- Author
-
Bryan, J. L.
|
DiNenno, P. J.
- Title
- Examination and Analysis of the Dynamics of the Human Behavior in the Fire Incident at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center on April 21, 1979. Final Report.
- Coporate
- Maryland Univ., College Park
- Sponsor
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Washington, DC
- Report
-
NBS GCR 80-192,
January 1980,
40 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- GRANT-79014
- Keywords
-
egress
|
evacuation
|
fire alarm systems
|
fire departments
|
fire fighters
|
hospitals
|
nursing staff
|
patients
|
smoke
- Abstract
- This fire incident at the National Institutes of Health Clincial Center on April 21, 1979, was detected by a pharmacy technician on the ninth floor, west pediatrics nursing unit with the visual observation of smoke in the solarium lounge at approximately 1502. The technician immdiately notified the charge nurse. The local alarm system was activated, which automatically transmitted an alarm to the National Institutes of Health Fire Department. Four ambulatory patients and two visitors were evacuated by the nursing staff and one ambulatory patient was evacuated by maintenance personnel. Bethesda Fire Department personnel rescued on infant. The Clinical Center was evacuated from the fourteenth through the third floors of approximately 184 patients and 50 visitors primarily by staff and NIH personnel in approximately 55 minutes. A total of seven persons was hospitalized for medical observation or treatment: four fire department personnel, one police officer, one visitor and one patient. The initial response by the National Institutes of Health Fire Department consisted of one engine and one ambulance with 5 personnel. The fire was extinguished by Bethesda Fire Department personnel with one 2 inch hose line from the standpipe system in stairway 7, in approximately 20 minutes. The fire damage in this 26 year old fire resistive building was limited to the solarium lounge and the corridor of the 9 west nursing unit.