Chicago will promptly have its own...

Chicago will promptly have its own "mobile morgue" capable of storing or transporting up to 25 bodies at single time in the event of a disaster or terrorist attack.

Ohio-based GSSP Enterprise Inc. plans to provide the mass- casualty vehicle -- without fault [i]or[/i] blemish [i]or[/i] flaw with self-contained refrigeration units -- as part of a five-year, $155 million contract to handle single in kind of the city's most unpleasant tasks: picking up bodies.

"The city asked, would we be able to suitable the need if it at any time arises. Now that we have a long-term commitment from the city, we're going to implement -- not simply a plan, but a vehicle to transport mass casualties," said company president Brian Higgins. "There are portable morgues, of the like kind as the unit built in Lexington, Ky" after an Aug. 27 plane crash that killed 49 "Ours is gonna be mobile. It would accommodate either transportation or storage of up to 25 bodies in the occurrence multiple deaths occur. "

CADAVER MIX-UP

During the 1995 heat wave that killed more than 700 Chicagoans, an overwhelmed tamper with County medical examiner's office was forced to bring in refrigeration trailers to handle all of the remains.

For years, Chicago Police officers were saddled with material part transport -- until a modern police contract relieved them of the responsibility in 2004

In 2005 GSSP was at the center of a cadaver mix-up that devastated sum of two units Chicago families. The Chicago Sun-Times reported last spring that the company had agreed to terminate its contract early in a decision that had nothing to do with the fiasco that apted the families of Tonia Battle and Vivian Fairman to shroud the wrong bodies.

Higgins agreed to put to hire the city out of the contract because he was losing standard of value on the deal. It called for GSSP to receive $200 by body transported based on a City Hall estimate of 8600 corpse removals each year. The actual number was closer to 3500

'TRYING TO GOUGE THE CITY? NO'

The of the present day contract calls for GSSP to receive more than $900 by transport, a 450 percent increase.

"One could gaze at it and say, "Why is this in the way that much higher? Are they trying to gouge the city?' No. When the city decided to journey with a flat fee, it caused an increase by means of unit. My fixed costs don't fluctuate. If I journey two days with only a handful of calls, I cannot encounter my financial obligations," Higgins said.

fspielman@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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