An Examination and Analysis of the Dynamics of the Human Behavior in the Fire Incidents at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital on October 25 and 26, 1978

摘要

Two fire incidents occurred in this hospital facility on October 25 and 26, 1978. Both fires involved the suspected incendiary ignition of office papers and records on the desk top and the top of file cabinets in Room 327 of 'B' Building. Both fire incidents were detected by administrative staff personnel as an odor of smoke. The telephone operator of the facility was notified and the facility 'Fire Call' announcement was initiated over the public address system with the location of smoke odor. The facility fire brigade extinguished the fire on October 25 and the fire department was not notified. A safety officer extinguished the fire on October 26, and the fire department was notified at the request of the safety officer. It responded and verified extinguishment. Both fires were extinguished with six pound all purpose dry chemical extinguishers. Patient areas were not involved in either fire incident; no personnel were evacuated. The four-story fire resistive building was approximately 80 years old.