By
now we all know of the calamity at the Brazil night club “KISS” where 235
people, mostly college students lost their lives. First reports are telling us
that there was one way in and one way out. Security hindered the fleeing
patrons in fear of folks not paying their bills. The cause appears to be that the
band lit flares and set the combustible sound proof ceiling insulation on fire.
(Let’s keep our guns holstered and wait for the investigation to tell us what
happened so let’s proceed with caution.) This last item should sound alarmingly
familiar. If you’re a student of fire (a fire nerd and fire history buff like
me) the first thing you thought of when you heard the news, was the Station
Night Club fire in West Warwick, RI in 2003. The band (Great White) lit indoor
pyrotechnics which ignited the combustible sound proofing on the ceiling. Ninety
eight people perished in a matter of minutes as the fire rapidly traveled
throughout the club. Two died later in the hospital. (Go to www.NIST.gov for
the follow up investigation, excellent graphics and videos of the fire. They
built also the stages in their test facility and recreated the fire with and
without sprinklers. One or two sprinkler heads on the stage and the incident
probably wouldn’t have made the evening news past the West Warwick, RI local
news affiliate.)
My old buddy John Salka (Retired FDNY
Battalion Chief) just posted a blog entry on Firehouse.com (2/1/2013). He
discusses the fact that a city in New York State (Watertown) has told their
firefighters to no longer inspect buildings. They will leave all of it to a 4
person city wide code enforcement unit. The City Manager gave this order upon
her exit on her last day of work at the end of January. (Nice job coward.) John
went on to say “when
firefighters make annual visits to the commercial buildings they will be
responding to, they become familiar with the layout, the exit and entrance
locations, the fire load and just about every other feature of the location.
This makes a firefighter more effective and successful and certainly reduces
fire losses and firefighter injuries and fatalities. To limit or restrict
firefighters from familiarizing themselves with the buildings they will be
fighting fires in is insanity. This action by the city is certainly short cited
and sets the stage for disaster.” We said my friend.
Here’s a fire department that is taking
the initiative to go out, pre-plan their district, pick up and write violations
and really get to know their response area. (We know lots of you don’t do this
or hate doing it but it really works. “The building is your enemy, know your
enemy” -- Francis Brannigan.) We must continue to get out in the district and
look around. Ask your seasoned officers if you’re a non-believer. Not enough
fire departments today have enough staff in their Fire Prevention Bureaus or
Fire Marshal’s office to get it all done. (Inspections, investigations, public
education, re-inspections, plan review, etc. etc. etc.) Even if they have staff, the local company
inspections are essential to fire ground safety and survivability and are an
enhancement to the work being done by the Inspectors and Fire Marshals.
The fire in West Warwick made international
news just as the fire in Brazil did. Many years ago it took a long time to get
the word around the world. Now it’s instant. Do people all over the world still
have that “it can’t happen here” mentality? Yes. If we don’t learn the lessons
of the past, are we doomed to repeat them? We just did. Get out there, take a
good look around your district and save some lives. Fire Prevention work saves
lives. The lives of your customers, your brother and sister fighters and maybe even
your own.
Read more on some of the cataclysmic
public assembly fires of the past. Maybe these will motivate you:
Iroquois Theater Fire (1903) - 605 dead
Rhythm Club/Natchez Dance Hall (1940) - 209 dead
Cocoanut Grove Night Club (1942) - 492 dead
Beverly Hills Supper Club (1977) – 165 dead
The body count is high enough. Let’s get going.
Be safe,
Ronnie K
