NFPA Journal - Summer 2023 - 9

NEWS FROM NFPA
AND BEYOND
happened and should not happen again, " said
Jaime Gutierrez, the international development
director for Latin America at NFPA, who lives in
Mexico City. " We have to do a better job at looking
at the guidance that is already out there from
organizations such as NFPA in keeping these
facilities safe. "
Free egress versus containment
In most buildings in the developed world, free
egress is required by codes like NFPA 101. This is
the idea that occupants inside an office, restaurant,
or other building will be able to flow out of
it freely in the event of a fire or other emergency.
This wasn't always the norm, however; some of
the most notorious fires throughout history, such
as Boston's Cocoanut Grove fire in 1942 or the
Triangle Waist Company fire in New York City in
1911, involved exit doors that were locked or otherwise
blocked.
One notable exception to this concept exists for
detention and correctional facilities, where occupants
may be locked inside cells or other holding
areas. Because of these unique circumstances,
safety in detention and correctional facilities can
be more difficult to achieve, but experts stress it's
important not to overlook it.
" It is crucial that there is a balance between
security and life safety when designing and operating
detention and correctional facilities, " said
NFPA engineer Shawn Mahoney.
Chapters 22 and 23 of the Life Safety Code
outline requirements for both new and existing
detention and correctional facilities. In these
chapters, the limitation on free egress in such
facilities is acknowledged, and safety measures to
counteract that limitation are described.
" Because the safety of all occupants in
detention and correctional facilities cannot be
adequately ensured solely by dependence on
evacuation of the building, " the code states, " their
protection from fire shall be provided by appropriate
arrangement of facilities; adequate, trained
staff; and development of operating, security, and
maintenance procedures. " These procedures, the
code continues, should consider structural design
elements such as compartmentation, planning
and practicing evacuation scenarios, and fire
detection, notification, and suppression.
In all cases, NFPA 101 requires that staff members
of detention facilities be able to release
detainees to let them evacuate during emergencies.
For new facilities, the code requires automatic
sprinkler systems when free egress isn't provided.
Occupants may be locked inside cells
or other holding areas. Because of
these unique circumstances, safety in
detention and correctional facilities can
be more difficult to achieve.
It remains unclear which, if any, of the safety
measures outlined in NFPA 101 were in place
at the facility that burned in Ciudad Juárez in
March. Authorities say the fire started after
detainees lit mattresses inside their cell on fire to
protest recent upticks in immigration delays and
deportations. In a video allegedly captured of the
blaze, which has been widely circulated in the
media and online, smoke and flames can be seen
building rapidly inside a cell while a man dressed
in what appears to be a uniform walks by quickly.
In a PBS News Hour article published two days
after the incident, witnesses alleged guards at the
facility failed to release male detainees after the
fire broke out. Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel
López Obrador, said in April that two guards who
fled the fire did not have keys to the door of a cell
holding detainees.
The facility, which abuts a highway running
along the Rio Grande and is just 500 feet from the
U.S. border, often houses migrants from Central
and South America who have been detained trying
to make their way into the U.S. to seek asylum. At
the time of the fire, 68 men were being held in the
section of the facility that burned.
The incident capped a period of rising tensions
in the city, as the migrant population there has
swelled to more than 12,000 in recent months.
" This tragedy is a crime against humanity, " a
55-year-old Venezuelan migrant who's been living
on the streets of Ciudad Juárez with his two
daughters told the New York Times. " The place
where these people died has no dignity at all. It is
a prison. "
In a joint statement released in April, the UN
Committee on the Protection of the Rights of
All Migrant Workers and their Families and the
UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights
of migrants urged Mexican officials to not only
investigate the Ciudad Juarez blaze but also to
examine the migrant policy and detention center
conditions throughout the state of Chihuahua.
(The state includes 583 miles [938 kilometers]
of border with the U.S., the most of any Mexican
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NFPA Journal - Summer 2023

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