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Name: Instructor’s Name: Course: Date: Abandoned Cold Storage Warehouse: Multi-Firefighter Fatality Fire The Worcester building was constructed in 1906 when there existed no comprehensive building code with particular fire planning measures. In 1999 a fire broke out and led to the death of 6 firefighting personnel. This incident can be linked with several construction factors that had either direct or indirect influence on the strategy. Inadequate ventilation measures such that the building had no windows on its upper four floors. This led to suffocation of the fighters on the fifth floor. It also made it inaccessible to firefighters through ladders. Large clouds of smoke covered the rooms impairing vision due to lack of exit vents. It could also be a reason why it took long to notice the fire since smoke had to find its way up the elevator shaft to the roof top. Inadequate exits from the building since it only had three staircases, and only staircase 3 ran from basement to rooftop. The elevators were dysfunctional at the time. This led to congestion at the staircase reducing ease of access and later on resulted in the aerial approach to the fire. With most lifelines only 50ft long and SCBA air limited to 30 minutes firefighters might have suffocated trying to exit. Reduced fire resistant interior finishing on the walls acted as a catalyst to the fire. The external walls were covered with up to 18 inches of tar, expanded polystyrene, polyurethane and glass boards. Interior partitions were made of corkboard. These materials have an enormous fuel load and therefore acted as a catalyst, and this made the fire spread uncontrollably. The firefighters
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