It’s hard enough getting up in the morning, but waking up even earlier to try and escape a fire can really put a damper on your day. Unfortunately, back in March, a fire broke out in the B&P Apartments in Winchester, KY, where three people were killed and many others lost their home.
After an investigation, the cause of the fire was due to a resident smoking a cigarette near an oxygen machine. Both the company that owns the building and the former resident have been charged with three counts of manslaughter. According to the claim, the apartment building had “inadequate sprinkler systems, smoke alarms, smoke detectors and an inadequate evacuation plan or means of egress for the residents in the event of a fire”. Also, according to the local government records, the building owner at the time it was built, “was to complete firestopping with a fire barrier of one hour,” however, “the firestopping was improperly installed … if installed at all.”
The B&P Apartments fire demonstrates, that although firestopping may seem like such a small task, it is in fact critical to the integrity of the building and the safety of its occupants and improper firestop puts everyone in danger. Firestop products are designed to help prevent the spread of fire by filling in gaps around penetrating items in fire rated walls, ceilings and floors. Some products will even expand in the presence of heat. But in order for them to work correctly, the firestop materials must be properly installed and maintained regularly. If the B&P Apartments had properly installed firestopping, the fire would have been contained, allowing residents the opportunity to safely evacuate and these people would not be on trial for manslaughter.
Both the 2006 and the 2009 International Fire Code require routine maintenance of fire barrier walls. They also state, “Walls must be properly repaired when damaged, altered, breached or penetrated. Any penetrations found should be repaired with approved methods capable of resisting the passage of fire”.