Remarks by Dr. James Hill
Acting Director, Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The Station Nightclub Fire Investigation Media Briefing
November 25, 2003
Good
morning. My name
is Jim Hill. I’m the Acting Director of the
Building and Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (often referred to as NIST) in
Gaithersburg, Md. Several of us have come to Providence today
to talk to you about an investigation we are conducting of
The Station nightclub fire that occurred in West Warwick,
R.I., on February 20, 2003.
I want to thank all of you for attending. We have two purposes
for being here. First, we want to inform the people of Rhode
Island about our investigation and the progress we are making.
Second, and most importantly, we have come to appeal to those
citizens who have information and details about The Station
nightclub and this fire. If they are in a position to share
information with us, we urge them to do so by calling us
at 877-451-8001. We will tell you what information we need
during the course of this press briefing. The screen behind
me indicates other ways people can communicate with us. Providing
us key information could greatly enhance our investigation.
When we complete the investigation, we want to be able to
provide the kind of recommendations that could prevent this
kind of tragedy from being repeated in other communities
around the United States in the years to come.
Some of you may not be familiar with NIST. We are a non-regulatory
agency of the Department of Commerce. Our mission is to use
measurement, standards, and technology to enhance the productivity
of industry, facilitate trade, and improve the quality of
life for all Americans.
The part of NIST I represent, the Building and Fire Research
Laboratory, focuses on the construction industry. We have
always worked hard to make buildings better, safer, and more
secure for its occupants.
We have a strong complement of structural, fire, mechanical,
and electrical engineers. We have investigated more than
30 major building structural failures and major building
fires in order to learn from those disasters and conduct
research to prevent them from recurring.
On October 1, 2002, those activities took on new meaning.
The President signed into law the National Construction Safety
Team Act. We are now specifically authorized to conduct investigations
of major building failures where there has been a substantial
loss of life or the potential for a substantial loss of life.
There are at least two things you need to understand about
this authority:
1. We are authorized to establish the likely technical causes
of the building failure but precluded from establishing blame
for the building failure.
2. We are to recommend changes in building practices, standards,
and model building and fire codes and, as appropriate, research
to be conducted that could lead to positive changes. Since we are not a regulatory agency, we will not mandate
any changes to standards or building and fire codes. That
is the responsibility of standards-developing organizations
and state and local governments. However, after our investigation
we will work actively with them to encourage the changes.
In addition, no part of any report resulting from our investigations
may be admitted as evidence or used in any suit or action
for damages, and NIST employees are not permitted to serve
as expert witnesses.
We have
launched two investigations to date under this new authority.
First,
is an investigation of the fires and collapses
of the World Trade Center buildings after the aircrafts’ impact
where almost 3,000 people were killed. Second, is an investigation
of The Station nightclub fire where the lives of 100 individuals
were lost. This investigation of The Station nightclub fire
was launched because of the potential we saw for making meaningful
recommendations with widespread applicability to this kind
of disaster nationwide.
Let me conclude my remarks by giving you our message for
the day. We need help from the people of Rhode Island.
We are trying to establish five things:
1. the conditions of the building prior to the fire,
2. an accurate picture of the fire spread through the building,
3. the response of the structure,
4. the performance of the installed fire protection systems,
and
5. the behavior of the occupants trying to escape.
In order to do this thoroughly and accurately, we need:
1. the details of the building contents,
2. the building geometry, including window and door openings,
and
3. any first-hand knowledge and observations of how the fire
spread within the building.
You, the news media, can be invaluable to us if you can
encourage people with this information to step forward and
help us.
Now I will turn the podium over to Dr. Bill Grosshandler.
He is the Chief of our Fire Research Division and the lead
investigator of The Station nightclub fire. He will provide
you a brief status report on the investigation and give you
further information on our data needs.
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