- 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.