The fire began in a vacant nine-story building and spread to several adjacent exposures, including an occupied 31-story apartment building. The fire was well developed on the ninth floor by the time it was located by the first arriving companies due to a delay in reporting the fire and the initial dispatch to a different building. An interior attack was attempted, however, the standpipe in the fire building was not functional and the firefighters were forced to abandon their initial attack as the fire spread through the original fire building and into the exposures.