- Author
- Bryan, J. L. | Milke, J. A.
- Title
- Examination and Analysis of the Dynamics of the Human Behavior in the Fire Incident at the Franklin Square Hospital.
- Coporate
- Maryland Univ., College Park
- Sponsor
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NBS GCR 80-260, October 31, 1979, 29 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- GRANT-79014
- Keywords
- doors | fire alarm systems | fire departments | fire investigations | hospitals | mattresses | nursing staff | room fires
- Abstract
- This fire incident at the Franklin Square Hospital on June 13, 1979 was initially detected at approximately 1026 by a nurses aide who observed smoke issuing from under the door of the vacant patient room 13. The nurses aide immediately activated the local alarm system, and the hospital operator initiated the verbal announcement on the public address system to activate the hospital emergency procedures. The operator also immediately notified the Baltimore County Fire Department via the direct private phone. Patient room doors were closed by the nursing staff throughout the three-central fire zone. Two members of the hospital fire brigade entered the room of fire origin, room 3113, and extinguished the fire in a cotton, boric acid treated mattress. The fire brigade members then removed the mattress through the window of room 3113. Damage was limited to the mattress, with smoke spread from room 3113 in both corridors of the three-central area. No patients were evacuated and there was no fire damage beyond the room of origin to this three-story fire resistive building constructed in 1977. The Baltimore County Fire Department responded, verified extinguishment of the mattress, and assisted the staff in ventilation of the third floor of the facility.