NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 84

Catastrophic Multiple-Death Fires in 2016 (cont.)
hallways built of numerous combustibles and at various heights.
Also inside were a camping
trailer and two recreational vehicles. There was a music event
underway on the second floor
at the time of the fire. Firefighters were alerted to the fire by
911 calls from occupants and
people knocking on the doors
of a nearby fire station. First-arriving firefighters found heavy
smoke conditions. An interior
attack was initiated, but due
to high heat and zero visibility
firefighters were withdrawn to a
defensive attack. All the victims
were adults and were found in
various locations throughout
the structure. All died of smoke
inhalation.
Georgia
Date, Time of Alarm, Number
of Deaths
March, 4:54 a.m., six deaths
Number of Stories, Occupancy
Type, Construction Type,
Operating Status
This was a one-story dwelling
being used as a makeshift boarding house. It was of unprotected
wood-frame construction, covered 1,000 square feet (93 square
meters) and was occupied.
Smoke Alarm and Other
Protection Devices
Neither detection equipment
nor automatic suppression
equipment were present.
Fire Origin and Path
The fire began in a den and
spread throughout the structure. The cause is listed as
undetermined.
Contributing Factors and
Victim Locations
All victims were adults. Three were
located in a rear bedroom, one in
a hallway, one in the kitchen, and
one in a front bedroom.

This was a one-story adultcare facility of unprotected
wood-frame construction. No
information on the ground-floor
area covered by the building
was reported.
Detection Systems and
Suppression Systems
No information was reported.
Fire Origin and Path
No information was reported.
Contributing Factors and
Victim Locations
No information was reported.
Pennsylvania
Date, Time of Alarm, Number
of Deaths
May, 4:00 a.m., four deaths
Number of Stories, Occupancy
Type, Construction Type,
Operating Status
This was a three-story dwelling
that was being used illegally as
a rooming house. The building
was of unprotected, ordinary
construction and covered 1,584
square feet (147 square meters).
The building was occupied at
the time of the fire.
Detection Systems and
Suppression Systems
There was one smoke alarm
and it operated. There was no
automatic suppression system
present.
Fire Origin and Path
The fire broke out when a carelessly disposed-of cigarette
ignited a couch on an enclosed
first-floor porch being used as a
bedroom.

two systems were disconnected, two were missing
batteries, and one was destroyed in an explosion. In
one fire the operation was not reported. None of the
homes had automatic suppression equipment.
Information on detection equipment was reported
for four of the eight non-home structure fires. One
had no equipment. Two had smoke alarms that operated, but no information was reported as to why the
victims did not escape. A smoke alarm was found in
the debris of the 36-fatality warehouse fire, but it is
not known if it operated. Four of the properties were
known to have no automatic suppression equipment.
No information was reported for the other four nonhome structures.
It is unfortunate that none of the structures had
suppression equipment because sprinklers are proven
to save lives across many different kinds of properties, including homes. The risk of dying in a reported
fire in a home decreases by about 80 percent when
sprinklers are present, and sprinklers reduce the
average property loss in home fires by 71 percent per
fire. More information about home fire sprinklers is
available at NFPA's Fire Sprinkler Initiative, online at
firesprinklerinitiative.org.
Smoke alarms have been proven effective in
reducing the risk of death in home fires. The most
effective arrangement is interconnected, multiple-station smoke alarms supplied by hardwired
AC power with a battery backup. These should be
located outside each sleeping area, on each level,
and in each bedroom. Homeowners should routinely
test smoke alarms according to manufacturers'

California
Date, Time of Alarm, Number
of Deaths
June, 7:30 p.m., five deaths
Number of Stories, Occupancy
Type, Construction Type,
Operating Status
This was a two-story vacant
office building. No information
was reported on the type of construction or ground-floor area.
Detection Systems and
Suppression Systems
No information was reported.
Fire Origin and Path
No information was reported.
Contributing Factors and
Victim Locations
No information was reported.
California
Date, Time of Alarm, Number
of Deaths
August, 5:00 a.m., four deaths
Number of Stories, Occupancy
Type, Construction Type,
Operating Status

Arson investigators in California examine the ruins of a vacant office building,
where a fire killed five people. Authorities believed the fire was intentionally set.
Of the estimated 1,342,000 fires that U.S. firefighters responded to in 2016,
104,000 occurred in nonresidential structures. (AP/WIDE WORLD)

84 | NFPA JOURNAL * S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7

http://www.firesprinklerinitiative.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - September/October 2017