From Tragedy, Opportunity-In the wake of a deadly nightclub fire, NFPA discusses possible code adoption with fire officals in Brazil

摘要

The front of the Boate Kiss nightclub, or what remains of it, is boarded up, a long stretch of plywood running along Andradas Street in the Centro neighborhood of Santa Maria, a college town in southeastern Brazil. Much of the wall is covered with remembrances of the people who died in a fire at the club in the early-morning hours of January 27, a blaze that began when members of a band that was performing waved lit flares, igniting the club's interior finishes. As of February 25 the death toll stood at 239, making it, according to NFPA data, the third-deadliest nightclub fire in world history, behind only the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire (492 deaths) and a disco fire in China in 2000 (309 deaths). It is also Brazil's deadliest fire in more than 50 years. Officials in Santa Maria estimated that at least half of the people who died were students at the local university.