A major after-business hours, high-rise office building fire occurred on Wednesday, May 4, 1988 in the city of Los Angeles, California, resulting in one fatality and ultimately destroying four floors of the First Interstate Bank Building. The 62-story, fire-resistive building is located in the heart of the city's business district. The Los Angeles City Fire Department described the suppression effort as the most challenging and difficult high-rise fire in the city's history. It took a total of 64 companies and 338 fire fighters more than 3 1/2 hours to control the fire. The fire is of great technical significance because... Continue reading

On April 29, 1986, a fire occurred in the Central Library of Los Angeles, California. The 400 occupants evacuated the library in about eight minutes without a mishap, but the ensuing fire resulted in a commitment of over 70 pieces of fire apparatus and nearly 350 firefighters, and took 7.5 hours to extinguish. Fifty-five firefighters suffered minor injuries during fire suppression. The fire destroyed an estimated 200,000 books, the largest collection of patents in the western United States, and 2/3 of the library’s magazine collection. In addition, about half of the library’s 1.2 million volumes were damaged by water and... Continue reading

On April 27, 1998, a fire in an occupied board and care facility in Arlington, Washington killed eight of the building’s 32 residents. The facility was originally built as a hospital but had undergone several renovations and changes in usage over the years, and was not equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler system. A local fire alarm system was installed with hardwired, AC powered smoke detectors and heat detectors in corridors and common areas. There were also manual pull stations next to the exterior exit doors. The fire was determined to be incendiary in nature, and is believed to have... Continue reading

At approximately 12:25 p.m., on April 16, 1984, workmen were performing arc welding operations on a hot press in the International Paper Company's Nacogdoches, Texas plywood manufacturing plant. During welding operations, deposits of oil, pitch, and wood dust which collected on the press, the catwalks, the wood structural members of the roof assembly, and the plywood roof deck ignited. The fire spread rapidly over the accumulated deposits both above and below the automatic sprinklers. Fire department units began arriving at the plant at 12:28 p.m. and found the plywood manufacturing facility heavily involved in fire. Within five minutes after the... Continue reading

At 3:08 a.m. on April 6, 1990, the Miami Beach Fire department received a telephone call reporting a fire at the Fontana Hotel. First-in fire units found the hotel's lobby area heavily involved in fire and began simultaneous suppression and rescue operations. Before the fire had been extinguished 9 patrons died and the building was extensively damaged. Investigators were unable to determine the cause of the fire which appeared to have originated in a crawl space above a storage room. Once the fire burned out of the crawl space, it ignited combustible ceiling tiles and other combustible materials in a... Continue reading

Early in the morning of April 2, 1973, a fire involved a second-floor night club in a 12 story hotel in Rosemont, Illinois. This fire was of particular interest because it exposed a 10 story atrium in the center of the hotel, and even though property damage was high, only one of the 1,000 guests required hospital treatment. The fire was discovered coming from the nightclub at 4:30 a.m. by a maintenance employee, who activated a manual fire alarm station and then pulled out a standpipe hose and began applying water. The atrium, located in the middle of the building... Continue reading

One of the stairways in the Ozark Hotel. Seattle Times A fire of incendiary origin occurred at the Ozark Hotel in Seattle, Washington, on March 20, 1970 and claimed the lives of 20 occupants. Fire investigators determined that a flammable liquid had been poured and ignited on the first-floor level of two open stairways. The fire quickly spread throughout the building rendering the stairways and corridors useless. As a result, 20 occupants perished, either from smoke inhalation or from injuries suffered when jumped from the upper stories. NFPA members can download the Fire Journal article January 1971 Fire Journal article... Continue reading

On March 17, 1996, a fire occurred in a single-story board and care facility in Laurinburg, North Carolina. The fire was caused by sparks from a faulty electrical receptacle which ignited bedding materials in one of the resident rooms. Smoke spread into other areas when cross-corridor doors were opened during evacuation and fire suppression. Eight residents died in the blaze. According to NFPA’s investigation, the following contributed to the loss of life in this incident: Staff members’ inability to enter the fire area due to smoke and heat Occupants’ inability to evacuate before untenable conditions developed in the fire area... Continue reading

An early morning fire on March 14, 1981 resulted in the deaths of 19 tenants, and injuries to 13 other persons (including two police officers). The fire began in a first-floor laundry room and quickly spread to a nearby stairway, which trapped many of the 62 occupants of the four-story residential hotel. The Chicago Fire Department first received a telephoned report of smoke at 2:59 a.m. When they arrived at 3:02 a.m. they found the rear stairway of the hotel fully involved. Rescue operations were made difficult by the extensive fire involvement, thick black smoke, and the loss of the... Continue reading

On March 9, 1984, a fire occurred in a crew cabin of a ship on a daily cruise approximately 5 miles off the coast of central Florida. The fire was discovered at approximately 7:30 p.m. and officers on the bridge immediately mobilized the ship’s fire brigade. Crew members attempted unsuccessfully to extinguish the fire; while the attempts were being made, the captain alerted the passengers and returned the ship to a terminal at Port Canaveral. When the ship reached land, the ship’s crew assisted all 744 passengers in safely disembarking the ship, meanwhile, land-based fire crews boarded the ship and... Continue reading

On, March 4, 1991 a fire of accidental origin occurred at Crystal Springs Estate, a board and care facility, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Nine of the building's 25 elderly residents died during the fire. In addition, eight other residents and five firefighters were injured. The single-story masonry and wood structure, with two separate partial basements, was divided into three fire compartments by noncombustible walls, and the corridor openings in these walls were protected with fire doors. A fire alarm system using heat detectors as the primary initiating device protected all rooms, closets, and attic spaces. Manual pull stations and smoke... Continue reading

On Saturday, February 23, 1991, an early evening fire occurred in a 38-story building in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The fire extended to 9 floors, killed three firefighters and injured 24 others. The fire started on the 22nd floor and was caused by spontaneous ignition of linseed-soaked rags used for restoring and cleaning wood paneling. The fire was able to grow significantly before being detected. Vertical spread was ultimately stopped by the automatic sprinklers on the 30th floor that were supplied by fire department pumpers. Significant factors affecting the outcome of this fire include: The lack of automatic fire sprinklers on... Continue reading

On Sunday, February 18, 1990, a natural gas explosion and subsequent fire in a motel in Hagerstown, Maryland caused the deaths of four guests and minor injuries to ten others. At approximately 5:20 a.m. two guests reported the smell of gas to the hotel desk clerk. The clerk then confirmed that there was a gas leak, called the gas company, and attempted to stop the gas that was escaping. Neither the gas company nor the clerk called the fire department, and the building alarm was not activated until after the explosion occurred at about 5:30. Hagerstown Fire Department investigators determined... Continue reading

On February 13, 1975, a fire occurred in a nine-story hotel in Peoria, Illinois. Due to the efforts of local police and firefighters, 119 guests, many of whom did not speak English, were evacuated and there were no fatalities. Many guests in the hotel were from around the world, attending a construction equipment conference. At around 1:00 a.m. one of the guests returned to his room on the seventh floor of the hotel from a party on the ninth floor of the building. He then turned on his TV set and lay down on his bed. The next thing that... Continue reading

On February 8, 1996, a fire occurred in a board and care facility in Shelby County, Tennessee, which caused the deaths of four residents. The fire was caused most likely by improperly disposed smoking materials. Smoke from the apartment of fire origin spread to other apartments through open doors. The facility was 20 years old, and all areas of the building were of wood-frame construction. All areas in the building had various fire protection provisions including smoke detectors, fire alarms, fire doors, and door self-closing devices. However, self-closing devices for many apartments, including the apartment of fire origin, had been... Continue reading

Fire fighters from four engines and two truck companies were committed to suppression operations on the third floor and a medical sector had been established outside the building. While suppression operations were in progress, the fire suddenly increased in magnitude and spread into several areas beyond the room of origin. Two of these fire fighters were killed, and four fire fighters were injured with two sustaining critical injuries. A subsequent search of the building revealed that one patron had also died in the fire. This person was found in a stairway between the sixth and seventh stories, and he had... Continue reading

On the evening of February 1, 1991 a US Air, Boeing 737-300 collided with a Skywest, Fairchild Metroliner at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The B-737 that was involved was configured to carry 128 people including both passengers and crew; however, only 89 people were aboard at the time of the accident. Twenty-two people on the B-737 died, and all 12 people aboard the Fairchild Metroliner were killed by the collision and subsequent fire. The NFPA dispatched a staff member to participate in the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigation of the accident. The NFPA’s focus was on the... Continue reading

On January 29, 1985, a fire occurred on the first floor of a boarding home in Washington D.C. The fire, thought to be caused by smoking materials, involved a couch in the facility’s smoking room and a small amount of other materials, before the smoke detectors alerted occupants and automatic sprinklers controlled the fire. Although smoke had spread throughout most of the structure, occupants were able to escape with fire department assistance, and the only injuries were minor in nature. This fire was significant because it demonstrated the value that an automatic sprinkler system can have on improving the level... Continue reading

Only two persons were able to escape from the Pennsylvania House Hotel when flames quickly spread through the building on January 16, 1972, leaving 12 others dead. The hotel building was typical of many old, small community hotels built to serve the travelers of 75 years ago -- hotels that for the most part have been replaced by motels as transportation has changed through the years. The owners of older buildings have attempted to keep a hotel business going, with the result that many of the hotels have changed in character, serving as residential hotels for local citizens rather than... Continue reading

On January 11, 1988 at 8:19 p.m., the New York City Fire Department was notified of a building fire at East 50th Street, Manhattan. Arriving fire fighters found a fire involving several first floor rooms with trapped occupants on the floors above. Before the fire was under control, the fire department had sounded five alarms bringing over 200 fire fighters to the scene; four civilians died, 13 fire fighters were injured, and another nine civilians were also injured. Approximately 70 people were rescued by fire fighters. The mixed-use building was a fire-resistive, 115 ft x 100 ft, 10-story high-rise structure.... Continue reading

At 9:32 a.m. on Saturday, January 10, a natural gas explosion killed 20 people in Fremont, Nebraska, and destroyed the Pathfinder Hotel and six adjacent buildings. The exact cause of the explosion is unknown, but the natural gas leak that preceded the explosion was caused by an underground pipe separation. The odor of the natural gas was first detected about four hours before the explosion. However, hotel employees were unable to reach gas company personnel to request assistance for nearly two hours, even though they used emergency telephone numbers. The fire that resulted from the explosion spread vertically through inadequately... Continue reading

On December 31, 1986, a mid-afternoon fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel and Casino in San Juan, Puerto Rico resulted in 97 fatalities and over 140 injuries. The NFPA analysis of the data indicates there were four major factors contributing to the loss of life. Those factors are: • Lack of automatic sprinklers in the south ballroom (room of origin). • Rapid fire growth and spread. • Lack of automatic fire detection systems/ inadequate exits for the casino. • Vertical opening between the ballroom and the casino levels. Additional findings are: • Smoke movement to the high-rise tower by way... Continue reading

Shortly before 5:00 p.m. on December 20, 1965, a fire of suspicious origin started in the balcony of the auditorium in the second and third stories of the Jewish Community Center in Yonkers, New York. The evidence suggests that someone, using a flammable liquid as an accelerant, set a fire at one end of the balcony, beside the stage. Within a few minutes, the fire had spread to involve large plastic panels and other combustibles in the balcony. Some occupants of the upper floors of the building took refuge in various rooms in the building or on outdoor balconies. One... Continue reading

In the early morning hours of December 13, 1977, a fire occurred at Aquinas Hall, a dormitory at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. This fire resulted in the deaths of ten female students who were resident s of the fourth floor. The primary fuel for the fire was highly combustible Christmas decorations that had been put up in the corridors. Physical evidence indicates that the fire started near a fourth floor sleeping room. Aquinas Hall was of mixed construction with a majority of the building being protected by non- combustible construction. It's a four story building with the first... Continue reading

At 3:56 p.m. on Friday, December 6, 1985, a natural gas explosion occurred at the River Restaurant in Derby, Connecticut. It appears that a gas main may have been damaged during the refilling of a sewer excavation. Before anyone became aware of the leak, escaping gas accumulated in the basement of the restaurant and came in contact with an undetermined ignition source. The explosion killed six people in the restaurant, injured 12 other occupants, and completely destroyed the building housing the restaurant. Three people who were not in the restaurant were also injures by the explosion. For the full NFPA... Continue reading