Free Webinar:  NFPA 80, Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Swinging Fire Doors

Sponsored by DHI, FDAI, Door Security & Safety Foundation, & Intertek
August 28, 12:30 – 2:00 pm EST

Building owners and managers, authorities having jurisdiction, and the fire door inspectors all have important roles and responsibilities in a building’s annual fire door inspection process. This webinar will discuss the current requirements of the 2010 NFPA 80: Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, related to the inspection, testing, and maintenance of fire door assemblies as well as the specific responsibilities of all parties involved in the door inspection process. Some of the changes to the 2013 edition of NFPA 80 will also be highlighted. In addition, common door deficiencies and inspection issues to look for in the field will be shown.

Tourists jumped from Tiger’s second story (Thailand)

Thailand’s 17 assistant national police chiefs have announced the formation of an investigating committee to determine whether the popular nightspot was open after its mandated closing time. Four were killed in the blaze, and 11 treated in hospital, one with burns over 40% of his body.

A spokesman for the Tiger Group admitted customers were inside when the fire erupted and asserted that the two fire exits could not be used because electrical short-circuits started fires that blocked both. He said damage from the fire amounted to hundreds of millions of baht.

“The fire erupted after the discotheque was closed but guests yet remained because it was raining heavily. The tourists were sitting there when suddenly a fire started and the power failed, causing a commotion. Each tried to escape, but only the front door could be used because the two fire exits on either side were covered in spreading flames and none could get out. That caused injuries.

Fire doors slowed efforts at Tridico (Ohio)

Strickling said building operators left the fire doors closed, chained and with furniture lined up against them.“They’re not doing anything against the law, but it made gaining access to the fire more difficult,” Strickling said.  He noted that firefighters spent 25 minutes trying to open the upper door.  “The mechanism on that door had jammed the door up. From my understanding, the guys spent 25 minutes in near zero visibility trying to gain access to the fire.”

Video: Fire at apartment building for special needs tenants (Cleveland)

The tenant came back to the unit and opened the door and opened the windows, and the flames exploded and came all out through the hallway. 

Inwood fire leaves 13 families homeless (New York)

More than 60 firefighters battled a blaze that swept through a 207thStreet apartment building Saturday night, injuring four people, officials said.  The fire began on the first floor at 639 W. 207th St. about 7:15 p.m., authorities said. It spread after a tenant left open a hallway door, causing flames to “shoot out of the hallway up to the roof,” Deputy Chief Ron Werner said.

Smoke and draft control door assemblies (UL – The Code Authority)

Various provisions of the International Building Code (IBC) require doors to meet the requirements for a smoke and draft control door assembly tested in accordance with UL 1784. The air leakage rate of the door assembly is not allowed to exceed 3.0 cubic feet per minute per square foot of door opening at 0.10 inch of water for both the ambient temperature test and the elevated temperature (400 °F) exposure test. However, this is only applicable when the doors are installed, as specified in the 2012 IBC, in the following applications:

• Smoke partitions (Section 710.5.2.2)
• Enclosed elevator lobbies (Section 713.14.1, exception 3)
• Corridors and smoke barriers  (Section 716.5.3.1)
• Fire service access elevator lobbies (Section 3007.7.3)
• Occupant evacuation elevator lobbies (Section 3008.7.3)

Scare at mall has woman alarmed (New Zealand)

A woman locked in a shop at Westfield St Lukes during a fire hopes lessons can be learnt from her ordeal.  The mall was evacuated when a vehicle burst into flames in the car park earlier this month.  Rose French was trying on clothes in the Cotton On store near the food court.  She’d been in the fitting room for quite a while but walked back into the shop after nobody came to help.  The shop was empty and its roller door was bolted shut.

Reaction: Hotel fire risk assessment sparks debate on intumescent seals (UK)

The determination concluded that a new Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) should be prepared for a hotel where no intumescent seals were fitted to the existing bedroom doors but, on this occasion, the absence of the seals should be recorded and justified.  This would apparently contradict the world-wide trend to fit such seals where legislators and researchers have recognised the assurances that such seals are able to provide in the event of a fire incident, ensuring that a small fire never has free rein over a property jeopardising the lives of many, rather than the few.

Tragedy as 8 pupils perish in infern0 (Kenya)

The burned dormitory had its windows grilled with wire mesh and did not have emergency exit.  During the incident, tens of locals responded to the girls’ distress calls and forced their way into the institution after the watchman at the gate declined to open for them, only to find the dormitory door locked from outside with a padlock.  “The dormitory was on fire, we broke the padlock and one girl managed to come out burning and she collapsed on reaching outside. She was rushed by an ambulance to Homabay District Hospital,” said William Otieno, one of the first people to arrive at the scene.

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