This project paper involves writing an Investigation Report relative to an actual fire. Please read the following narrative and then complete and submit your paper according to the project instructions.
On February 20, 2003, a horrific fire at the Station Nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, claimed the lives of 100 patrons attending a rock music venue featuring the band Great White. More than 400 persons were in attendance in a building having a permitted capacity of around 200. The building was a 1940s wood frame construction that was originally opened as a nightclub; however, it had undergone numerous remodelings during its 60-plus years of operating under a variety of venues, and at one time was used as a family style restaurant.
The source of the fire was pyrotechnics, which may have been unpermitted; this is still in dispute. The pyrotechnics ignited polyurethane foam panels at the back of the small stage. Fire quickly consumed the panels and rapidly spread to the ceiling, filling the entire structure with deadly smoke and searing heat. Of the more than 400 attendees, 230 received varying degrees of injuries and 130 or more escaped unharmed. In the end, however, 100 people were lost to thermal injuries, smoke inhalation, and/or crushing death as bodies piled six feet high at the primary entrance/exit, the front door. A second exit was quickly obscured by heavy smoke and flame, blocking all attempts of escape.
For this project, you will analyze the thermodynamics of conventional polyurethane foam. First, using an Internet search engine such as Google, locate one of the many technical reports written in the aftermath of the event described above to determine the type of foam panel, its manufacturer, the number of panels used at the Station Nightclub, the original cost of the panels, and if the installation work was properly permitted by the town Fire Marshall, Building Inspector, or both. These are all functions that would be required of you as a Fire Investigator investigating such a horrific and fatal fire scene.
Once you have determined the type and manufacturer of the foam, use an Internet search engine to locate the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for that product. Next, via the Internet or other resource, investigate the physical and chemical properties of the polyurethane foam panels. Include in your findings the autoignition temperature ranges in Celsius and Fahrenheit as well as flame spread time per unit of measure, i.e., square inch, square foot. (National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST] has an excellent PDF titled "Numerical Simulation of Fire Spread on Polyurethane Foam Slabs" which can be found on the NIST Web site).
After gathering all data in this simulated fire investigation, you will next prepare a formal Fire Investigation Report (FIR) in a professional manner. You will identify the Station Nightclub as your fire scene, using specific data already known through any of the many published public reports. (Again, NIST is a valuable source of information concerning the Station Nightclub fire). Your report shall be organized using the following headings (centered and bold):
BFS 4618, Incendiary Fire Analysis and Investigation 3
1. Summary of the Incident
2. Building Construction Type
3. Source of Ignition
4. Source of Polyurethane Foam Panels
5. Technical Data of Polyurethane Foam Panels
6. Violations of Federal, State, or Local Laws
Each of the six segments of your report must be in APA format and must have a minimum of 200 words per segment. You will be required to properly attribute all data with APA citations at the end of the report, as well as providing in-text citations as necessary. The report shall be written in a word-processing application such as MS Word.