The 11-month study outlines 81 administrative failures that led to six deaths and 13 injuries in the "typical" office fire. "We were critical of just about everybody," says James Lee Witt, chairman of the eponymous Washington, D.C.-based firm that produced the study.

The report blames Illinois fire officials for underestimating their authority to enforce the state code in Chicago. It also faults the city for promulgating a fire code "less stringent" than the state code. "We strongly encourage that there be a harmonization of codes," says Ed Comeau, Witt’s operations chief.