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Escape from a burning building
I tackle the issue (starting on 23 Feb 03) of why it is not easier to escape from a burning building, following two instances in the past several weeks in which many people were killed in trying to escape from crowded nightclubs, in a Rhode Island nightclub and in a Chicago club.
I will summarize some key aspects of these events before commenting at greater length and citing several studies, because they illustrate several important aspects of safety in such situations:
___ 1. Public knowledge of some basic survival techniques appears to be grossly inadequate.
___ 2. People do not take enough responsibility for knowing, for example, where the exits are.
___ 3. Some safety measures seem to be inadequate.
In the club in Rhode Island, a rock group had just started playing on a raised stage.Within fifteen seconds of having set off a pyrotechnic display -- which had all the appearance of blowtorches belching flames almost up to the level of the rather low false ceiling (itself a fire hazard) -- what first became engulfed in flames was acoustic foam insulation affixed to the walls surounding the stage using a common aerosol glue (a fire accelerant)* just a short distance from the "blowtorches'. [I had previously wrongly stated that the material was '(highly flammable) cardboard egg cartons', based on TV interviews on the day of the fire.]
* Ref.: Club
Workers Say Soundproofing Insulation Was Donated:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/27/national/nationalspecial2/27SOUN.html?th New
York Times, 27 Feb 03.
In the meantime, the band played on, oblivious to the flames, as was almost all of the audience. Within a very few seconds, most of that back wall was in flames, sending thick, black smoke billowing upwards, then forwards toward the audience. There were apparently about 290 people in the room. The great majority of the 96 bodies were found near to, or headed toward, the main entrance at the back, although there were at least three other exits, all in working order.
Although the main power was cut off within about the first minute, accounts differ as to whether exit signs and emergency lighting were in operation. The Fire Chief said that they were in operation. It would probably make little difference whether they were or not, as the whole room would have been filled with black smoke within the first minute. The building was entirely engulfed in flames within three minutes. One survivor spoke of not being able to see anything, even on hands and knees. Although he had set out toward the back, he was trampled on, lost his bearings, and just barely managed to reach the entrance by crawling along a wall to maintain his bearings.
The building did not have a sprinkler system, although it was an old building, of wood construction. Ironically, laws in that area exempt such buildings ('Grandfather' provision), whereas new buildings require sprinklers.
That same pattern of clustering of bodies occurred in the case of the Chicago club, although in that case, the stampede was provoked not by fire, but by the smell of Mace apparently sprayed by a security guard to halt a fight between two people. In this case, there were 1,500 people dancing in a single room in which there was only one working exit. 21 died. I estimate that, if that room had been on fire, at least 500 people would have died, based on the following study: Emergency exits hard to find.
Let us proceed in more detail, partly on the basis of the incidents cited above, and on other findings.
1. Deficiency in public knowledge
Public knowledge of some basic survival techniques appears to be grossly inadequate. For example, the vast majority of people try to leave by way of the exit by which they entered, thus creating a crowding of people, and drastically reducing their chances of survival.
2. Lack of personal responsibility
People do not take enough responsibility for knowing, when they first enter a concert hall, for example, where the exits are. As studies have shown, by the time an emergency does happen, it is too late for the vast majority of occupants to even find out where the exits are. Am I blaming the victims, to a large extent? I certainly am! Just as much as I blame victims of car crashes for some of their injuries when they have not taken the very obvious precaution of wearing seat and shoulder belts. In the year 2001, North Dakota’s observed rate of seat belt use was 57.9 percent; in 2002, it was 63.4 %. Of the people killed on North Dakota roadways in 2002, three out of four were not wearing seat belts. The state is still below the national average of 75 % usage. Ref.: SafeCommunities.org: http://www.safecommunities.org/news/article_2002_11_5_4035.php.
3. Some safety measures seem to be inadequate
3.1 Exit lights are of inconsistent or wrong (red) color
Many (but not all) exit lights
in the USA and Canada are colored red, whereas green would make for better
visibility and psychological comprehension, as related to the
commonly accepted meanings of the colors red and green in most
other contexts. I have expanded on this issue, and
argued that green makes more sense, at the following:
Does a red light mean
"Stop" or does it mean "Go"?
The answer (unfortunately) is that red sometimes signifies 'Stop', and sometimes signifies 'Go'. Another way to think of this question is to consider that a traffic light is a form of exit sign, determining whether or not we should exit from a street into an intersection. We have (almost) universally chosen red to indicate 'No exit into the intersection', and green to indicate 'Proceed (with caution)'. Additional aspects of this question, such as visibility as a function of color, are given at Visibility of Exit Signs.
3.2 Exit lights are usually situated high up near the ceiling
Exit lights, situated as they are high up near the ceiling, are rendered useless because, with even a low level of smoke, they are not visible. There also should be exit lights near floor level. See Sign Placement: High vs. Low.
Based upon a wide-ranging series of evacuation trials which it conducted, The Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (SINTEF) concluded that traditional 'EXIT' signs are not effective in evacuating people from fires. Every third person was unable to find an emergency exit.
Ref. Emergency exits hard to find and Fire study findings.
SINTEF found that the best type of marking consisted of illuminated strips along the floor. With the aid of such strips, virtually all (95%) of the human test subjects found the emergency exit.
SINTEF found that Norwegian building regulation requirements for fire-evacuation systems are not appropriate for fires that produce smoke, only for power cuts. Building regulations require that exit signs in hotels must be visible at a distance of 30 m. Even a slight build-up of smoke makes it impossible to see signs at such a distance.
3.3 Audio signaling directing people toward exits should also be provided, and would be much more effective.
See Directional sound evacuation.
4. Some simple precautions which individuals could take
4.1 Stay away from large, boisterous crowds, especially in confined areas
My offer of this advice will
not endear me to the following organization, which offers advice
on crowd safety at music events:
Crowd Management Strategies.
4.2 If you are in a large crowd which becomes unruly (such as a rock concert), leave it as soon as possible
If you are in a large crowd, such as at a football game, and people start shoving you -- even very gently -- you are already in potentially serious danger. Try to slide sideways out from the crowd, while still moving along with it while doing so. Such crowds too often end up crushing people to death against barriers, or even at open exits where so many people are scrambling to leave that they pile up and block the exit. They are crushed so severely that they cannot expand their lungs to breath, or are trampled to death. Instead, find an exit toward which few, if any people are headed, and walk or crawl out to safety.
If you wish to watch a football game, watch it on TV. The view and commentary are much better. At the real game you will miss all of the important plays because everyone stands up at those times, thus blocking the view of those behind them. Besides, TV offers replays -- twice, in close-up and in slow motion!
Another way to think of this factor is to realize that, in many such actual cases, and in staged events for study, about 70% or more of the people are doing the wrong thing, namely, following -- or being pushed forward by -- a crowd, seeking the same doorway from which they entered. That crowd is usually headed toward disaster. Do not 'go with the crowd' -- especially if most of it is half-drunk!
4.3 Know the location of alternative exits
A major study showed that only 8% of people noticed signs when they were fleeing from a fire. Ref. Emergency exits hard to find.
R.I. Nightclub Fire Kills 96 (washingtonpost.com):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45142-2003Feb21.html
Band's Pyrotechnics Ignite Wood Structure; About 170 Injured
By Michael Powell
and Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writers Feb 22,
2003
WEST WARWICK, R.I., Feb. 21 -- At least 96 people burned to death here in a matter of minutes Thursday night as a roaring fire sparked by a heavy metal rock band's pyrotechnic show consumed an old, wood-frame nightclub in one of the worst such tragedies in the nation's history.
Firefighters and rescue workers took 170 people to the hospital. Twenty-five people remained in critical condition in hospitals in Providence, R.I., and Boston tonight.
Many never made it out -- firefighters found 25 bodies piled just inside the main entrance -- and others got out only after they had become human balls of fire. . . .
Great White, a heavy metal band, had just launched into its first clanging chords when two pyrotechnic wheels began to spin on stage. Within 15 seconds, flames raced across the low-ceilinged club, black smoke billowed, and hundreds of panicked fans began to claw their way toward exit doors. . . .
The nightclub apparently had the required number of fire extinguishers, fire officials said. The building did not have water sprinklers. . . .
The fire at the Station was the fourth-worst nightclub fire in the nation's history, and it recalled the 21 who died in a stampede at a Chicago club last week, and the 87 who perished at the Happy Land Social Club fire in the Bronx, N.Y., in 1990. . . .
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
21 Killed in Panic to
Exit Chicago Club (washingtonpost.com):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22631-2003Feb17.html
Mace May Have Led to Stampede
By Robert E. Pierre
Washington Post Staff Writer Feb 18,
2003
CHICAGO, Feb. 17 -- . . . 21 people died in a mangle of bodies as an overflow crowd struggled to escape a nightclub after pepper spray, or Mace, apparently was used to break up a fight.
As many as 1,500 people were at the upstairs E2 nightclub, and . . . emergency personnel assisted others who had piled up at the club's one double door. Firefighters found four people lying inside a locked kitchen door in cardiac arrest. Others at the front door apparently suffocated or were crushed.
. . . At least 55 were injured, and some were hospitalized. . . .
An investigation, with potential criminal penalties, has begun, and authorities said today that several violations of the city's fire code -- including locked or blocked exits -- were immediately evident. In addition, the club was operating in violation of a court order issued in July for building code violations . . .
"People were stacking on top of each other, screaming and gagging, I guess from the pepper spray. The door got blocked because there were too many people stacked up against it."
It was reminiscent of several other incidents in which concert or partygoers were trampled. In 1979, 11 people were killed in a crush to get into a concert by the Who in Cincinnati. Eight suffocated in pileup of people trying to get into City College of New York gymnasium for charity basketball game played by rappers in December 1991. And there have been scores of incidents in which people have been trampled to death at soccer matches and religious festivals. . . .
© 200 The Washington Post Company
Inside Edition - Crushed in a Crowd: http://www.insideedition.com/investigative/crwd-crush.htm What should you know to protect yourself? Airdate: Feb 17, 2003. In one of the worst crowd crushing incidents in the United States, 21 were crushed to death in a Chicago night club on Feb 16. . . . a panic broke out after someone pepper-sprayed or maced two club-goers to break up a fight. This caused a stampede to the exits and the resulting crowd crush tragedy. Unfortunately these incidents are all too common . . .
Crowd Management Strategies - crowdsafe for rock, rap,
rave, public safety and crowd control:
http://www.crowdsafe.com/ is the first website dedicated
to improving crowd safety at music events worldwide.
Managing crowds safely: http://www.allriskmgmt.co.uk/hse/entertain/crowds.htm
In January 1991 RM Consultants (RMC) was commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to study crowd behaviour, the different management and control methods currently in use, and the effect of crowd size, flows and venue design on the potential for overcrowding.
Gemini Magazine, December 1993: http://www.ntnu.no/gemini/1993-dec/38.html
By Anne Berit Bjørken Photo: Jens Søraa
Every third person was unable to find the emergency exit.
Traditional "EXIT" signs are not effective in evacuating people from fires; this was one of the results of a wide-ranging series of evacuation trials that SINTEF has carried out.
The best type of marking consisted of illuminated strips along the floor. With the aid of such strips, virtually all (95%) of the human guinea pigs found the emergency exit.
The evacuation trials were one result of the debate that took place following the fire on board the ferry Scandinavian Star in 1990, in which 158 people died. It was claimed that it was impossible to see the signs in the corridors when these were full of smoke. Some people suggested that the solution would have been to make the lighting in the signs brighter.
"More detailed studies revealed that there was no convincing documentation that showed how emergency exits ought to be marked. This led to the Research Council of Norway´s programme for fires, explosions and major disasters taking the initiative for a study that would test a number of different marking methods. That was the basis of this programme," says Truls Paulsen, a researcher at SINTEF Safety and Reliability.
Gemini Magazine, December 1993: http://www.ntnu.no/gemini/1993-dec/39a.html
Visibility of Exit Signs: http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/practice/lig6_E.html by M.J. Ouellette, a senior technical officer in the Building Performance Laboratory of the Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council of Canada.
Smoke seriously reduces sign visibility. It reduces brightness, contrast and clarity or distinctness of individual characters and symbols . . .
In smoke, exit signs should be as bright as possible. . . .
In normal conditions, signs should neither be so bright that they cause visual discomfort nor should they clash with the architectural design. In smoke, however, they should be as bright as possible if they are to be visible. Bi-functional signs are now available which meet both constraints. They brighten and optionally flash upon a signal from the building's alarm system or from a built-in smoke detector. . . .
Wherever possible, emergency luminaires should not be placed along lines of sight to exit signs. We found that ambient illumination greatly reduces sign visibility in smoke. The effect is similar to the scattering of high-beam automobile headlights in fog. . . .
Our research has shown that signs with opaque backgrounds are slightly more visible in smoke than signs with transilluminated backgrounds . . .
According to our research, sign colour is not a major factor for visibility. Australia and many European countries have adopted green. Other countries accept different colours as long as the colour scheme is consistent within a building. Red and green are commonly found in the United States. In Canada, red is almost universal.
The human eye is most sensitive to the yellow-green region of the spectrum. Therefore, it takes less energy to produce green light than it does to produce red light of the same brightness. But this alone does not justify selecting green signs. What we see depends not only on the spectral efficiency of the eye but also the spectral energy of the light source and the spectral properties of all the media between the source and the eye. Incandescent lamps, the most common exit sign illuminants, produce much more red energy than they do green. This tends to compensate for the limitations of the human eye in the red end of the spectrum. . . .
We found no significant overall effects of colour [on visibility] . . .
Some believe that North Americans overuse red in signage and that people might dismiss red signs as part of the visual clutter of urban spaces. Others argue that we are more likely to notice red exit signs because that is what we are conditioned to see. Yet others disagree, saying we might interpret red to mean danger ("stop") rather than the permission ("go") that we usually associate with green. . . .
Text on exit signs should be as large as possible and the spacing between the characters should be reasonably wide. Many codes specify minimum letter height. Few discuss spacing between characters. Consequently, there exist signs with narrow characters crammed into the smallest space possible.
These signs might suffice for people with normal vision when viewed from a short distance in conditions of clear air. But . . . we cannot assume that this kind of sign will be suitable for older people and those with visual impairments. . . .
Some say that pictograms might offer a more reliable alternative to text, especially to those who speak a foreign language. B.L. Collins and N.D. Lerner, of the U.S. National Institute of Science and Technology, studied a wide range of pictograms and observed that none is completely immune to misinterpretation . . .
Some argue that signs should be placed low on walls because the smoke density is lowest at floor level during the early stages of fire. As a bonus, low signs might be less affected by overhead luminaires which tend to obscure the signs when smoke is present.
F.R.S. Clark warns, however, that smoke density is not always lowest near the floor. He explains that as fire gases cool, smoke sinks and eventually fills the space. He also reports that smoke can be forced evenly through rooms by forced ventilation systems and that it can be pushed downwards by the action of water sprinklers. In these cases, low signs may offer little advantage. In addition, they might suffer from increased risk of wear and tear as well as blockage by people and movable objects at floor level.
While there is merit to low signs, they are usually recommended as supplements rather than alternatives to conventionally placed overhead ones. Supplemental low signs are now required in some jurisdictions, such as California. . . .
Code Fusion - Building
Codes and the International Code Council:
http://www.b4ubuild.com/special/articles/codefusion.shtml
by Andrew N. Siegel - December 1998
In an effort to improve the way building code's impact on construction, an amalgam of building code officials and administrators announced four years ago this month (December 1994), the establishment of the International Code Council . . . dedicated to developing a single set of comprehensive and coordinated national building codes by the end of the year 2000.
The ICC founders . . . created the ICC in response to "technical disparities among the three sets of model codes now in use in the US." The lack of a uniform building code can make it difficult for building industry professionals to design, construct, or interpret their work from place to place.
. . . government officials have frequently adopted different sets of codes from one county to the next. . . .
in many places there is a complex web of codes promoting inefficiency, confusion, frustration, and non-compliance.
. . . One of the earliest requirements regarding regulation of structures dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, the Code of Hammurabi (1800 BC). Section 229 from what many believe was the first known building code says, "If a builder has built a house for a man and his work is not strong, and if the house he has built falls in and kills the householder, that builder shall be slain." . . .
Here is an example of the problem the ICC will try to remedy. In order to get people out of a burning building, the fire code requires the activation of illuminated exit signs in the event of a fire alarm. No one argues the code concept because it makes perfect sense. At this point, however, code idiocy strikes with a vengeance.
It seems code gnomes have a dispute over what color the exit signs should be. . . . In some places it's a green sign, in others it's red.
. . . Manufacturers of exit signs must allow for the color differences and, therefore, have a problem. Some choose to sell their products packaged with both colors. That is a wasteful and expensive solution . . .
The Need: http://www.dse-web.fsnet.co.uk/need.htm
Research on survivors of evacuation incidents has shown that finding the nearest available exit is the most important determinant of survival. It is therefore essential that individuals be guided to available exit routes in the least possible time. To achieve this and ensure balanced exit usage individuals must be given the most effective sensory information to identify and find their optimal exits.
You can e-mail me at waynerp@sympatico.ca