- Author
-
McGlashan, J.
|
Goodyear, D.
- Title
- Fire Fighter Fatality, Alcatel Canada Inc. (SEL Division), 101 Valleybrook Drive, North York, Ontario, Canada, 2 June 1991. Fire Investigation Report.
- Coporate
- Office of the Fire Marshall, Canada
- Report
-
Fire Investigation Report
September 23, 1993
91 p.
- Keywords
-
fire investigations
|
fire fighters
|
fire fatalities
|
reinforced concretes
|
building fires
|
fire safety
|
fire spread
|
self-contained breathing apparatus
|
occupants
- Abstract
- Occupants discovered a fire in the second floor office ceiling plenum of a 3200 m2 three storey reinforced concrete building at 19:23 on 2 June 1992. The responding personnel from the City of North York Fire Department eventually totalled 168. Several fire fighters were injured during fire fighting activities including Captain Andre Deslaurier who's injuries proved to be fatal. The damage to the building and its contents resulted in a property loss of almost 20 million dollars. Technical assistance was provided to Inspector Nosworthy of the Ontario Fire Marshals Office in three areas: 1. Investigation of the Cause and Origin; 2. Investigation of the factors contributing to the fire becoming a large property loss; 3. Investigation of a reported failure of a fire fighters self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). The scene examination was conducted over a period of approximately two months. Due to the extent of fire damage, a specific cause and point of origin could not be determined. The heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment and the natural gas service were eliminated as possible causes. While evidence of electrical arcing was found, any evidence linking the arcing to the initiation of the fire was destroyed in the subsequent fire. Virtually the entire second floor was a single fire compartment. With few fire separations to confine it, the fire quickly spread throughout the second floor. The malfunction and disabling of fire dampers allowed the fire to easily spread to the third floor parking level. The sprinkler system was limited to the atrium area and, although it did operate, it had little effect on the fire. The most significant factor contributing to the fire severity was the presence of an asphalt impregnated "Kraft" paper vapor barrier on the underside of the third floor deck (in the second floor return air plenum). While the fuel load contributed by the vapor barrier was less than 3% of the fire load of the office occupancy, it allowed a very fast fire spread. The reported failure of the SCBA used by Fire Fighter Gord Haney was investigated to determine if the conditions of this fire were responsible. Performance testing of the SCBA unit did not reproduce the failure or indicate any probable failure mode. However, the testing did establish that the fire conditions and quality of compressed air were not likely causes of the failure. In addition the possibility of problems resulting from a partially open cylinder valve was examined and eliminated. A possible failure mode was discovered by examining the manner in which fire fighter Haney holds a hose when he is using it as a life line. If the hose he was following was pushed down it could crush the breathing tube against the tube insert at the inlet significantly restricting air flow.