- Author
- Comeau, E. | Duval, R.
- Title
- Apartment Building Fire, Bremerton, Washington, November 13, 1997. NFPA Fire Investigation Report.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
- NFPA Fire Investigations Report, 1999, 40 p.
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM: National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), 1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269-9101. Telephone: 617-770-3000; Fax: 617-770-0700. Website: http://www.nfpa.org
- Keywords
- apartments | building fires | elderly persons | death | fire spread | injuries | fire investigations
- Abstract
- On November 13, 1997, at approximately 6:00 a.m., a fire occurred in an occupied, four-story apartment complex in Bremerton, Washington. Four residents died in this fire, and twelve were injured. The complex was comprised of 142 units, of which approximately 130 were occupied at the time of the fire. The main portion of the complex was a U-shaped building. The ground floor, which contained storage areas, laundries, parking areas, and utility rooms, was made of noncombustible construction. The upper three floors contained the apartment units and were constructed of wood studs covered with fire-rated gypsum wallboard on each side. However, the exterior face of the walls was covered with S/8-in. thick plywood that was not fire-rated. A two-story building occupied the open portion of the U and was built in a similar style as the main portion of the complex The roof structure was comprised of wood trusses that were made up of 2-in. x 4in. and 2-in. x 6-in. members. It was covered with plywood sheathing, which in turn was covered with asphalt shingles. Within the void space in the U-shaped portion of the building were four fire separations. However, on the sole remaining fire separation, it was noted that there were openings in the wall that had not been closed up when the separations were built. The facility was not equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler system. Six occupant- use hose stations were located on each of the three upper stories. The complex lacked a facility wide fire alarm system. There were single-station smoke detectors within the individual units. These smoke detectors sounded only within the unit. According to investigators for the Bremerton Fire Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, a fire occurred in an occupied apartment on the third level of the building in the southwest corner at approximately 6:00 a.m. The occupant of the apartment unit was not present at the time of the fire, which allowed the fire to grow undetected until the single-station smoke detector activated.