A national fire prevention group, prompted by the many factors that made
The Station fire such a disaster, is considering national model fire
code changes that would call for automatic sprinklers in every nightclub
regardless of size.
Existing clubs would be required to install sprinklers, too.
Also, the National Fire Protection Association is considering proposals
to require building owners to inspect their exits every day they're open
to the public and to improve access to fire extinguishers.
The proposed code changes were made public by the Quincy, Mass.-based
association yesterday. It is accepting public comments until June 5.
Final approval will be voted on in July.
The association is a nonprofit group of 75,000 fire experts from around
the world that studies fires and drafts model codes that many states and
communities adopt as their own.
Last month, the NFPA's Technical Committee on Places of Assembly heard
several hours of testimony about The Station fire and immediately
approved proposed code changes that would require sprinklers for clubs
accommodating 300 or more people, as well as training of staff members
and safety evaluations of buildings.
The code changes announced yesterday were requested by the International
Fire Marshals Association and by Michael J. Laderoute, a code consultant
for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The measure requiring sprinklers in every club or bar, regardless of
size or age, goes beyond the changes embraced by the NFPA last month and
the recommendations made last week in Rhode Island by the state's Fire
Safety Code Board of Appeal & Review.
But several of the state board recommendations call for adopting NFPA's
latest codes. So if the NFPA does adopt all the code changes now before
it, they could eventually became law in Rhode Island.
"The question really becomes what the General Assembly chooses to do,"
said Thomas Coffey, executive director of the state Fire Safety Code
Board of Appeal & Review.
A special legislative commission is studying the fire that took 99 lives
and plans to propose legislation during this session of the General
Assembly. Coffey said if the General Assembly adopts the NFPA codes and
gives his board the power to make amendments, then it could work through
the summer and have new codes in place by fall.
"I'm very optismitic that will happen," Coffey said.
The NFPA usually spends years considering changes in its fire codes. But
The Station fire, coming just days after the stampede in a Chicago
nightclub that killed 21 people, prompted calls for the association to
move quickly to make clubs and bars safer.
"This is an unusual situation," said Casey C. Grant, assistant chief
engineer for the NFPA. "The full process usually takes two years to work
through."
Emergency changes of NFPA codes are called "temporary interim
amendments."
To win acceptance, the proposed changes must qualify as emergencies,
Grant said. "The argument is clearly here -- there's been these two big
incidents. But there's also a concern when you try to push things too
fast."
Supporters of mandatory sprinklers argued that the fire-suppression
systems will make up for many other code violations and safety problems
that crop up in clubs.
Ronald Farr, of the International Fire Marshals Association, argued for
more safety measures for clubs because "these occupancies are constantly
changing configurations, are often overcrowded, hang combustible
materials from walls and ceilings and the occupants are frequently
impaired."
"Recent incidents have further proven that these occupancies need to be
protected by sprinkler systems to ensure the safety of the occupants
when things go wrong," said Farr. "These occupancies also are
enforcement problems with changes taking place sometimes daily."
In arguing for more fire extinguishers, Laderoute submitted a series of
recent television news stories showing how the speedy use of fire
extinuishers saved buildings and lives.
In February, someone extinguished a dormitory fire at St. Francis
University in Pennsylvania before firefighters arrived. A school
building in Scranton was saved by a 17-year-old student wielding an
extinguisher. And in Alabama, a package delivery driver used a fire
extinguisher to save two people trapped in a burning building.
"It is our belief that fire extinguishers could have made a difference
in the final result of the stated disasters," said Laderoute.
The association's Standards Council, which has the authority to adopt or
reject code changes, meets July 16 and 17 in Portland, Ore.
"The Standards Council functions like a Supreme Court for codes and
standards for us," Grant said. "Usually changes are singular. But in
this case, they came in a block and they're all related to these two
incidents."
If the Standards Council doesn't accept the code changes, the only
appeal is to the NFPA's board of directors, Grant said.
