Fire safety engineering is always an important line of defense against any structure fire, but knowing how and when these accidents occur can help you to prevent the worst from happening. To prevent fires from starting, you should take extra precautions when children are most at-risk.

Child Fires

The NFPA study revealed a few clear patterns in fires started by children. As children approach age 6, they become progressively more likely to start fires in the home. Almost half of firestarting activity occurs when kids are between age 3 and age 6. The number of accidents tapers off as children grow, and by age 18, the rate of incidence is reduced to 0%.

It is also important to note that 83% of home fires caused by kids were started by males; lighters are the devices igniting 50% of fires; and 40% of fires start in a bedroom. So, if you can prevent your son, aged 3 to 6, from possessing a lighter in the privacy of a bedroom, you are greatly reducing the chances of a house fire.

Reducing Fires Started by Children

Awareness is already helping. Efforts to reduce the hazard posed by child-started fires have been extremely successful in the last three decades, decreasing home conflagrations by 85%, from 43,800 in 1980 to only 6,600 in 2009. NFPA has developed several children and fire safety tips that include:

• Store matches and lighters out of children’s reach and sight, up high, preferably in a locked cabinet.
• Never use lighters or matches as a source of amusement for children; they may imitate you.
• If your child expresses curiosity about fire or has been playing with fire, calmly but firmly explain that matches and lighters are tools for adults only.
• Use only lighters designed with child-resistant features. Remember child-resistant does not mean child proof.

We are happy to spread the word and help reduce the occurrence of structure fires even further.

Photo courtesy of http://www.resilinc.com

No one was injured in a late night explosion and fire last month at a Pensacola chemical plant that is said to have caused $1 million in damages and is being investigated by the Florida State Fire Marshal. Crews took approximately 30 minutes to extinguish the fire.

The explosion occurred at Reichhold Chemicals Plant in one of the facility’s “tank farms”, a collection of holding tanks surrounded by a containment wall. According to the Pensacola location’s Plant Manager, Bill Torrence, the tank farm includes 11 tanks that average 3,000 gallons. He also indicated that nine of those tanks were empty. However, Torrence did not comment as to whether or not any of the chemicals from the filled tanks were involved in the fire. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) toxic release inventory, the plant managed over 980,000 pounds of hazardous chemicals in 2011, but reports indicate that the facility has not yet informed the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) which chemicals were near the fire.

According to its website, Reichhold Chemicals is, “one of the world’s largest suppliers of unsaturated polyester resins for composites and a leading supplier of coating resins for a wide variety of markets and applications.” Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, the company owns 20 manufacturing sites and five technology centers located around the world. The Pensacola facility employs approximately 50 people and operates 24 hours a day.

The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.

Fire Protection Headlines

Recently, one of Boeing’s new flagship airplanes was forced to make an emergency landing in western Japan. The pilot had smelled an unusual, burning smell in the cockpit and promptly landed. After passengers had safely disembarked down emergency slides, investigators discovered the source of the problem – the aircraft’s newly designed lithium-ion battery. The device was seeping electrolyte fluid when it was found. After a number of other crews complained of similar problems with their batteries, the Boeing 787 was grounded worldwide.

Michael Huerta, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was hesitant to let the 787s take flight again. Boeing engineering teams were still crafting proposals for fixing the problem a month later. According to the New York Times, the aerospace company claimed they knew the probable cause for battery failure and had drafted changes to: “…practically eliminate the odds of future incidents and to protect the plane and its passengers if a problem did arise.” Without absolute, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt proof, Mr. Huerta could not allow the airlines to carry passengers. Boeing was forced to rigorously test, examine, and troubleshoot the batteries for another month before the FAA would grant its approval.

If your building project has ever been placed on hold due to fire protection concerns, you can imagine Boeing’s frustration. They are losing money for every minute the 787’s stay grounded. Then, there is the FAA’s concern that more passengers could be placed in danger.

The National Fire Protection Association’s codes and rules are solutions to old problems – problems that jeopardized property or lives. You can prevent your development project from being grounded by hiring fire protection engineers to help with the design process. Or, you can get your project “grounded” and pay a premium before being cleared for takeoff.

Photo by Mike Hensdill/The Gaston Gazette

A massive fire at a historic Gastonia, North Carolina warehouse last month is estimated to have caused between $4 million to $6 million in damages and will likely disrupt operations for weeks. The fire took several hours to contain and was large enough to appear on Doppler radar images of the area. It destroyed about 25% of the approximate 170,000 square-foot facility known as Mutual Mill, a historic cotton mill. The facility is now owned by Wix Filters, one of Gaston County’s largest companies, and is being used as a storage facility for paper products and lightweight metals.

Fortunately, all three employees that were working that Saturday were able to evacuate the facility without injury. One employee, who was operating a fork lift, noticed the lights flickering right before the power had gone out. He then noticed the fire and rushed to get the other two employees out of the building.

About 80 firefighters from 16 units reported to the scene to help get the fire under control. According to Gastonia Fire Chief, Phil Welch, crews fought the flames from the inside for two hours and were then forced to fight the fire from the outside. “The dense stock in there made it really tough,” Welch said. He mentioned that the fire was fed by large, densely packed inventory of auto filters that were stacked on racks from the floor to the ceiling. According to Welch, the facility did have fire sprinklers, but they were outmatched by the inventory and storage configuration. The high stacks of commodities prevented the water from the sprinklers from reaching the fire. In addition to the contents of the facility, the historic mill, built in 1916, had hardwood floors that had been often coated in oil, which also added fuel to the fire.

Initial fire investigations believed the cause of the fire to be a blown transformer, however, that was later ruled out. Officials are still investigating the cause of the blaze.

Photo credit: CNN.com

Earlier this year, a nightclub in Brazil caught fire and caused over 240 fatalities. Most of the victims were college students who had come for a Federal University of Santa Maria event. The party featured a band and pyrotechnics show. When the members of the band lit flares as a planned part of the show, one of the flares reportedly ignited foam insulation on the ceiling.

There were no automatic fire suppression devices, such as sprinklers, to prevent the conflagration from spreading. USA Today reported that the lead singer was given a fire extinguisher, but the device was not functioning properly. There was apparently only one building exit, and patrons crowded to the front door. Many did not escape in time and died from asphyxiation. Sadly, this was not the first incident of its kind to occur.

Nightclub Structure Fire in Rhode Island

A similar incident occurred at The Station Nightclub in West Warwick one decade ago. Just as in Santa Maria, Brazil, the accident occurred as the result of a band performing a pyrotechnics display to accompany the music within a building not equipped with automatic sprinklers. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the display “…ignited foam insulation lining the walls and part of the ceiling of the platform being used as a stage.” Smoke started to pour out the front entryway only 71 seconds after ignition, and half a minute later, patrons were piled up in front of the doorway. One hundred people died. These two tragic events have taught fire protection engineers some important lessons about building design and materials.

The NIST performed a full-scale investigation of the West Warwick fire. The organization conducted numerous experiments and used Fire Dynamic Simulator and Smokeview to help guide their efforts. There is a video comparing experiments with and without fire suppression sprinkler systems available for view.

The experiments demonstrate clearly that a sprinkler system could have saved the majority of lives lost in Rhode Island. Although the investigation of the Santa Maria fire is still pending, it is likely that improved fire safety could have reduced the loss of life.

Photo Credit: www.wcnc.com

Earlier this month, one man was injured in what is believed to be a combustible dust explosion at the Bartlett Milling Company facility located in Statesville, North Carolina. The explosion occurred on a Sunday morning at approximately 8:30AM while two maintenance workers were in the basement of the building repairing a piece of equipment. One of the men turned the power back on, which apparently initiated an explosion resulting in the collapse of several exterior brick walls and damage to equipment. The incident occurred in the “cleaning house” of the facility, which is a building that houses the early stages of the milling process. The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation, however investigators suspect that combustible dust may have been the fuel that was ignited.

This is not the first time combustible dust was involved in an explosion for Bartlett Grain Co. In October 2011, a grain elevator exploded at their Atchison, Kansas facility, killing six people. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) later cited the company for several willful safety violations, as well as a $406,000 fine. Among the violations, OSHA claimed that Bartlett Grain allowed grain dust, which is nine times as explosive as coal dust, to accumulate. They also stated that the company used compressed air to remove dust without shutting down ignition sources first. U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis stated, “Bartlett Grain’s disregard for the law led to a catastrophic accident and heartbreaking tragedy for the workers who were injured or killed, their families, and the agricultural community.”

Thankfully, no one was killed in the explosion at the North Carolina facility. The condition of the injured man has yet to be released.

No injuries were reported in a construction-related fire at a Columbus, Ohio Ford Dealership earlier this month that took about an hour to extinguish and caused over $1 million in damages. Fire crews reported to the scene at Germain Ford, located at 7250 Sawmill Road, shortly after 11am and had the fire contained just before noon.

Initial investigations believe that the fire started on the roof of the facility during construction. While some workers were clearing out a vacant area of the building, other workers were using a power saw on the rubberized roof. Investigators first believed sparks from the saw either ignited insulation below. However, investigators later remarked that construction workers spilled gasoline while refueling the power saw on the rubberized roof.

Most of the fire damage was contained to the parts department. While the area itself was mostly vacant, it was still used to house valuable parts. There is also water and smoke damage elsewhere in the facility.

According to Bill Ehrgood of the Columbus Division of Fire, the fire had the potential to be much worse. “The garage portion has many cars in there with fuel in the fuel tanks that could have caused a second fire or even an explosion,” Ehrgood stated.

Owner of the dealership, Rick Germain, stated that the fire broke out in an area of the facility that was scheduled to be demolished soon, however, there were parts of the building that will probably now need to be taken down sooner than planned.

Photo Credit: Andy Bartee/KVUE.com

Harrington Group is sending our thoughts and prayers out to the small town of West, Texas today in the midst of a devastating tragedy. Last night, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas exploded. Initial estimates say that between five and 15 people are feared to be dead, with that number expected to rise. Hundreds have been injured and as many as 60 local homes and businesses have been destroyed.  The incident began at West Fertilizer Co. at approximately 6pm when volunteer fire fighters arrived to extinguish a fire at the industrial facility. At about 8pm, a massive explosion, thought to be fueled by ammonium nitrate, ripped through the plant. The explosion registered as a 2.1 earthquake and could be felt and heard for up to 45 miles away. The Dallas Morning News reported that, “a four-block area around the explosion’s epicenter was totally decimated, including an apartment building with 50 units that was destroyed.”

D.L. Wilson, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety toured some of the devastated parts of West, Texas and described it as a warzone, “just like Iraq, just like the Murrah building,” Wilson said. The Murrah building was the site of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh, where 168 people were killed after a truck filled with fertilizer exploded.

Physics professor at City College of New York, Michio Kaku, helped to explain the effects of an ammonia nitrate explosion on “CBS This Morning”. “Ammonia nitrate, released in an accident of this sort, can release the energy of several truckloads of dynamite, enough to set off a 2.1-magnitude earthquake in terms of intensity. The Oklahoma City bombing, for example, was based on one ton of fertilizer. Here, they were licensed to have over 25 tons. So you can imagine the scale, the enormity of what happened.”

The explosion sent a huge fireball into the sky and was followed by a massive mushroom-like cloud. One witness described her experience to WFAA, a CNN affiliate, “It, like, picked you up. It just took your breath away. And then it dropped you and it exploded everything around you…It was like a suction and then it just blew it all out. You could feel everything. You could feel it on your skin, your hair was being blown. It was crazy.”

Officials are unsure if this was an industrial accident or if this was a criminal act. Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton from the Waco Police Department stated, “We are not indicating that it is a crime, but we don’t know…What that means to us is that until we know that it is an industrial accident, we will work it as a crime scene. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is conducting the main investigation.”

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board will also deploy a large investigation team to the scene, led by CSB Western Regional Office Director Don Holstrom. The team is scheduled to arrive later this afternoon. The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating chemical accidents, like this incident.

We will continue to follow this tragic incident and post updates as we can. Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to the community of West, Texas.

The explosion occurred in an area in the facility where bolsters, or heavy central frames for the undercarriages of railroad cars, are manufactured and finished. Business Manager of Electrical Workers 309, Scott Hassall, could not comment specifically regarding the gas explosion, but did explain that the facility casts bolsters and once they are cool, finishes the product with grinding machines. Fire officials stated that gas somehow ignited near a grinding machine and caused a flash explosion, but no fire.

The cause of the gas explosion remains under investigation. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been dispatched to investigate the incident, which could take up to six months to complete. OSHA has conducted two prior inspections at American Steel for complaints that surfaced in 2011 and 2012, but did not provide details on those inspections. In addition, in 2005, two American Steel workers suffered burns after molten steel spilled from a tub inside the plant.

The American Steel facility in Granite employs approximately 900 people and is a division of Amsted Rail Co.

The worker was hospitalized from a catastrophic head injury, which occurred while he was using an acetylene torch to open the sealed drum. The drum contained a small amount of oil inside, which ignited and caused an explosion that shot the lid upward and struck the victim in the head. The victim underwent extensive brain surgery on the day of the explosion and could face more surgeries in the future.

Hot work, which includes acetylene torch cutting, is a leading cause of industrial fires, injuries, and fatalities. It is important to put safety first whenever performing any type of hot work. Here are a few personal safety tips to keep in mind before operating an acetylene torch. Acetylene welding is not difficult, but it has the potential to become extremely dangerous. Severe and fatal burns, as well as violent explosions can result from carelessness:

• The employer, or facility manager, should have a hot work management program in place. This program should be understood and strictly followed.

•  OSHA 1910, Subpart Q, standard entitled “Welding, Cutting, and Brazing”, should be understood and strictly followed.

•  OSHA 1910.252(a)(3)(i) restricts welding or cutting of containers, and states in part that hot work shall not be performed on used drums or other containers until they have been cleaned so thoroughly as to make absolutely certain that there are no flammable materials present that might produce flammable or toxic vapors.

• OSHA 1910, Subpart Q incorporates by reference National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 51B, “Standard for Fire Prevention During Welding, Cutting, and Other Hot Work”.  NFPA 51B requirements should be understood and strictly followed.

•  Ensure that a fire extinguisher in good working order is present and nearby and that a proper fire watch has been established.

•  Wear clean, oil, and grease free clothing.

• Wear protective clothing, such as eye protection, leather gloves with long cuffs, and heavy work boots. Falling droplets of metal will instantly burn through running shoes and will continue to burn through to the operator’s foot. Long pants and shirt sleeves should be worn, however, do not roll up pant legs, as the cuffs can possibly catch sparks. Leather aprons and flame proof jackets can also be used to protect the operator.

•  Do not weld inside enclosed spaces or in tanks were the only ventilation comes from above, as it could cause suffocation.

Almost all hot work accidents are preventable. If you need help identifying challenges in your facility, training your associates, or developing a comprehensive no-nonsense hot work policy, please fill out the form below to contact one of our qualified fire protection engineers today.