There have been a lot of interesting door-related stories in the news lately.  In case you missed my Tweets…

Boy trapped in school stairwell for 9 hours – KTLA
” ‘It is normal for the door to be padlocked but it has to happen after the last person exits the building,’ Fernando Gallard of the Philadelphia School District said.”

David Fields, 13-Year-Old Philadelphia Boy, Locked 9 Hours In School Stairwell (video) – Huffington Post
“There is a panic bar on the ground floor, but a district spokesperson said, it was padlocked.”

13 year old stuck in school stairwell (video) – WHIO-TV
“Seventh-grader David Fields says he was looking for a new way out of Roosevelt Middle School on Thursday afternoon but ended up locked inside an emergency exit tower when a door closed behind him.”

Questions loom about E2 tragedy; Owners exonerated but still feel burdened by wrongful prosecution – Fire Engineering
“The image of the E2 Nightclub disaster in 2003 that will haunt me forever is the one with anguished faces pressed against the club’s exit door.”

The travesty of E2 continues – WBEZ
“The fumes caused panic, and a rush toward the one known exit, but the steep stairwell leading to that door quickly clogged with an over-capacity crowd of 1,500 trying to escape.  The resulting crush left 12 women and 9 men between the ages of 21 and 43 dead from what the autopsies called ‘compressional asphyxiation.’ “

Kent timber frame manufacturer hit by fire – TTJ
“Director Neil Brennan told TTJ that he thinks the company’s one-hour fire rated doors saved the factory from burning down.  ‘The paint on the other side of the door was not even bubbled up,’ he said. ‘They kept the flames inside the office. It’s given me a new respect for fire doors, I can tell you.’ “

Two saved from roof in flats blaze drama – Daily Echo
“Smoke alarms alerted the residents to the fire, and doors within the blocks were closed, which meant the damage by both fire and smoke was contained…Station manager Neil Rickett added:  ‘Thankfully for these residents the fire door worked perfectly and most of the residents had an escape route.’ “

Prequel to fatal fire-alert delay probe hint at hidden pressure – The Telegraph
“The night administrator of AMRI Dhakuria has admitted to spotting Friday’s basement blaze an hour and 40 minutes before he alerted his seniors, leading police to suspect a previous incident had something to do with what proved a fatal delay….By the time the police team wrapped up the interrogation, a picture emerged of how ‘internal pressure’ might have taken precedence over properly handling a fire emergency that went on to claim 92 lives.”

Between Stephen Court and AMRI, no lessons learnt – The Hindu
“Trapped on the upper floors of the burning building, most of the victims at Stephen Court were consumed by the flames and the bodies charred beyond recognition. In the hospital, nearly all the victims suffocated to death inhaling the noxious fumes that rose up from the basement and through ventilation channels, and quickly engulfed the building.”

Hartford Hospital Fire, 50 Years Later. Blaze That Killed 16 Led To Safety Changes Nationwide – Hartford Courant
“Some doors to patients’ rooms — some of which held four people — were closed to keep the smoke from bothering them.  A few doors remained open, which proved fatal.  ‘Any room that had the door closed, the people lived,” said Dr. David Crombie, who was an intern at the time.  ‘Anyone with it open died.’ “

Va. Tech Locks Down Campus as Two Shot and Killed – Fox Atlanta
“The department said the school violated the law by waiting more than two hours after two students were shot to death in their dorm before sending an email warning. By then, student gunman Seung-Hui Cho was chaining the doors to a classroom building where he killed 30 more people and then himself.”

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