Fire Prevention Week Case Studies

In a similar vein to my Station Nightclub Fire topic, this is to discuss different fire emergencies that have shaped the fire protection industry as a whole. As Fire Prevention Week is coming up, I thought it’d be appropriate to recall other tragedies that have impacted building and fire codes.
For instance, this fire is the reason we have fire exits and fire escapes in larger buildings.

here’s why we have fire drills:

95 people (mostly grade schoolers) died in a school fire. that school had a host of fire violations even for the time, like the stairwells were open instead of fire rated enclosures, and the roof had multiple layers. you can only lay a new roof over an old one twice before you gotta completely tear it down because of the hazards it can create.

here’s why natural gas has that bad smell added:

almost 300 kids died in a school explosion in texas caused by natural gas leaking into the school undetected.

This fire was less than a mile from where my family lived. Beverly Hills Supper Club fire - Wikipedia
It was a combination of no firewalls, no exit signs, no fire alarms, and no sprinklers. The building was over twice its capacity. This led to legislative changes that would allow the fire department to cite code violation. There are also many conspiracies about the fire, one being that a disgruntled busboy started the fire.

Here’s a fire that I found in my CFAA “Introduction To The Fire Detection & Alarm Industry” textbook that helped shape the fire code here in Ontario. It happened at 2 Forest Laneway, North York, Ontario in 1995. The fire was in a 30 story highrise, and killed 6 people. During the fire, the emergency electrical systems failed (Fire alarm, emergency lighting). Because of this fire, a new training course for building supvervisory staff was created, and a new rule in the Ontario Fire Code [1.1.5.3(1)(a)] only allowed qualified persons to work on and test fire alarm systems, which was a big change considering before, there wasn’t any requirement. I remember my teacher telling me that when he started out as a fire tech in the 70s, he was hired with no experience whatsoever and was basically trained as he worked along.