The Drew Price Act, crafted to honor of Chicago firefighter Drew Price who lost his life after falling through a lightshaft while fighting a fire on a restaurant rooftop, provides increased firefighter safety throughout the State of Illinois.
“First responders often face difficulty traveling on roofs, especially when there is low visibility from smoke,” said bill sponsor state Senator Mike Porfirio (D-11th), according to the Illinois State Democrats website. “The law directly addresses the risk that Drew faced, ensuring all new buildings with a light shaft or opening have a guardrail or parapet installed to limit the risk of falling through.”
The act requires “all new construction, roofs, roof replacements and renovation projects increasing the area of a home or business by more than 50 percent” must perform and submit surveys of all roof skylights or openings on low-sloped roofs. The surveys must then be submitted to local police and fire departments. The law takes effect on January 1, 2027.
Surveys for Counties with populations of 1 million or more “shall be shared with local police departments and local fire departments and shall be stored in all computer-aided dispatch systems.”
State Rep. Angie Guerrero Cuellar (D-22nd) sponsored the bill on the House side.
The City of Chicago’s Price ordinance, mirroring the recently adopted state act, was sponsored by Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) in October 2024 and took effect in the city in January.
During a reported fire, thick smoke and superheated gases are released via a process called vertical ventilation, according to the Fire Rescue 1 website.
Fire companies access the roof, make an opening, then open the interior ceiling to allow combustible gases and smoke under pressure to follow the path of least resistance, upward, to improve visibility for firefighters in the structure below.
The released smoke and gases can reduce visibility for firefighters working on roofs making it necessary for the act’s passage.
Firefighter Price lost his life while performing vertical ventilation.
I’m very happy,” said Patrick Cleary, president of the Fire Fighter Union, Local 2. “We first passed it in the City of Chicago and we went downstate to have it as a state law as well. This will provide safety on roofs because there’s a lot of open shafts on old buildings and this will force the owners of buildings to put parapet walls, railings around the shafts or covers on the openings.”
Chicago and suburban firefighters commended the bill for its increased overall safety for firefighters ranging from city to rural fire companies who depend on volunteer firefighters.
Enforcement of the act will take time but is a “step in the right direction,” said Palos Heights Fire Chief Michael Daly.
“According to the act as I understand it, they have until the year 2027 to begin the surveys and the dissemination of the rooftop obstacles,” he said. “There hasn’t been very much movement at this point but through code enforcement, the agencies and associations are generally very good at getting the word out to inspectors.
The method of implementation is key, according to Daly.
“We also work very closely with our building department code enforcement officials so that when we learn of something new, we communicate to them and then we work hand-in-hand,” Daly said. “This is also something that would transfer over to a dispatch center so they can warn you of certain hazards through the computer aided dispatcher, the CAD program that they have that are routinely used for fire dispatch. If it saves one life it’s well worth it.”