Reconstructing the Station Nightclub Fire: Materials Testing and Small-Scale Experiments.
Reconstructing the Station Nightclub Fire: Materials
Testing and Small-Scale Experiments.
(1402 K)
Bryner, N. P.; Madrzykowski, D.; Grosshandler, W. L.
Volume 2;
Interflam 2007. (Interflam '07). International
Interflam Conference, 11th Proceedings. Volume 2.
September 3-5, 2007, London, England, 1549-1554 pp,
2007.
Keywords:
fire departments; fire investigations; building fires;
nightclubs; materials tests; expedriments; pyrotechnics;
foam (materials); insulation; polyurethane foam; cone
calorimeters; material properties; wood; carpets; floor
coverings; finishes (fabrics); life safety; NFPA 13;
NFPA 1126
Abstract:
On February 20, 2003, during a band performance,
pyrotechnics ignited foam insulation
lining the walls and ceiling of the platform that was
being used as a stage in The Station nightclub,
Rhode Island, USA. The fire spread quickly along the
foam lined walls and ceiling, smoke emerged
from the exit doorways in less than one minute, smoke
dropped quickly to near the dance floor, and
flames broke through the roof in less than five minutes.
One hundred people lost their lives in the fire
and hundreds were injured. In order to simulate this
fire, small-scale experiments were conducted on
different interior finish materials to better understand
how those materials performed under fire
conditions. Oxygen depletion calorimetry, differential
scanning calorimetry, and thermal gravimetric
analysis were used to collect material property data on
a range of interior finishes including
polyurethane foam, both non-fire retardant and fire
retardant, wood paneling, acoustic ceiling tiles,
and carpet flooring. Polyurethane foam typically ignited
in 3 s to 14 s and reached its peak heat
release in less than 45 s. The wood paneling and carpet
flooring typically required up to 41 s and 54 s
to ignite, respectively. The polyurethane foam, wood
paneling, and carpet flooring all exhibited peak
heat release rates between 400 kW/m2 and 1400 kW/m2. The
foam would have contributed to a quick
initial fire growth, but typically would not have had
sufficient mass to carry the fire past the initial
stages. Wood and the carpet flooring had greater mass
and were a larger source of energy than the
foam, although the wood and carpet required longer times
to ignite. Once ignited, both the wood and
carpet would release a substantial amount of the energy
during the fire. The ceiling tiles would have
released relatively little energy compared to the other
fuel components. Experiments also examined
the thermal characteristics of discharging pyrotechnic
devices similar to those that were ignited in the
nightclub. Pyrotechnic devices were discharged onto
walls covered with gypsum board, wood
paneling, and polyurethane foam. The experiments that
involved discharging pyrotechnic devices
against a foam-covered wall demonstrated that the shower
of sparks could ignite non-fire retardant
polyurethane foam, but that the sparks were not able to
ignite fire retardant polyurethane foam, wood
paneling or gypsum board within the 15 s discharge
period. The ignition of the non-fire retardant
polyurethane foam was similar to the ignition sequence
observed in the video recorded inside the
nightclub on the night of the fire.
