NFPA Journal - September/October 2012 - (Page 53)

were given full access to the fire scene under the escort of an officer from the Comayagua Fire Department. Local officials would only provide information on background, however, and none agreed to be quoted for this story by name. Inside the prison compound, I was immediately struck by how small the two residential buildings were, and how cramped the conditions were inside those buildings. The prisoners had spent a lot of time and effort making their small bunk-bed cubicles their own, but in the process they had created a highly combustible cell. I could not believe that hundreds of people had lost their lives in such a small space. The facility, defined as “Use Condition V–Contained” in NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®, is a 1940s-era complex that was designed as a prison farm. The site covers 36 acres (14.6 hectares) and is surrounded by an 8-foot (2.4-meter) fence. A contained group of buildings, surrounded by farming land, is located at the core of the site, secured by walls, including the residential, assembly, and administrative portions of the prison. The prisoners sleep in two large structures constructed of brick-and-cinderblock walls, concreteand-tile floors, and pitched roofs made of corrugated metal, with various amounts of wood. The residential structures run parallel to each other and are separated by an uncovered walkway 16 feet (5 meters) wide. Each structure is roughly 96 feet (29 meters) long by 52 feet (16 meters) wide, with an approximate constructed area of 4,995 square feet (464 square meters), subdivided into five modules, or large cells. The cells are identified as Modules 1–5 on the south structure and Modules 6–10 on the north structure. (Although building construction type can be difficult to determine in Latin America, these buildings most closely resemble Type II [000] construction, per NFPA 220, Types of Building Construction.) The modules share interior walls; barred horizontal openings about 3 feet (1 meter) high run the length of the walls, opening the upper portions of the cells to neighboring modules. The prison was originally designed to house 520 inmates, but at the time of the fire it housed 852. Module 6, where the fire started, was typical of the cells at Comayagua. The cell was 18 feet (5.5 meters) wide and 50 feet (15 meters) long, with a pitched metal roof 16 feet (4.9 meters) high at its peak. The cell housed 96 inmates in two rows of steel-framed bunk beds, each row against one of the module’s long walls. The beds were tightly packed, stacked four levels high and separated by 20 to 30 inches (50 to 76 centimeters). The rows of beds were separated by a 4-foot (1.3-meter) open corridor that led from the cell door to the bathrooms, located at the back of the module. A 34-by-80inch (86-by-203-centimeter) opening, surrounded by a masonry wall, provided access to the bathrooms, which were constructed of non-combustible materials and included two sinks, two toilets, a bathing closet, and a clothes-washing Prisoners survey the damage in the public jail in Higuey, Dominican 5 Republic, on March 7, 2005, following a fire that killed 136 people. The Latin American Prison Fire Problem Many of the deadliest fires in detention and correctional occupancies recorded in Latin America since 2002 … 361...Pen. Nal. de Comayagua, Honduras ............February 14, 2012 136...Cárcel de Higüey, Dominican Republic .............March 7, 2005 101 ...Cárcel de San Pedro Sula, Honduras ..................May 17, 2004 81 .....Cárcel de San Miguel, Chile ........................December 8, 2010 68 ....Cárcel de La Ceiba, Honduras ...............................April 5, 2003 33..... Cárcel de Santiago del Estero, Argentina ... November 17, 2007 28 ....Cárcel de la Vega, Dominican Republic ...September 20, 2002 27.....Cárcel de Llobasco, El Salvador ................ November 18, 2010 26 ....Cárcel de Iquique, Chile......................................... May 21, 2001 21 .....Cárcel de Reynosa, Mexico........................... October 21, 2008 12 .....Cárcel de Rocha, Uruguay........................................ July 8, 2010 10 .....Cárcel de Colina, Chile.........................................April 25, 2009 … also top the list of some of the deadliest recent fires worldwide in those occupancies. 361...Pen. Nal. de Comayagua, Honduras ............February 14, 2012 136...Cárcel de Higüey, Dominican Republic .............March 7, 2005 108 ..Prisión de Sabaneta, Venezuela ....................... January 3, 1994 101 ...Cárcel de San Pedro Sula, Honduras ..................May 17, 2004 81 .....Cárcel de San Miguel, Chile ........................December 8, 2010 68 ....Cárcel de La Ceiba, Honduras ...............................April 5, 2003 67.....Al-Hair Prison, Saudi Arabia.....................September 15, 2003 57.....Hasaka Prison, Syria........................................... March 24, 1993 50 ....Sidi Moussa Prison, Morocco ......................November 1, 2002 [Editor’s note: NFPA’s record of international fires in detention and correctional occupancies may be incomplete. The incidents presented here are representative of some of the deadliest fires worldwide in those occupancies and should not be considered a definitive ranking.] Photograph: AP/Wide World SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 NFPA JOURNAL 53

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - September/October 2012

NFPA Journal - September/October 2012
Contents
First Word
Mail Call
In a Flash
Perspectives
Firewatch
Research
Heads Up
Structural Ops
In Compliance
Buzzwords
Outreach
Electrical Safety
Wildfire Watch
Lessons of Comayagua
After Waldo Canyon
Catastrophic Multiple-Death Fires in 2011
Fire Loss in the United States in 2011
Section Spotlight
Research + Analysis
What’s Hot
Looking Back

NFPA Journal - September/October 2012