My mother used to wake us up in the middle of the night just so we could see our father - he was never home. My aunt worked as a secretary there. She is now 95 years old. She still vividly remembers the auditorium and the bodies laying there and the families anxiously looking for their children. As the majority of the children were released we used to go to the hospital and visit those who were left. One was Michele McBride. She was very badly burned but a great person. My family kept in touch with her until she died (recently).

My uncle Bill (Dr. Dvonch) took care of a little boy who was in the hospital for I think a year. My uncle tried so hard. When thel ittle boy died he was devastated. It was so sad. All of his kids remember. We remember too.

None of the kids of the hospital staff at St. Anne's, doctors, nurses whatever, will ever forget that fire or the days and weeks and months following. My father was taking care of Michele for years. I remember my sister was in the hospital once and amazingly Michele was there too, for another surgery.

I have a very irrational fear of fire. I plan escape routes and always make sure there is a clear path through every room of the house to the doors. I don't like wearing seat belts for fear I'll be in an accident
and the car will catch on fire and I won't be able to get out of the seat belt. I work in a high rise but only on the third floor and the ledge outside is really wide - I am grateful for that because this place NEVER HAS FIRE DRILLS - NEVER. They have had 1 since I started here and I've been here for 15 years. I keep asking.......

I remember the night of the fire very well. Dad got an emergency call to go to the hospital that day and returned in the evening. I never knew which hospital called him in but concluded it was St Annes.

Dad was horribly affected by what he saw that day. He had been a combat surgeon in WW2 and saw a lot but he sat in tears, stunned and quiet in our kitchen after returning from that scene. The "thousand yard stare" seen in combat vets summed it up well.

He was concerned that he would be called back later so I got some flashlights and batteries ready in case he needed them. I didn't know what else to do.

I fully realized what happened when news and magazines covered the fire for some time afterwards. The picture I remember most showed doors which were jammed shut. As I recall, they opened inward and could not be used against a crush of people trying to escape. My God, what a horror!

May God be with the departed kids, the families and the survivors. My prayers are with them.