NFPA Journal - July/August 2019 - 73

amount of fire from the exterior, then
attempt entry. As crews made their
way inside, one firefighter fell partway
through a section of floor that had
burned away. He was pulled out by
team members without injury and continued fighting the fire.
Due to the hazardous floor conditions, crews backed out and moved
to an opposite hallway, where they
breached a door to gain entry. Inside,
they found a victim and determined
that he was already deceased. A team
was sent to the second floor to check
for additional occupants and to pull
the ceiling in order to attack fire in the
attic space. The county medical examiner was summoned to take custody of
the victim's body.
Crews were forced to breach a wall
in an adjacent apartment to gain a
line of attack and bring the fire in the
kitchen under control.
Investigators determined that the
fire originated in the living room

and flashed over after smoldering
undetected for a period of time. Fire
then ventilated out of a sliding door,
engulfing an overhead balcony and
traveling into the structure's attic.
Smoking materials were believed to be
the source of ignition, but investigators were unable to make a conclusive
determination.
All units in the building were
equipped with smoke detectors in
the living area and bedroom. In news
accounts, the fire chief credited the
detectors, as well as a building resident
who knocked on doors, with helping to
save lives.
The building was a two-story structure with wood and brick walls, wood
framing, and asphalt shingles. It
occupied a ground-floor area of 4,000
square feet (372 square meters). The
fire caused an estimated $400,000
damage to the building, valued at $1
million, and $200,000 in damage to
its contents.

MASSACHUSETTS
Hoarding conditions complicate
escape and rescue in fatal house fire
A female occupant died in an early-morning house fire that began when
combustible materials that were piled
atop an extension cord ignited after the
cord reached an ignition temperature.
Firefighters were dispatched to the
scene after the occupant called 911
at 3:21 a.m. Arriving crews encountered hoarding conditions inside the
home that hindered their firefighting
and search-and-rescue efforts. Crews
described having to step over boxes in
every room, but were eventually able to
make their way to the third floor, where
they found the occupant in bed. Crews
carried her outside for transport to
the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
The fire began at the base of a
second-floor stairwell, and reports
indicate that the occupant was unable
to escape from the third floor due to

WEBINAR

Date and Time

Thurs., Aug. 29, 2019
12:30 to 2:00 p.m. ET

In the event of a fire, a sloped ceiling may alter sprinkler performance from expected results for a conventional horizontal ceiling configuration. Prior
computational studies investigated the effect of ceiling slope on sprinkler activation times, patterns, and spray dynamics. Cold-flow tests and largescale fire suppression tests were conducted under sloped ceilings in presence of obstructed ceiling
construction to examine the impact of ceiling slope and deflector orientation on the measured
floor flux. The results will provide guidance for updates to sprinkler installation standards.

Presenters:

RESEARCH FOUNDATION
RESEARCH FOR THE NFPA MISSION

Prateep Chatterjee
AVP, Senior Lead Research
Scientist, FM Global

SPONSORED BY THE FIRE PROTECTION RESEARCH FOUNDATION WITH SUPPORT FROM:
FPRF 2019 Webinar Series Sponsors: American Wood Council * EATON * Johnson Controls * Reliable Automatic
Sprinkler Co., Inc. * Telgian Engineering and Consulting * The Zurich Services Corporation * Victaulic

Project Sponsors: Property Insurance Research Group (PIRG): AIG * CNA Insurance * FM Global

Liberty Mutual Insurance * Tokio Marine America * Travelers Insurance * Verisk * Zurich Insurance Group

Contributing Project Sponsor: NFSA

Noah Ryder
Managing Partner,
Fire & Risk Alliance

6/25/19 4:02 PM
N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL

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NFPA Journal - July/August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - July/August 2019