Nightclub in Bucharest Gutted by Fire - 41 Injured

January 21, 2017 - Bucharest, Romania.  A fire, believed to be started by sparklers on drinks and / or patrons smoking that ignited the roof decor, gutted the Bamboo Nightclub and sent at least 41 people to the emergency room.  No deaths have been reported.  About half of the victims were transported by Emergency Vehicles, while others made their way there on their own.  Reported injuries included smoke inhalation, hypothermia because they ran from the burning building into outdoor temperatures of -12°C (-10°F) leaving their coats behind, and sprained ankles or broken bones because they jumped from the second floor of the building to escape.

(Image ISU via AP)

One witness said that waiters were serving bottles of drinks with sparklers stuck in the tops.  Fireworks and smoking are both illegal in nightclubs and public places in Romania.  Prosecutors have begun an inquiry about the building construction, permits, staff training, insurance, inspections, and other concerns.

(Image Andreea Alexandru via AP)

The Bamboo Club was originally opened in 2002, but was destroyed by a fire in 2005, and then rebuilt.

There is no information available at this time about the building being equipped with fire sprinklers, fire alarm system, or other fire fighting equipment.

Also See:
theatresafetyblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/nightclub-fire-in-romania-kills-27.html

Nightclub Fire in Romania Kills 27, Injures 170

2015-10-31 - Bucharest, Romania - An late night fire in a basement nightclub claimed 39 lives, injured over 190, and was completely predictable and preventable.  A heavy metal band Goodbye to Gravity gave a free Halloween concert at the Colectiv nightclub just south east of the city center, and during the show some fireworks (pyrotechnics) were set-off which ignited a foam covered column that was adjacent to the stage.  Witnesses said the fire rapidly spread across the foam and pine wood covered ceiling causing a panic in the crowd.

Ironically, the band had just played 'This is the Day We Die' from their new CD "Mantras of War", and then as they started into the next song the fire started.  Delia Tugui, a Spanish teacher at the American International School of Bucharest who was at the concert with her husband and son, said club goers were surprised by how fast the fire spread and panicked.

Moments before the fire

"The lead singer made a quick joke: 'This wasn't part of the program.'  The next second, he realized it wasn't a joke and asked for a fire extinguisher," she wrote on her Facebook page.  "In 30 seconds . . . the fire spread all over the ceiling.  People rushed to the entrance but it was too narrow, and people panicked.  Behind me people stampeded, climbing over each other, to try and get out."

The fireworks spray towards the foam covered column

"I was two meters from the door and I barely got out," she told The Associated Press.  "People started pushing each other, stamping on each other, it was incredibly quick."

Patrons still smiling unaware of the hell that was about to break loose

"Friends were looking for each other under the pile of people," she said. "It was a nightmare."

She said she knew some would not escape.

"I realized that those on the other side of the bar would not get out alive."

Once she got outside there was a blast and her hair caught fire, Tugui said.

"I tried to put it out with my hands and got burned.  People behind me were burned from head to toe."

A  3D computer generated graphic of the nightclub fire can be seen here.

The band’s lead singer, Alex Pascu, was hospitalized and later died.  Antena 3 TV said bass guitarist Alex Telea was reported missing by his parents, who have been searching for him.  he is also confirmed dead.

Florentina Dinca, 38, who lives opposite the nightclub, told The Associated Press there was chaos as emergency workers tried to aid the badly burned clubgoers.

"They were very frightened, they screamed, ambulances didn't know what to do," she said.  "Girls had their hair burned, they had burns on their faces.  It was terror."

“There was a stampede of people running out of the club,” a man who escaped without shoes told Reuters.

A young woman who sustained minor injuries described the club bursting into flames.  “In five seconds the whole ceiling was all on fire. In the next three we rushed to a single door,” she told television station Antena 3.

The nightclub had only one entrance / exit and it was just 80cm wide (31 1/2").  Paul Angelescu, a reporter with ProTV, said the mayor told him the venue had all the necessary permits to operate as a club, however, they did not have permits for any pyrotechnic use.  Further investigation will determine if the facility was indeed compliant with current local building codes.

The club was said to have 300-400 in attendance that night, and some were minors. It was only permitted for 80 occupants.  In Romania it is permissible for adults to bring their children into nightclubs, and occasionally unaccompanied minors enter the clubs because the monitoring of age is very lax.

The nightclub is one of dozens of clubs and bars that have sprung up in the Romanian capital in recent years, a lively city of 3 million renowned for its nightlife and long hours.

Shooting candles and indoor fireworks are common in bars and restaurants in Romania and enforcement of fire regulations is poor.

Twelve hospitals were filled with burn and smoke inhalation victims, and hundreds lined-up outside to donate blood.  The death toll is expected to rise.

Update:  Thousands of protesters in Romania have been gathered in Bucharest expressing anger towards the government for the lax building code enforcement that led to this tragedy.  Prime Minister Victor Ponta and his Cabinet resigned Wednesday, November 4 in response to public demands for accountability.

If this story seems all-to-familiar, numerous nightclub fires have been initiated by the illegal use of pyrotechnics which ignite foam materials used for sound absorption.  These include The Station nightclub fire in 2003 at West Warwick, Rhode Island, which killed 100 people; and and the Kiss nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil, which killed 242 people.

More coverage can be found at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colectiv_nightclub_fire

This blog entry updated 2015-11-07-10:15PM

ISO Signage Directive: Clear Pictograms for Universal Understanding

The British trade group Industry Committee for Emergency Lighting (ICEL, www.icel.co.uk) has issued a Technical Statement that clarifies the recent change in Emergency Exit Signage in the UK.  It is excerpted here with additional commentary as it applies to US signage.  Note that the US is moving towards the ISO 'running man' standard for egress signage and the common red or green  EXIT  sign is gradually be replaced in US buildings.

It is not enough that a safety sign can be seen. It is essential that each sign is quickly understood and that an installation of signs quickly and clearly conveys their intention and continues to confirm the message.

Research has identified that the key requirements for an acceptable safety sign are:-

• Conspicuity:  The capacity of a sign to stand out or be distinguishable from its surroundings and thus be readily discovered by the eye.  It is the noticeable contrast between a sign and its background, attributed to an exogenous (unplanned) or andogenous (planned) mind-set, with the display having features that attract attention to the sign.  Conspicuity is considered a subjective outcome.
  
• Visibility:  The physical attributes of a sign and its contents that allow for detection at a given distance, although legibility may be uncertain.  Visibility is considered an objective stimulus.
  
• Legibility:  The physical attributes of a sign that allow for differentiation of its letters, words, numbers, or graphics and that directly relate to an observer’s visual acuity.  Legibility is considered an objective stimulus.
  
• Understandability:  That which enables the observer to correctly perceive the information content of letters, numbers or symbols grouped together, or other meaningful relationships on the sign.  Understandability is the character of a sign that leads to comprehension of its intended message, and depends on legibility and other considerations of contents and time restraints.  It is considered a subjective outcome.

When considering a design for an effective escape route it is important that the exit path and any potential obstacles are well illuminated (the centre line of any escape route should be lit to a minimum of 1 Lux [the US NFPA 101 Life Safey Code 7.8.1.3 uses a similar, but different standard]) and the route should be marked with well positioned signs that clearly indicate the direction towards a final exit and on to the “place of safety”.

The signs should be positioned so that each sign is always within a readable viewing distance and each sign shall be located so that it is visible to reconfirm the correct route at every intersection or change of direction so that evacuees can move along the escape route quickly and safely.  However, in some environments (public buildings, retail areas, etc.) there may be a great number of sign boards, building furniture and visual obstacles that could confuse evacuees in an emergency.  This is why safety signs must be easily seen and understood and, in today’s multinational society, it is essential that the meaning of signs does not rely on any specific language.

The Legal Situation

Standardization across Europe was one method of increasing a wider understanding of safety signs. Therefore, the European Community (EC) Safety Signs Directive (92/58/EEC) was published and adopted as ‘The Health and Safety (Signs and Signals) Regulations’ in England during 1996. This piece of legislation set out simple ‘Pictogram’ sign formats to be used within the European Community.

The Regulations showed the intrinsic features required for emergency escape (egress) signs as being white on green, with pictorial symbols of a running man, a direction arrow and a door.  These intrinsic features avoided the use of words in any of the escape signs and set out escape route guidance by showing the running man with an arrow down for when the escape route went straight on, arrow right for right turns and arrow left for left turns.  The Regulations simplified the vast range of text signs that had previously been used.

The only problem with the EC Safety Signs Directive was that the pictograms supplied were of a different format to those shown in ISO documents and some National Standards such as BS 5499. Here are the three formats currently seen in use in the UK:

  

In 2011, it was decided by many of the National Standards bodies to consider adoption of a single pictogram format as shown in ISO16069.  The British Standards Institute (BSI) adopted this format in the latest edition of the BS5266:2011 standard, which is considered the ‘de-facto’ emergency lighting standard for the UK.

The members of the Industry Committee for Emergency Lighting (ICEL) recognized that a further change in sign format could cause further confusion within the already confused market and therefore decided to introduce the ICEL Clear Sign Campaign.  It is a UK legal requirement for businesses to conduct risk assessments for fire safety and evacuation and it is of course vital that the emergency escape signs are of a legal format.  The current position includes the following key issues:

• Text only signs (like the common "EXIT" or "SORTE") are not legal and should have already been replaced.
  
• BS5499 Pictogram signs (with or without supplementary text) are legal but should only have been used when expanding an installation already incorporating similar signs.
  
• Pictogram only signs with the same format as shown in The Health and Safety (Signs and Signals) Regulations / EC Safety Signs Directive (92/58/EEC) are legal but should not be mixed with other sign formats on any installation.
  
• From 2012 the new ISO16069 Pictogram signs will also be legal but again should not be mixed with other formats on an installation.
  
• The latest proposals do not only identify the ISO16069 sign format, there are also references to ISO 3864-1 and ISO 3864-4 to provide detailed information relating to the safety color and contrast color.

The images above show the different appearance of the ISO Pictogram symbols used in these EXIT signs but the key differences between the Health and Safety (Signs and Signals) Regulations / EC Safety Signs Directive (92/58/EEC) pictograms and the ISO 16069 versions include:

• ‘Straight on’ is depicted by an arrow facing up in ISO 16069 (and in BS 5499) whereas the Safety Signs and Signals Regulations do not state which way the arrow should be used.
  
• ISO 16069 allows the use of supplementary information such as diagonal arrows (for stairs up or down) and in certain instances the use of text (e.g. to distinguish between a normal exit that may also be used for escape and an exit that is perhaps intended only for emergencies and may lead to an exit door that is fitted with a security alarm).

ICEL ADVICE:
 

Initially, the best advice is to use internally illuminated emergency sign luminaires with the minimum number of sign formats to avoid confusion.

Almost all escape route scenarios can be clearly indicated with the basic ISO 16069 pictogram signs conveying the messages ‘straight on’, ‘go left’, ‘go right’.

The technical features required for these signs are:

• The luminance of any area of safety color of the sign shall be at least 2 cd/m².
  
• Within either the contrast color white or the safety color, the minimum luminance divided by the maximum luminance shall be greater than 0.2.
  
• The ratio of the luminance Lcontrast to the luminance Lsafety color shall be not less than 5:1 and not greater than 15:1.
  
• Signs shall be illuminated to at least 50% of the required luminance within 5 seconds and full required luminance within 60 seconds (this is significantly different from the US standard where the signs must remain continuously illuminated).

Although these factors can appear to be complicated, the principles are well known by reputable emergency lighting specialists and should be assured by specifying products supplied by ICEL member companies.

However, Local Authorities and Fire Authorities can require new installations to be of either format – EC Safety Signs Directive or ISO 16069 until the situation is resolved by an amendment to the Directive – So check to be sure you are supplying the correct format for your facility.

Fire Door Safety - the UK Perspective

Reading British books and manuals can be challenging for us in the States - it's like we are two countries separated by a common language.  None-the-less, it can be informative and insightful to see how they do it across the pond.  When it comes to Fire Doors, the British Standards (BS) tend to follow the International ISO standards more closely that we do in the US, where we mostly link to ANSI (albeit, the US ANSI standards are gradually migrating to be aligned with the ISO standards as well).

The Guild of Architectural Ironmongers (that's "Architectural Hardware" in US English) has produced a set of guides that show good examples of Fire Door hardware and the associated signage.  Part 1 provides a general overview of Fire Door purpose and function, and Part 2 delves into the Maintenance required and provides good examples of problems you might look-out for.


You can download these two guide books here:
Part 1 - Overview: www.means-of-escape.com/sites/default/files/Fire & Escape Doors Part 1.pdf
Part 2 - Maintenance: www.means-of-escape.com/sites/default/files/Fire & Escape Doors Part 2.pdf

Fire and Audience Safety in Nightclubs

I went to a nightclub / restaurant tonight to get a bite to eat, and they had me seated upstairs in a balcony area that overlooked the main level of the nightclub.  Just as I was getting ready to leave, I went to go down the staircase that I had originally come-up, only to find that it was blocked with a portable sign that read:  "Stairs Closed" hand-scrawled in chalk.

There were no other instructions, signs, arrows . . . nuttin!  And the  EXIT  sign above the 'closed' stairs was still illuminated, beckoning all to "come-hither".

I look over the railing back towards the bottom of the staircase, and I see that the club has cordoned-off what was the main entrance to the club, and a band is loading-in their stuff.  The usual junk is piled every which-way: drums, speakers, guitars, mic stands, road cases . . .

Huh?  I look again, a sure enough, my eyes are not fooling me, they have removed the host stand and they are using the main entrance to the club as the stage.  I can see the glowing red  EXIT  signs over the doors.  I look around upstairs and I do find another exit, although it's not well-marked. So this means that 1/2 the upper balcony audience may have to go down the other stairs, and 1/2 may have to find their way out through the adjacent bar area (again - the  EXIT  sign in the adjacent bar area is NOT visible from the show room balcony seating area).

Next, I go downstairs to get a better look.  Once there, I see that at the bottom of the 'closed' staircase (which ended right at one of the two front doors), they had amplifiers and junk stacked in the travel path.  So I look around some more.  To the other side of the other main entrance / exit door there was a doorway that went into a souvenir shop at the time I came in to dine.  The souvenir shop had another exit door to the street, but now it was closed-off and inaccessible.  I moved away from the band's makeshift performance area and I found a passage out to anther adjacent part of the bar, it has an  EXIT  sign, but the lamps are burned-out, and the passage is circuitous and poorly illuminated.

I follow that passage into the adjacent bar chamber, and I can see two possible egress routes.  One has a vestibule with another door leading to the outside, but the  EXIT  sign for this door is only visible to about 1/2 of the room, or less.  I walk closer to this exit door and gradually the overhanging soffit that forms the vestibule area around the door reveals that there is an  EXIT  sign above the door.  Mystery solved!

Final count:  One functional exterior EXIT from upstairs (sign not visible from the balcony audience area), Two functional exterior EXITS from downstairs (one of which the sign is mostly obscured, neither of which are visible from the central audience area for the make-shift stage).

This means that a space that had SIX exits during the day (a light density crowd, mostly people dining) when the Fire Marshal visited and there was a lot of outside light filling the space through the windows; and only had THREE working exits at  night  when the patrons are highly inebriated and more densely packed.   All this on a Friday night in a college town . . .

Killer Show - Not your normal night out.

Author and Lawyer John Barylic has summarized the events that led up-to and resulted in the 2003 fire that killed 100 people at The Station Nightclub in East Warwick, Rhode Island.  His book summarizes the mounds of documents researched on behalf of the families of those injured and killed that fateful night.

The story of the fire, its causes, and its legal and human-tragedy aftermath, is one of human lives put at risk by petty economic decisions – by a band, club owners, promoters, building inspectors and product manufacturers. Any one of those decisions could have potentially avoided the tragedy. Together, however, they formed a fatal critical mass.

Information about his book can be found at www.killershowbook.com

The site include reviews of the book, photos from the event, and links to interviews.

Photo Credit:  Daniel Davidson (Copyright holder)

Other interesting links about this event:

NIST Disaster and Failure Studies:
www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/fire/station_nightclub_fire_2003.cfm

NFPA Case Study: Nightclub Fires:
www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/research/case_study_nightclub_fires.pdf

Fire Engineering Magazine:
www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-165/issue-1/features/station-nightclub-fire-revisiting-lessons-p1.html

Fire Doors 101

Associate Editor Kylie Wroblaski at Buildings.com posted a good article about Fire Doors:

www.buildings.com/Default.aspx?TabId=3334&ArticleID=10186

Take note of the other posts on Fire Doors to see how they play in your theatre.

Make a pre-emptive strike against the spread of smoke and fire by keeping all fire doors closed and latched unless you are moving equipment or personnel through the door.  Do not prop fire doors open with chairs, microphone stands, stage weights, flag poles, desks, speakers, pianos, boxes, backpacks, wedges, flip-down props / stops, or by tying the handle to a nearby railing or wall.  If the door cannot close and latch on it's own, then it must be repaired.

Rihanna Concert Shutdown By Fire on Truss

The concert on 10 July 2011, in Dallas, Texas' American Airlines Center Arena (AAC) came to an abrupt halt after some pyrotechnics started a fire on a lighting truss near the front of the stage.  Witnesses say the front rows of the audience quickly cleared-out after sparks and fire started spewing from the truss.  Local TV station and CBS affiliate KTVT had first-hand reporting because several of their employees were attending the show.  KTVT's coverage of the situation can be found here:  http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/07/08/rihanna-concert-ends-with-fire/

A video of the fire shot by concert goers can be found on YouTube:

Up close view:


Quick acting show crew managed to get to the blaze with a fire extinguisher and subdue the flames.  (Not an easy task 30' in the air on a wiggly piece of truss!  Kudos to that guy!)  It appears that the AAC and concert promoter Live Nation didn't have a coherent emergency plan, as it was several minutes before the arena lights came up, and then another minute before an announcement was made that the show was over and that patrons should exit the facility.  Although there was some sense of urgency by the crowd that caused a back-up at the arena exits, once they made it to the concourse they were greeted by vendors still trying to sell them t-shirts and other souvenirs.  Hmmm.  What part of 'LEAVE THE BUILDING" didn't they get?

When watching the video shot by local news crews at the Great White concert in the Station nightclub in East Warwick, Rhode Island, three minutes into the fire there had already killed numerous people.  So, what took so long in the AAC?  Who was asleep at the switch in Dallas?

You can hear the show cancellation announcement on some of the videos found on-line, and it's not very good sounding (OK, it was a cell-phone mic making the recording, but you can still get a sense that the speech quality was less than ideal).  Yet another reason that a professionally recorded announcement is a good idea.  The playback device should be EQ'ed so that the voice track has maximum intelligibility (i.e. not muddy with too much bass) when played-back through the venue's sound system.  It should automatically override ALL other program feeds so that any stage mics, musical instruments, and/or background music tracks are completely muted.

When there is a fire or other emergency incident during a show, there should always be someone that has the authority to call the show, get the lights on, and see to it that an appropriate announcement is made to the audience without any delay.  There is no time to think abut Box Office losses, only people's lives.

Know the difference between a safety plan and an emergency plan - the first is what you need so you don't need the second,  The second is what you need when the first one wasn't successful.  An article published in the IAVM (formerly IAAM) Facility Manager magazine about this can be found here:  www.scribd.com/doc/21929545/Teqniqal-Systems-Facility-Safety-Planning

IAVM (International Association of Venue Managers) sponsors regular training classes on Emergency Planning and Employee Training to address these types of scenarios.  Is your venue a participating member?  If not, consider becoming one, as they have a large body of resources that can help any venue, large or small, non-profit or for-profit, private or public.

This blog's author, Teqniqal Systems, also provides assessment, guidance, and training for venue staffs.  Just like the Girl Scouts, you should always 'Be Prepared.'

OSHA approves alternate definition for means of egress standard.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recognized the International Code Council’s (IIC) 2009 International Fire Code (IFC) as an alternate compliance option for means of egress in its Occupational Safety and Health Standards.  The ICC petitioned the federal agency asking for its code to be recognized as a way for an employer to demonstrate compliance with the OSHA Exit Routes and Emergency Management (formerly called Means of Egress) requirements.

“In jurisdictions where the 2009 International Fire Code is enforced, employers whose buildings have been inspected and approved can use that approval to demonstrate compliance with OSHA requirements (Section 1910, Subpart E, Standard 1910.35),” International Code Council CEO Richard P. Weiland said. “We thank OSHA for recognizing the safety attributes of our code as well as the professional expertise and science that goes into the code’s development.”

The Council’s petition, which started in 2004, was offered on behalf of ICC Members and all jurisdictions that adopt and enforce I-Codes; building and fire code enforcement officials; and building owners and managers with facilities that are maintained in compliance with the I-Codes.

“Allowing the IFC regulations to be used for exiting buildings will save money by eliminating the need to demonstrate compliance with dual regulations, and by avoiding potential construction modifications due to conflicting codes,” Weiland said.  “OSHA’s recognition demonstrates collaboration between the agency and those who share the mission of protecting the health and safety of building occupants.”

The U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. General Services Administration supported the Code Council’s petition along with local and state jurisdictions, including New York state, Jefferson County, Colorado, and the city of Hampton, Virginia.

Twenty-seven states with approved Occupational Safety and Health plans also will have to update their plans to incorporate the new rule within six months of the final rule’s publication.  The final rule was published in June and takes effect July 8, 2011.

The International Code Council (www.iccsafe.org), a membership association dedicated to building safety, fire prevention, and energy efficiency, develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Most U.S. cities, counties and states choose the International Codes, building safety codes developed by the International Code Council.  The International Codes also serve as the basis for construction of federal properties around the world, and as a reference for many nations outside the United States.