And for those younger readers of The Secret List, take a
look at the below links of the infamous 2003 Station Nightclub Fire,
West Warwick, RI where 100 people were killed and 230 were hurt under multiple
similar circumstances. Much has changed in Rhode Island after that fire but
little elsewhere both within and outside of North America.
BELOW IS VIDEO and a technical recreation
of the fire:
iPhones cool? Sure. iPads? Yep. iStairs? Not cool. Not at
all.
Whats the latest in building construction to challenge
us? I-Stairs. The I-Stairs have basically no fire
resistance requirements. Well...that brings new meaning to the term
"hold the basement at the stairs"...you aren't going to hold anything
with this latest treat. We reached out to Steve "Water On The
Fire" Kerber and he reminded us that until Jan 2012 there was no
requirement to protect engineered floor systems - but UL testing and research
data combined with IAFF’s (Sean DeCranes) code negotiating got a ½ inch sheet
of gypsum board required.
Keep in mind this is only for new construction and FFF
(Firefighters Fighting for Firefighters) Jim Dalton and Sean
Decrane are back at the code table trying to get all floor systems
protected because wood burns and today's solid wood is not the same as it was
50 years ago. That does not include stairs so the experts we talked
to are guessing we may see the same evolution. We will now
have more firefighters falling through stairs and wondering why.The why is because the home builder saved 27 dollars in cost by
reducing the labor required to build a stair section not understanding or
caring about its fire performance.
Unfortunately we are unable to keep up with the so
called "efficiencies" of the home building industry, so far.
So do we
either sprinkler houses ...or cool'm down and
gain control with water from wherever we can to get water on the
fire-before going in?The veteran firefighting experts using science and fact
say there are few options with the (not so) "new" construction. Damn.
