- Author
-
Bryan, J. L.
|
DiNenno, P. J.
- Title
- Examination and Analysis of the Dynamics of the Human Behavior in the Fire Incident at St. Joseph's Hosptial, Philadelphia, PA on August 10, 1977.
- Coporate
- Maryland Univ., College Park
- Sponsor
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
-
NBS GCR 78-140,
May 31, 1978,
65 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- GRANT-79014
- Keywords
-
breathing apparatus
|
death
|
evacuation
|
fires
|
flashover
|
hospitals
|
human behavior
|
nursing staff
|
patients
|
room fires
- Abstract
- The fire incident at St. Joseph's Hosptial on August 10, 1977 was detected by the nursing staff at approximately 8:45 p.m. at which time the fire had obtained a post flashover development in the area of origin, a bathroom on the second floor. The 130 year old, four-story building of ordinary construction had 171 patients. The fire extended from the second floor to the ceiling of the third floor through a pipe chase and the wall stud spaces. The fire department was notified automatically with the activation of the local fire alarm system within the facility at 8:48 p.m. through an auxillary system arrangement with the public fire alarm system. The seven nursing staff assigned to the area of fire origin evacuated a total of thrity-four patients in a period of 6 to 7 minutes, with twenty-two of these patients being evacuated in less than three minutes. At the time of fire department arrival on the fire floor, all the patients had been evacuated from the fire area with the exception of two male patients. The fire department personnel using breathing apparatus removed both patients. One patient could not be revived, while the other died approximately one week later. Total evacuation of the hospital was accomplished by the staff, fire and police department personnel, with assistance from some citizens. The 171 patients were evacuated in a time period from 16 to 19 minutes.