Investigation of the Cook Investigation of the Cook County Administration County Administration Building Fire Building Fire Daniel Madrzykowski, P.E., FSFPE William D. Walton, P.E., FSFPE Building and Fire Research Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, MD
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Investigation of the Cook County Administration Building Fire Daniel Madrzykowski, P.E., FSFPE William D. Walton, P.E., FSFPE Building and Fire Research.
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Investigation of the Cook County Investigation of the Cook County Administration Building FireAdministration Building Fire
Daniel Madrzykowski, P.E., FSFPE
William D. Walton, P.E., FSFPE
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD
Cook County Administration Cook County Administration Building FireBuilding Fire
October 17, 2003October 17, 2003
Fire in a storage room, 12th floor
Approx. 5 PM, Friday Security calls for complete
evacuation FD can not make successful
interior attack Tower ladders used to make
fire attack 6 people die in the SE
Stairway, 13 more rescued at approx 6:30 PM
View of north side of the Cook County Administration
Building:2 “half windows” were
broken out.
View of east side of the Cook County
Administration Building
Investigations/ReviewsInvestigations/Reviews
Chicago Fire DepartmentOffice of Fire InvestigationOperations
Multiple Work Station HRRMultiple Work Station HRR
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
0 100 200 300 400 500
Hea
t Re
lea
se R
ate
(kW
)
Time (s)
Fire ModelsFire Models
Zone Models
- Divide room into two zones
Hot Upper Zone
Cool Lower Zone
Fire ModelsFire Models
Field Models -•Computational Fluid Dynamics•Divide room into large number of
small boxes or volumes
• Computer based fire model• Computational fluid dynamics model based
on conservation of :– Mass– Energy– Momentum
• Predicts gas temperature, gas velocity• Accounts for convective and radiation heat
transfer• Tracks combustion chemistry
NIST Fire Dynamics SimulatorNIST Fire Dynamics Simulator(FDS)(FDS)
• Scientific visualization tool– Forms color graphics based on FDS
calculated values.
SmokeviewSmokeview
Building overview videoBuilding overview video
FDS InputFDS Input
Only the 12th floor simulated Southeast stairs 12th to 27th floors A small flaming fire with a prescribed burning rate was
used to initiate the fire in the storage room based on witness testimony
Burning paper assumed to fall from piles outside storage room
FDS InputFDS Input
Drop ceiling and exterior windows removed during simulation (times based on investigation)
Simulation terminated at 990 s (16 min 30 s) when fire department is believed to have applied water.
Flames and Smoke VideoFlames and Smoke Video
Impact of Smoke Shaft in Impact of Smoke Shaft in Southeast StairsSoutheast Stairs
Door from corridor to vestibule and door from vestibule to stairway opened at 930 s (15 min 30 s) into the simulation. (fire department advances hose line to floor)
Sprinklers Used in SimulationSprinklers Used in Simulation
Typical standard response, K-5, pendent sprinklers K factor of 81 L/min/(bar)½
Activation temperature of 74° C (165° F) Response time index of 150 (m·s)½ Each sprinkler was centered in one half of the storage room
Sprinkler videoSprinkler video
SummarySummary
Documented HRRs from “typical” office furnishings Simulated fire spread for first 16 min 30 s Smoke in stairs comparable with or without smoke vent
operation Automatic fire sprinklers would have limited fire to room
of origin
More information:
Reference:
NIST SP-1021, Cook County Administration Building Fire, 69 W. Washington, Chicago, IL, October 17, 2003, Heat Release Rate Experiments and FDS Simulations, July 2004.