NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 12
Dispatches
R I O D E JA N E I R O, B R A Z I L
BRAZIL
BURNING
EXPERTS SAY A HOSPITAL FIRE AND OTHER
BLAZES IN RIO DE JANEIRO SERVE AS PRIME
EXAMPLES OF BREAKDOWNS IN THE NFPA
FIRE & LIFE SAFETY ECOSYSTEM
By Angelo Verzoni
n September 12, 11 people, many of
LAST RESORT
When a fire broke
out at a hospital
in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, in September,
many struggled to
escape, resorting
to methods such as
attempting to climb
down bed sheets
that had been tied
together.
12 | NFPA JOURNAL * N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9
"The hospital did have an approval certificate
issued by the fire department," Queiroz said. "But
the department doesn't make regular inspections
to check whether already-approved facilities continue to comply with the code. We can also see
from videos that surfaced of the fire that there
seemed to be no clear procedure for how to evacuate the building in a fast and safe manner."
In other words, the deadly hospital fire in
Rio was, like most large-loss blazes experienced
REUTERS; GETT Y IMAGES (INSET )
O
them elderly patients, died in a fire
that tore through Badim Hospital in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Investigators
said the blaze was likely sparked by
an electrical short-circuit in one of the facility's
emergency power generators.
In the wake of the fire, Rio's mayor, Marcelo
Crivella, told reporters that the hospital had been
in compliance with local codes and standards,
suggesting that the incident was more of a freak
accident than a tragedy that could have been
prevented. "Unfortunately, accidents happen anywhere," he said.
But in a conversation with NFPA Journal,
Anderson Queiroz, NFPA's representative to Brazil,
expressed doubts over whether the hospital was
truly in compliance with local codes-despite
what government records show. Furthermore,
Queiroz said, there appeared to be a lack of training among hospital staff on how to react to an
emergency.
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - November/December 2019
Contents
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 1
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 2
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 3
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - Contents
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 5
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 6
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 7
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 8
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 9
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 10
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 11
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 12
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 13
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 14
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 15
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 16
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 17
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 18
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 19
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 20
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 21
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 22
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 23
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 24
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 25
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 26
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 27
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 28
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 29
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 30
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 31
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 32
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 33
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 34
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 35
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 36
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 37
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 38
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 39
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 40
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 41
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 42
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 43
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 44
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 45
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 46
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 47
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 48
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 49
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 50
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 51
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 52
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 53
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 54
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 55
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 56
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 57
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 58
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NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 61
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NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 64
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 65
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 66
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 67
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NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 69
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 70
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 71
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 72
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 73
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NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 76
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 77
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 78
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 79
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NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 81
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NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 87
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 88
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - Cover3
NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - Cover4
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