NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 46
I N T E R N AT I O N A L H E A LT H C A R E
BURN
TREATMENT
Deadly hospital fires are frequent occurrences
around the world. Experts say economic globalization
is driving new approaches that could change that.
BY A N G E L O V E R Z O N I
I
N SEPTEMBER, EIGHT NEWBORN babies died
when a fire ripped through the maternity wing of a hospital in the small city of El Oued, Algeria. The potential
cause was a defective electric mosquito zapper, according to
an Algerian state health minister. The fire was the second
at the facility in the past 16 months. In May 2018, a blaze at
the hospital caused "significant damage but no casualties,"
according to Agence France-Press.
The maternity ward fire was one of three deadly hospital
fires that made headlines internationally in September alone.
On the same day the Algerian hospital burned, two people
were killed and more than 45 others were injured in a fire in
a hospital in South Korea. Also that month, 11 people, mostly
elderly patients, died in a hospital fire in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. Then, in October, five people died in a fire that tore
through a hospital in eastern China.
While there are no comprehensive statistics kept on the
number of fatal hospital fires that occur globally, academic
studies and news reports suggest that they're frequent-
especially compared to the situation in the United States,
where hospital fires are rare and essentially never deadly.
"Fire happens with alarming frequency and [with] potentially devastating consequences in hospitals around the
world," a study published in the Journal of Clinical Anesthesia
46 | NFPA JOURNAL * J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0
in 2014 found. The study included a list of hospital fires that
had been reported in newspapers globally from 2004 through
2013. From 2011 to 2012, fires in hospitals in India dominated
the headlines, according to the study, including one that killed
93 people in the city of Kolkata in December 2011. In 2013,
three hospital fires with over 35 deaths were reported-two
in Russia and one in China. In 2018, South Korea experienced
its deadliest fire in nearly a decade when smoke and flames
ripped through a 98-bed hospital in the southern part of the
country, killing more than three dozen people. Experts say the
key reason behind this deadly trend is a lack of code use and
enforcement at hospitals around the world.
But things could be changing. In the past several years,
experts say new approaches to hospital oversight-the kind
of measures that provide US-based organizations with more
control over fire and life safety-have emerged worldwide.
"We're seeing the globalization of the economy, and health
care is included in that," said William Koffel, a fire protection
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2020
Contents
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 1
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 2
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 3
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - Contents
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 5
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 6
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 7
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 8
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 9
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 10
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 11
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NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 45
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 46
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