This Month in Fire History: Major Fires & Industry Impact
This Month in Fire History: Notable Events that Shaped our Industry
By Jon Nisja
There were some fires that occurred in the month of June that have directly or indirectly impacted the fire sprinkler industry. In this blog we will review some of those fires and examine the changes that resulted from these tragedies. It is often important to look at history, especially when examining fires, to understand the causes and identify prevention methods. To paraphrase statements from George Santayana and Winston Churchill: Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.
June 5, 1946 – LaSalle Hotel – Chicago, Illinois:
Sixty-one people died and over 200 were injured at the LaSalle Hotel, located at the intersection of LaSalle and Madison Streets in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The fire was reported at 12:35 a.m. and swept through the 22-story, 1,000 room hotel, described as the “largest, safest and most modern hotel west of New York City”. The hotel was built in 1909 and had an extensive network of fire escapes.
Firefighters rescued more than 150 hotel guests from the lower seven floors via fire department ladders and this fire helped define “high-rises” as seven stories or more stories in height. The LaSalle Hotel fire was one of several in the 1940s that happened in buildings often described as “fireproof” and caused fire safety to shift from the building’s construction to an emphasis on the building’s contents. Although fire sprinklers were not a direct outcome of the fire, the role of interior finishes and furnishings in the initial stages of fire led to the development of interior finish tests and requirements which were often less onerous when fire sprinklers were present.
Other hotel fires of this era included the Terminal Hotel in Atlanta (1938), the Marlborough Hotel in Minneapolis (1940), the Gulf Hotel in Houston (1943), the Canfield Hotel in Dubuque, Iowa (two weeks after the LaSalle Hotel fire), and the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta (December 1946).
June 6, 1982 – K-Mart Warehouse – Falls Township, Pennsylvania:
The fire in this warehouse and distribution center was the largest in terms of monetary loss in 1982. The 1.2 million square foot building contained high-piled combustible storage and was separated into four quadrants by two-hour fire-rated walls but, unfortunately, those walls had unprotected openings for conveyors and forklift operations. This was a fully sprinkler-protected building, and the sprinklers operated early into the fire. Unfortunately, several factors worked against effective sprinkler protection:
- There were no fire department connections for the fire department to supplement the fire sprinklers.
- Nine minutes into the fire, electrical power was shut down to the building which included power to the electric fire pumps.
- Exploding and rocketing aerosol cans spread the fire from the initial fire quadrant to others causing fires in multiple areas overwhelming the fire sprinkler protection.
Following the K-Mart Warehouse fire, many insurance companies and the model fire codes started to require protection against rocketing aerosol containers (often placing them in cages or similar enclosures) and redundant power sources for fire pumps (electric and diesel).
June 26, 1977 – Maury County Jail Fire – Columbia, Tennessee:
On a Sunday afternoon in June 1977, the Maury County Jail caught fire killing 42 inmates and visitors who were trapped inside. This tragic fire is remembered as one of the largest life loss fires in a jail or detention facility in U.S. history.
According to a news report, an effort to release the prisoners was hampered when a group of frantic visitors in the jail bumped into a deputy in their rush to escape, causing him to drop the keys.
This was less than a week after a jail fire in St. John’s, New Brunswick, Canada (June 21, 1977) killed 21 people. Following these two jail fires, fire safety requirements were strengthened, including the addition of fire sprinklers. Contemporary fire codes require that even existing institutional occupancies – those with people who cannot escape on their own power due to age, physical or mental limitations, or confinement – have fire sprinkler protection.
Analyzing Fire History: How Did These Events Impact the Fire Sprinkler Industry?
These three historic June fires impacted the sprinkler industry by helping define a high-rise building, to allowing fire sprinklers to correct interior finish deficiencies, to dealing with rocketing aerosol containers, to having redundant water supplies for highly protected risks, and to protecting the most vulnerable populations. Unfortunately, our country’s fire codes are often reactive rather than proactive.
Jon Nisja is a Data and Fire Protection Specialist with the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA). Prior to working for NFSA, Jon served as a fire marshal since 1985 in two communities and as a state fire safety supervisor for the Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division. From 2005-2022, he supervised the State Fire Marshal’s fire protection, training, and data teams. He is the past president of both the Fire Marshals Association of Minnesota and the International Fire Marshals Association. Jon can be contacted at nisja@nfsa.org.
Further Reading:
On this date in 1977: 42 people died in Maury County Jail fire
