- Author
-
Bukowski, R. W.
- Title
- Modeling a Backdraft: The Fire at 62 Watts Street.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
-
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
- Identifiers
- 62 Watts Street, New York City, New York, March 28, 1994
- 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.