- Author
- Bryan, J. L. | DiNenno, P. J.
- Title
- Examination and Analysis of the Dynamics of the Human Behavior in the Fire Incident at the Lorien Nursing Home on May 7, 1978.
- Coporate
- Maryland Univ., College Park
- Sponsor
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NBS GCR 80-214, August 31, 1978, 35 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- GRANT-79014
- Keywords
- evacuation | fire departments | fire investigations | nursing homes | nursing staff | patients | smoke
- Abstract
- This report presents the analysis of the fire incident at approximately 1024 hours, Sunday, May 7, 1978 at the Lorien Nursing Home in Columbia, Howard County, Maryland. This fire incident involved an odor of smoke initially detected adjacent to a vacant patient room on the second floor of the three-story, fire resistive construction, fully sprinklered building. The facility fire reporting procedure was initiated; the fire department was notified and responded. Patients were retained in their rooms with the doors closed on the second floor, while approximately thirty patients were evacuated from the third floor by the four nursing staff members assigned to this area. The odor of smoke was determined to have been caused by the overheating of an automatic transfer switch in an enclosed metal panel box in the emergency room on the first (ground) floor of the building.