June 29, 2026 — Chicago may be the Windy City, but it also is home of some of the greatest fires of the past century.
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 – when most city neighborhoods consisted of wooden balloon-frame homes – claimed more than 300 lives, displaced 100,000 people, and scorched 3.3 square miles of the city.
A few years later, in 1903, the Iroquois Theater fire at 26 West Randolph in Chicago’s Loop took 602 lives.
In 1958, the devastating Our Lady of the Angels elementary school fire at 909 North Avers Avenue in Humboldt Park tragically took the lives of 92 children and teachers.
In 2003, the E2 Club fire at 2347 South Michigan Avenue claimed the lives of 21 young people at a social event.
So, when 47th Ward Alderman Matthew Martin recently proposed an ordinance that would let developers construct buildings of up to five stories with a single stairwell, eyebrows rose.
The ordinance would allow a single stairway when the following requirements are met:
- Height and density limits: Restricts new construction to a maximum of five stories with no more than four units per floor.
- Mandatory sprinklers: Requires a minimum of 13 water sprinklers per floor in all five-story buildings.
- Fire-rated separation: Mandates a two-hour fire rating for corridors separating apartments from the single stairway.
- Short escape paths: Limits the travel distance between an apartment’s exit door and the stairway to a maximum of 20 feet.
- Redundant detection: Requires independent smoke detectors in all common areas, completely separate from the sprinkler system.
- Automatic containment: Mandates self-closing doors throughout the entire building.
It is true that none of the historic disasters mentioned above took place in buildings that would be covered by Alderman Martin’s proposed ordinance.
However, fire experts and building department leaders aren’t ready to go out on a ladder. The proposed change to the city’s building code is drawing pushback over safety concerns from Chicago fire officials and other critics, including a firefighter union leader who said it “should be avoided at all costs.”
Advocates say the proposed “Fire-Trap Ordinance” is a bid to make apartment construction more affordable and to increase higher-density development. The Home Front asks: What is Alderman Martin smoking?
Historical context: The 1945 housing crunch
Let’s turn the clock back to 1945, when during the post-World War II housing shortage, builders and landlords were allowed to split up residential buildings to create more “fire-trap” apartments.
For example, a typical three-flat apartment in Old Town was chopped up into seven units, including a dank one-bedroom basement abode where renters likely shared space with rats. Each apartment had only one exit stairway and no fire escapes. In 1948, renters typically paid $16 to $20 a month and shared the one bathroom on each level.
“...worried renters on upper floors would tie a rope to their bed post at night for quick window escape in case of a fire disaster.”
Today’s retired Old Towners recall some cash-strapped, worried renters on upper floors would tie a rope to their bed post at night for quick window escape in case of a fire disaster.
Last year, Alderman Martin introduced legislation to allow apartment buildings between two and six stories to be constructed with only one stairwell and one entrance and exit on each floor. Currently, only two-story buildings are allowed to have one stairway.
That ordinance has since been revised to apply to buildings with a maximum of five stories after earlier feedback from the fire department, Martin said.
The proposed code change – which would bring Chicago in line with similar so-called “progressive practices” in New York, Seattle, and other cities – would also mean developers could skip constructing central hallways in the impacted buildings, giving them more space to build apartments or to construct larger, family-sized units.
Housing providers would also save money on construction costs by only needing to build one stairwell instead of two, advocates said.
City Council debate over affordable housing
At a recent hearing on the ordinance held by the City Council’s zoning committee, Alderman Martin said the measure would act as one tool to boost apartment production across Chicago, something sorely needed amid Chicago’s well-documented affordable housing shortage.
The legislation would also require single-stair buildings to include modern fire protection protocols, including sprinklers and self-closing doors. Sprinklers are generally required in buildings with four or more units, but there are some exceptions allowed.
Still, the measure garnered skepticism and opposition at the hearing, where no vote on the ordinance was taken. The Chicago Fire Department and the building department opposed it in its current form.
Erik Steinmetz, president of Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2, said during the public comment period that the code change would result in deaths “and should be avoided at all costs.”
Chicago building code currently requires buildings with more than two stories to have more than one stairwell. Exterior stairways like a back porch can also qualify for buildings up to four stories.
Construction experts also wonder if the city’s powerful building trade unions would give the green light to the single-stairway suggestion. After all, a typical union carpenter’s stairway-labor workload would be cut in half.
Martin’s measure would extend the single-stair rules to buildings up to five stories, with no more than four apartments per floor, for a maximum unit count of 20 dwellings. Only new buildings would be impacted.
Affordable housing advocate Alex Montero, chairperson of Strong Towns Chicago, said the one-stairway ordinance with mandated sprinklers could spark the construction of more below-market-rate apartments because any new building with more than 10 units would have to follow the city’s affordability requirements.
However, influential city leaders are far from on board with the current version of the ordinance. During a recent presentation, Department of Buildings Commissioner Marlene Hopkins expressed concern about the proposed ordinance, and said it could harm the safety of both building residents and firefighters.
“When one exit becomes compromised by fire, smoke, structural failure, or emergency operations, occupants and first responders must have an alternative path available,” she said.
Jim McDonough, the assistant deputy commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department, noted that two stairwells in smaller buildings are vital during fires so one can be used for evacuations, while firefighters utilize the other one to do searches and stage the operation.
“With two stairwells, we’re quicker in our primary searches. We get water on that fire quicker. It’s like clockwork. Then, everyone goes home,” McDonough said.
He also added that the fire department has only 10 tower-ladder trucks in the city that can reach up to the sixth floor of a building.
Despite the pushback from experts, Alderman Martin still believes his single-stair proposal has legs and could benefit Chicagoans in need of new housing. The measure could face a committee vote as early as July before advancing to the full City Council.
