By Nick Gale, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) — Officials with the Chicago Fire Department announced Wednesday that a smoke detector was found in the rubble of the home in Little Village where 10 children lost their lives in an early morning fire Sunday.
The discovery was made after the landlord insisted that he had installed them after a city code violation. Investigators though say the smoke detector did not have a working battery. They are also looking at “an electrical device unrelated to earlier violations,” but officials didn’t elaborate.
Meanwhile, the Department of Children and Family Services released information about prior contact that had been made with the families of those killed in the blaze. DCFS says the mother of five of the children who perished was the subject of 21 investigations, 19 of which were ruled “unfounded.” Another mother was investigated once in 2007 but the allegation was ruled unfounded. DCFS says mother of a 16-year-old who died in the fire was investigated five times with two allegations deemed to be founded. They were related to allegations of inadequate supervision.
In a news release, DCFS says “none of these individual reports by itself rose to the level of removing children from their parents.”
Officials have ruled out arson, as they continue to investigate the cause of the fire.
Copyright 2018 WLS-AM News
