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Fire at Trump Tower Started in Garbage Container on 50th Floor: No Injuries

By  Evan F.  Moore and David Matthews | February 18, 2016 9:50am | Updated on February 18, 2016 11:33am

RIVER NORTH — Nobody was injured after a small fire in a Trump Tower garbage container sent hordes of firefighters rushing to Chicago's second tallest building Thursday morning.

Timothy Sampey, a district fire chief, said crews were notified of smoke coming from the 50th floor of the 98-story, 1,389-foot building, the fourth tallest in the country, about 9:05 a.m.

The fire was isolated to the 50th-floor garbage container and contained by sprinklers in the high-rise condominium, 401 N. Wabash Ave., before firefighters arrived, Sampey said. The fire was caused by something dropped down the tower's garbage chute but the Fire Department's investigation is still ongoing, Sampey said. 

Sampey said the building was not evacuated, and residents were actually advised to stay put as firefighters extinguished the fire. 

Management at the building, officially named the Trump International Hotel & Tower, declined to comment.

At least two ambulances and a dozen fire trucks were outside the tower, blocking Wabash traffic from Wacker Drive to Hubbard Street. When asked by a reporter how many trucks were at the scene, one firefighter said "too many." 

One Trump resident who declined to give his name said he heard an announcement from the building when the fire began, but he couldn't smell smoke or otherwise tell there was a fire in the building.

"It was taken care of almost immediately," said the man, who has lived in the building for about three years.


Chicago Fire Department district chief Timothy Sampey says the fire at Trump Tower was in a garbage can on the 50th floor. [DNAinfo/Evan Moore]

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