NFPA Journal - September/October 2012 - (Page 70)

2011 CATASTROPHIC MULTIPLE-DEATH FIRES Fire Origin and Path The fire, of undetermined cause, broke out in the living room of a first-story apartment and spread up to the second floor when someone from the unit of origin left the door open. The fire entered the open stairwell, trapping the upper-floor occupants. Contributing Factors and Victim Locations Six of the occupants died, and 12 were injured and taken to medical facilities. Those who survived were either helped out by first responders or escaped on their own, several by jumping. The fatalities were all located in two second-floor apartments where they were trapped by the spreading fire in the stairwell. One firefighter was injured. Ohio Date, Time of Alarm, Number of Deaths June, 4:44 a.m., 6 Number of Stories, Occupancy Type, Construction Type This was a two-story, single-family home of unprotected wood-frame construction that covered 1,080 square feet (100 square meters). The home was occupied by six people at the time of the fire. Smoke Alarm and Other Protection Devices There were no smoke alarms or suppression equipment present. Fire Origin and Path The fire was started by a charcoal grill left unattended on a rear wooden porch. The fire spread vertically along vinyl siding into the eaves and into the second floor bedrooms. Contributing Factors and Victim Locations When the fire department arrived, the fire was venting through the roof. Firefighters forced entry and tried to control the fire. Two adults were found on the first floor, one in the living-room and one in the bedroom, and four children were found in a second-floor bedroom. Two firefighters were injured. New York Date, Time of Alarm, Number of Deaths July, 12:30 p.m., 6 (1 under age 6) Number of Stories, Occupancy Type, Construction Type This was a two-story, single-family home of unprotected wood-frame construction. The ground floor area was not reported. Smoke Alarm and Other Protection Devices There were no smoke alarms or suppression equipment. Fire Origin and Path Heat from a hot water tank ignited propane that had leaked into the basement, causing an explosion. The source of the propane leak was not reported. Contributing Factors and Victim Locations The explosion leveled the house. No information was reported as to whether the victims were residents of the house that exploded. Washington Date, Time of Alarm, Number of Deaths January, 2:30 a.m., 5 (2 under age 6) Number of Stories, Occupancy Type, Construction Type This was a three-story, nine-unit apartment building of unprotected wood-frame construction that covered 15,000 square feet (1,394 square meters). Smoke Alarm and Other Protection Devices There were smoke alarms throughout the building and a single-station smoke alarm in the apartment of origin. It was not determined whether the alarm in the unit of origin was sounding, but those in the rest of the building were. There was no suppression equipment. Fire Origin and Path The fire began in a common wall space separating bathrooms on the first floor. No information was reported on Residents gather outside a fire-damaged apartment building in Mississippi. Five people died in the fire, including three children under the age of six. those were the West Virginia mine explosion of 2010 that killed 29, the Texas refinery explosion of 2005 that killed 15, and the Georgia sugar refinery explosion of 2008 that killed 14. Catastrophic Home Fires Just over half of the catastrophic multiple-death fires in 2011 occurred in homes. Of these 12 fires, eight occurred in single-family homes, one of which was a manufactured home, and one occurred in a duplex. Three catastrophic multiple-death fires also occurred in apartment buildings, one of which had 10 units. The other buildings had 9 units and 8 units. This was seven fewer than occurred in the United States the year before. There were 67 deaths in home fires in 2011, down from 101 in 2010. Of the 67 fatalities, 11 were children under the age of six; this was 17 fewer than in 2010. Ten of the 12 fires, resulting in 56 of the 67 deaths, broke out between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Nine of the 56 victims were children under six. The largest-loss-of-life fire in a home killed seven people, including three children under age six. This involved a 2½-story farmhouse of unprotected wood-frame construction. The fire department did not report details of this fire, but state police investigators were extensively quoted in the media as saying that the fire began in a first-floor living room. The mother was in a barn milking cows when the father left to deliver milk, leaving eight children alone in the house. Two of the children, ages two and three, were watching television when the three-year-old saw smoke in the house. She ran to the barn to alert her mother, who yelled to a neighbor to call 911 and ran to tell her husband, who had stopped to nap in his truck about a mile (1.6 kilome- 70 NFPA JOURNAL SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 Photograph: AP/Wide World

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