- Author
- Bryan, J. L. | DiNenno, P. J.
- Title
- Examination and Analysis of the Dynamics of the Human Behavior in the Fire Incident at the Manor Care, Hyattsville Nursing Home on January 10, 1978.
- Coporate
- Maryland Univ., College Park
- Sponsor
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NBS GCR 80-206, June 30 1978, 53 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- GRANT-79014
- Keywords
- evacuation | fire departments | fire investigations | nursing homes | nursing staff | patients | room fires | sprinkler systems
- Abstract
- The fire incident at the Manor Care, Hyattsville Nursing Home on January 10, 1978 was detected by the nursing staff at approximately 2130 hours. The fire at detection involved multiple ignitions, some of which had self-extinguished. A preflashover fire was detected in the bathroom of the patient room of fire origin, room 65. The two-story building of fire resistive construction was approximately 12 years old. At the time of the fire incident the building had a registered occupancy of 126 patients. The fire was confined to the bathroom by staff action and extinguished by the operation of a single automatic sprinkler head. The facility alarm was activated and the fire department notified by telephone calls. The ten nursing staff on duty evacuated a total of ten patients from the fire zone on the terrace level and eight patients from the area above the fire zone in approximately 6.5 minutes, and was completed before the arrival of the fire department. The fire department confirmed extinguishment and performed overhaul and smoke removal operations.