NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 49

ECOSYSTEM BREAKDOWNS AROUND THE WORLD

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: GETT Y IMAGES; GETT Y IMAGES; GETT Y IMAGES;
AP/WIDE WORLD; GETT Y IMAGES; AP/WIDE WORLD

In the past decade, hospital fires have claimed hundreds, if not thousands, of lives in countries across the globe. Many of those fires were the
products of multiple failures in critical aspects of safety, including regulatory oversight, code compliance, and emergency preparedness-
the kinds of fundamental elements that comprise the NFPA Fire & Life Safety Ecosystem (nfpa.org/ecosystem). The events presented here,
which span nearly a decade, represent the types of fires that continue to occur in hospital facilities worldwide.

UNITED KINGDOM

SOUTH KOREA

INDIA

Large hospital fires aren't limited
to developing countries. While no
casualties were reported, a fire at a
cancer hospital in Great Britain in
April 2017 caused over $1.2 million
in damage. The Manchester Evening
News reported the cause of the fire
as hot work that was taking place on
the roof of the facility, indicating a
breakdown in the safety procedures
typically followed by a trained
and skilled workforce.

In January 2018, 41 people died in a
fire in Sejong Hospital in Miryang, South
Korea. In media reports, frustrated
citizens blamed the blaze-and other
deadly fires that had occurred recently
in South Korea-on weak safety
regulations throughout the country,
including not requiring fire sprinklers
in hospitals. The development and use
of current codes and standards helps
build strong regulatory environments
aimed at preventing such incidents.

In December 2011, 93 people
died in a fire that swept through
AMRI Hospital in Kolkata, India.
A breakdown in preparedness
and emergency response was
apparent from reports on the
fire. "The fire brigade allegedly
reached [the scene] late and were
initially ill-equipped-coming
without masks with only rickety
manual lifts-to deal with the
disaster," the Times of India wrote.

SAUDI ARABIA

RUSSIA

BRAZIL

A blaze at Jazan General Hospital in
Jazan, Saudi Arabia, in December 2015
killed 25 people. Experts say the facility
was built using codes that included
NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®. But NFPA
101 requirements related to smoke
compartmentation and other safety
measures were found deficient following the blaze, indicating a breakdown
in code compliance-either during
the construction process or after the
facility became operational.

In Russia, breakdowns in government
responsibility and investment in safety have
led to a grim outlook for fire safety at the
country's psychiatric hospitals. In April 2013,
38 people died in a fire at such a facility in
Ramenskyon, a village about 70 miles north of
Moscow. Five months later, 37 people died in
a fire at a psychiatric hospital in Luka, a village
about 135 miles southeast of St. Petersburg,
and in 2015, 23 people died in a psychiatric
hospital fire in the village of Alferovka in
southern Russia. After the first 2013 blaze,
experts inside Russia told the New York Times
that dozens of such fires typically occur in the
country annually, a product of the hospitals
being "decrepit" and "underfinanced."

A breakdown in code compliance was
specifically cited after a September 2019
fire that claimed 11 lives at Badim Hospital
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. "The hospital did
have an approval certificate issued by
the fire department," Anderson Queiroz,
NFPA's representative in Brazil, told NFPA
Journal. "But the department doesn't
make regular inspections to check
whether already-approved facilities
continue to comply with the code."

N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL

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NFPA Journal - January/February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2020