Overview
Those famous words are heard everyday in a multitude of municipalities across the country. But, as we have seen again and again,“up to code” and “grandfathered” can be the equivalent of a “legal fire trap.” The fire tragedy in the West Warwick, R.I., night club will echo in our memory for a while, along with the Chicago Epitome nightclub stampede. But the 99 deaths in the R.I. fire and the 21 deaths in the Chicago incident should not go in vain. When the fire and building safety experts in your municipality – including your fire commissioner, fire chief, fire marshal, fire inspector – and building department personnel, advise you that fire code upgrades need to be adopted or enforced, you need to take their advice very seriously.
As a former fire marshal for the Orland Fire District, past president Fire District, past president of the Illinois Fire Inspectors Association and current director of the Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board, I urge you to support your fire and building officials as they seek to upgrade the codes. As importantly, they need your support when they enforce fire features in any occupancy that at least meet the model code minimum requirements.
Reflecting on the Chicago Epitome incident, appropriate panic hardware was installed on some exit doors. Unfortunately, a slide boltwas installed above the doors which resulted in trapped occupants when engaged. Even if we adopt good fire and building codes, interference with the enforcement process results in a “paper tiger” fire code. The dramatic video footage from the West Warwick nightclub fire showed the speed and devastation of flashover. The club was engulfed in flames within three minutes after the on-stage pyrotechnics display spread to the adjacent sound-deadening foam. The club had been inspected just two months prior to the February 20th tragedy.
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