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What Are YOU Doing to Prevent Another Station Nightclub Tragedy?
There's been a lot of stuff written and said about the Station Nighclub fire and tragedy in which saw the loss of 100 lives and a further 200 injured.
I'm not here to call into question the response of the emergency services to this event.
But we MUST use events like this and 9/11 and Worcester and others to learn from.
What can we do better?
What worked?
What didn't?
What needs to change?
How many of us can actually stand up with our hand on our hearts and say we do enough to PREVENT incidents from occurring?
When undertaking Emergency Management, we must understand that there is more to emergency management than just response- however many departments don't see the benefits. I've even had discussions with some who think that mitigation takes away their job!
Emergency Management should centre around “The Comprehensive Approach”, as defined in the Australian Emergency Manual #1- Concepts and Principles, published by Emergency Management Australia.
The Comprehensive Approach is about encompassing all hazards and in recognising that dealing with the risks to community safety, which such hazards create, requires a range of prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery (PPRR) programs and other risk management treatments.
Emergency Management is about-
prevention/mitigation activities, which seek to eliminate or reduce the impact of hazards themselves
and/or to reduce the susceptibility and increase the resilience of the community;
preparedness activities, which establish arrangements and plans and provide education and information
to prepare the community to deal effectively with such emergencies and incidents as may eventuate;
response activities, which activate preparedness arrangements and plans to put in place effective
measures to deal with emergencies and incidents; and
recovery activities, which assist a community affected by an emergency or incident in reconstruction
of the physical infrastructure and restoration of emotional, social, economic and physical well-being.
That's a lot to take in, but it's vital that we understand it.
If we take Rhode Island as an example, (And please, please note- I'm not critical of what they did and how they responded. I simply want to use it as an example of things we can do and contributing factors. In fact Rhode Island recently implemented some new legislation to address many safety issues- go to http://www.fsc.ri.gov/statutes/ ), let's consider a few things-
A packed nighclub (Some have even suggested, over crowded)
Alcahol being served.
A live band.
A an even livelier crowd.
Illegal pyrotechnics in use.
The pyrotechnics ignited the structure.
In the panic of the evacuation, 100 people were killed and over 200 injured. Many in the emergency exits.
Now take this event and think about what's in your area. Do you have pubs/bars and nighclubs with live music or any other form of entertainment?
Is alcahol served?
Are drugs likely to be present?
I'm certain every single department the worl over could answer yes to these few questions.
Now, what have you (Your department) done in preperation for these events that occur on a regular basis?
Are building inspections done, and up to date?
Have you ever done walk throughs on non-event days? (I beleive that walk throughs are a fantastic chance to see a building in "near perfect" conditions and to then consider all the what-ifs that could occur.)
Are the essential services being serviced and in working condition? These things take a small incident such as a fire and stop it before it becomes a major event- Bradford in the 80's is a good example (or bad!) a small fire that escalated in under 2 minutes and engulfed a whole soccer grandstand, killing multiple people.
Is your department involved in the pre-planning for events?
If not, why not?
We need to be proactive. We need to get out there and be aware of what's going on in the community.
I teach event safety and assist organisations with event planning as a full time job and my wife hates going out with me- I spend the first 15 minutes looking around. Looking for the exits. Looking for fire extinguishers. Looking for likely issues that may hinder us getting out or the ermgency services getting in to assist. looking for likely hazards that may cause an incident to occur.
Do you? Does your department?
Have a look through your response vehicles- do you have the right equipment to respond to the scenarios likely to be encountered? Do you and your members have the correct training? Evacuation of events are very different to a standard workplace that we commonly encounter.
Other considerations include the changing dynamics of us. In a recent travelling roadshow here in Australia, Jake Paulls spoke about the changing demographics and lifestyles of the people today versus a number years ago when he and others lead the world in studying crowd dynamics and building evacuations.
We're getting bigger, or being blunt- fatter.
We don't move as fast. When we do move, we sway side to side.
The problem this now creates is that emergency exits such as stairwells are not made for wider people and not for larger people swaying side to side as they exit. This in turn slows the evacuation down.
9/11 highlighted issues with firefighters trying to get up the emergency exit stair wells, carrying equipment with them as they go. Again stairwells were originally designed to evacuate people out, but out of necesseity, we've had to use them to access the incident. Again this creates burdens of over crowded exit points.
Again, as is becoming commonpalce in my rants- we need to be proactive. We need to pre-plan. We need to train for these events.
Blame can be put on the band. Blame can be put on the owner/operators of the venue. Blame can be put on the regulators.
We all have a part to play....
They have occurred and will continue to occur- will the next one be in your response area?
Here's a few links of interest-
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/mar_3_rifindings.htm
http://www.stationfirememorialfoundation.org/
http://eil.stanford.edu/egress/
http://www.fpemag.com/articles/article.asp?issue_id=37&i=245
Add a Comment
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Comment by Engineco913 on May 4, 2008 at 10:43pm
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I do understand your point, and I agree with you. Unfortunately we live in a very Reactive society, and taking proactive measurements is only good for the short "memory span" of the tradgety that causes the changes, and than it is too much work and money so the complaints come to the review boards, blanket variances are issued and before long we are back on square 1 again.
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Comment by lutan1 on May 4, 2008 at 9:06pm
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Yes- yes I've watched the video. Numerous times. I know it's real. It's just like Bradford and many, many others that are just as real for myself, you and many many others.
I raise this blog to generate some food for thought on things that we (the first responders can do) to better prepare ourselves knowing that codes, laws, inspections, etc will NEVER stop these tragedies from occurring.
If you go back through my original message, I talk about the PPRR process- have a think about other venues in our reponse area (Lets move away from this particular fire)-
Prevention- this is about the codes, laws, inspections, etc (How do we prevent an incident from occurring)
Preparedness- this is about walk throughs, being familiar with the site, training, being aware of the hazards likely to be encountered (Knowing that we can't always prevent these events from occurring, how do we prepare for them)
Response- is about how we put it all into action. What do we do when we repsond, who responds, who does what, etc (How do we respond to the event?)
Recovery- how do we rebuild the community, our own department, what have we learnt, what can we do better, etc. (How do we recover and normalize?)
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I assume you watched the video of the fire I included? After you watched it, does it make it much more real? Perhaps the lawmakers who hastily make decisions to cut funding, and make the codes more lax should be made to view this footage so they too can relive the horror.
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I find this topic interesting. First let me say that our egress requirements need revisiting.
This is exactly what Jake Pauls recently said. The initial information is outdated and more importantly- it's out of context.
The testing information for exits and egress that Fire Protection Engineers use, is based on a certain size exit point, using a certain size occupant (which has dramatically changed as we get bigger), doesn't inlcude the effects of alcohol or drugs and so on. It's simply not in context....
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Comment by Mike W. on May 4, 2008 at 7:37pm
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I find this topic interesting. First let me say that our egress requirements need revisiting. George Santayan said it best when he said, "Those who fail to heed the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Point of reference: Iroquois Theater fire in 1903 - 602 dead, Cocoanu Grove fire in 1943 - 492 dead, Happyland Social Club fire - 87Our fire codes stad dead, and the Station Nightclub fire. Flammable interior finishes, locked or obstructed exits, overcrowding, and lack of any adequate fire protection. Our fire codes are first re-active, become pro-active, we apply them retro-active and finally, through complacency, money and political interefence, they become in-active. It is only going to get worse.
In the 1960's, automobiles didn't have seat belts and tens of thousands of people died. Seat belts became law and deaths declined but didn't stop. Dashboards and steering columns became padded and still people died, then came child car seats, shoulder straps, crumple zones and air bags. Things have gotten better. People are still dying but we keep trying. When air bags came out it was added to the arsenal of death reducing tools. We didn't stop requiring seat belts or car seats.
When it comes to fire safety, we sacrifice one method of fir protection instead of adding it to the arsenal of fire safety. First, it was compartmentation, and people still died. Smoke detectors came around and we were safer but fires became hotter and faster and smoke detectors became less relevent. We try to push fire sprinklers and we are told that in order to get them we have to sacrifice compartmentation and settle for light weight construction methods. Over the years, fire deaths have decreased, but each year it seems we are giving up something to get something else and not adding another tool to fire safety.
The fire sprinkler industry does a good job of pointing out that - "There has never been a multiple death fire in a building with a properly designed, installed and maintained sprinkler system." What they are not saying is just how many sprinkler systems are properly designed, installed and maintained.
Maybe, if we quit playing games with words, we can have more meaningful safety. Why can't people expect good compartmentation, a sprinkler system, smoke detection and alarms, adequate exits facilities, and common sense fire safety attitudes every where that they work, live, shop and play.
You are right Lutan, while the fires of outrage are hot, politicians become the models of indignation. They demand action and enact laws. They know that people have short memories and as the embers cool and the publicity dies, they can get back to politics as usual. The fire service waits for the next conflagration and the whole cycle repeats itself again.
As the fire service fights for it's share of tax dollars, fire prevention becomes the sacrificial lamb to maintain fire service staffing levels. Unlike the autos of the 1960s, our safety and the safety of our citizens is diminishing and and we will continue to die. The only thing that we can do is keep trying. We can continue to win battles but will never win the war.
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The code enforcement does certainly help to prevent the chances of these tragic events (And I apolagise if I hit a nerve writing this- I only use this fire as an example) but as first responders we need to be as prepared as possible.
That's where our walk throughs and discussions with venue managers can highlight many issues and also play a part in preventing them.
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I find this story more on personal level than some people do. I knew someone who died in the fire, and 3 whom were injured. The Station Nightclub was only about 25 minutes from my door, and I travel past this site quite a bit. I posted something about this in a former blog with only a few responses. If you find the story chilling, you will find this video much much much more chilling.
http://www.firefighternation.com/profiles/blog/show?id=889755%3ABlogPost%3A396573
The pyrotechnics caught not the structure on fire, but the soundproofing on fire that was surrounding the stage. (polyethylene foam) The fire consumed the building in less than 3 minutes. (again watch the video)
Make sure your sound is on.
In an effort to prevent further occurances like this, Rhode Island passed the Comprehensive Fire Safety Act in 2001. This abolished ALL grandfather laws, and made people face the music when it came to fire codes. (reactive society) This was a great victory for firefighters because more sprinkler systems were put into businesses, fire alarm systems installed and general codes were more strict per occupancy.
Now here we are in 2008 and 2001 is a long lost memory to law makers who in the last year have created loop holes and hurdles for code enforcement to jump. The codes are back to being lax again, and it is the voters short memories combined with a politicians even shorter memory to blame. It is a shame but it appears as though the 100 people who died that day, did so in vain. They have no voice to speak out in anger when the codes become more lax.
The Band Manager Daniel Biechele (Great White)is in prison for 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. He lit the pyrotechnics.
The buildings owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian faced trial, and only one of them is in prison, the other walks free with the burden of memories after his brother begged the judge to allow him to serve boths sentences. (and the judge AGREED!!)
To prevent these tragic events from happening in the past it take strict code enforcement, and repeated inspections to ensure that the occupancy hasn't changed, and overcrowding doesn't happen.
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