PROVIDENCE,
R.I.— The Commerce Department’s National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST) today called on the
organizations that develop building and fire safety codes,
standards and practices—and the state and local agencies
that adopt them—to make specific changes to improve
the fire safety of nightclubs as a result of the agency’s
investigation of the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at The Station nightclub
in W. Warwick, R.I.
Recommendations
for changes in nightclubs include requiring sprinklers, tighter
restrictions of the use of flammable materials in finish products,
and improved means of egress in emergencies. Other recommendations
address emergency preparedness and response practices as well
as a call for more research to better understand the way people
behave in emergency situations such as fires.
All 12 recommendations, contained within the draft report
released today for public comment at a press briefing
in Providence,
are based on the findings of the NIST investigation into
the fire that claimed 100 lives. To prevent additional
deaths,
injuries and property loss in the future, the recommendations
call for:
- requiring
the installation of sprinkler systems in all new and existing
nightclubs regardless of size;
- tightening
restrictions for nightclubs on the use of flammable materials
as a finish product (such as a wall covering) and further
limiting the use of pyrotechnics;
- allowing
for more rapid evacuation from nightclubs by changing egress
requirements (for example, increasing the capacity of the
main exit to accommodate, at a minimum, two-thirds of the
maximum permitted number of occupants);
- eliminating
the practice of “grandfathering” older nightclubs
from new or revised safety regulations;
- requiring
redundancy in passive and active fire protection systems
for nightclubs;
- considering
and incorporating insight gained from similar past building
failures when analyzing proposed changes to model codes
for nightclubs;
- increasing
the number of portable fire extinguishers required in nightclubs;
- implementing
more effective fire inspection programs for nightclubs as
guided by the model codes;
- ensuring
that career and volunteer fire departments meet standards
for staffing, equipment, communications systems and major
incident/mass casualty incident operating procedures;
- conducting
research to better understand human behavior in emergency
situations and to predict the impact of building design
on safe egress in emergencies;
- conducting
research to better understand fire spread and suppression;
and
- conducting
research to develop and refine computer models and computer-aided
decision tools with which communities can make cost-effective
choices about code changes, fire safety technologies and
emergency resource allocations.
Details
on these recommendations are found in the accompanying fact
sheet.
The NIST
report identifies three factors that directly contributed
to the rapid spread of the fire, the resulting building failure
and the large loss of life at The Station nightclub. These
are: (1) the hazardous mix of building contents; (2) an inadequate
capability to suppress the fire early; and (3) the inability
of exits to handle the egress of all of the occupants in the
short time available with such a fast-growing fire.
Key findings
in these three areas are detailed in the accompanying fact
sheet.
Video
taken inside the nightclub by WPRI-TV (Providence, R.I.) and
reporting by the Providence Journal assisted the NIST investigation
team.
NIST
welcomes comments on the report, available at http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/ncst.htm#draft_report,
which are received by April 4, 2005. (Comment
deadline extended to 5 p.m. EDT April 12, 2005.) Comments
may be sent via surface mail to The Station Investigation,
NIST, 100 Bureau Dr., Stop 8660, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-8660;
via fax to (301) 975-4052; or via e-mail to ncst@nist.gov.
NIST’s
investigation of The Station nightclub fire, begun on Feb.
27, 2003, was conducted under the National Construction Safety
Team (NCST) Act. The act gives NIST the responsibility for
conducting fact-finding investigations of building-related
failures that result in substantial loss of life. NIST has
no regulatory authority under the NCST Act.
The primary
objectives of the NIST Rhode Island nightclub fire investigation
were to:
- determine
the conditions in the nightclub prior to the fire, such
as the materials of construction and contents;
- the
location and conditions of doors, windows and ventilation;
the installed fire protection systems; the number of occupants
and their approximate locations;
- reconstruct
the fire ignition, fire spread and survivability within
the building using computer models;
- examine
the impact on survivability of having an installed sprinkler
system, all other conditions being the same; and
- analyze
the emergency evacuation and occupant responses to better
understand the impediments to safe egress.
As an
agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Technology
Administration, NIST develops and promotes measurement, standards
and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade and
improve the quality of life.
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