Modeling a Backdraft: The Fire at 62 Watts Street.
Modeling a Backdraft: The Fire at 62 Watts Street.
(6692 K)
Bukowski, R. W.
NFPA Journal, Vol. 89, No. 6, 85-89, November/December
1995.
Keywords:
backdraft; fire fatalities; fire fighters; fire models;
apartments; smoke; heat release rate; oxygen
concentration; temperature; computer models; casualties;
safety; ventilation; building fires
Abstract:
On March 28, 1994, the New York City Fire Department
responded to a report of smoke and sparks issuing from a
chimney of a three-story apartment building in
Manhattan. The officer in charge ordered three-person
hose teams to enter the first- and second-floor
apartments while the truck company ventilated the
stairway from the roof. When the door to the
first-floor apartment was forced open, a large flame
shot out of the apartment and up the stairway, engulfing
three fire fighters on the second-floor landing. The
flame lasted for at least 6 1/2 minutes, killing the
three men. In the hope of understanding the factors
that produced a backdraft of such duration, the fire
department asked the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) to model the incident.
