Fire

The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board and its employees make no representation as to the completeness, accuracy or suitability for any purposes of the statements; information and opinions contained in this document and recommend that any person reading the documents conduct their own investigations and/or seek their own independent advice in relation to the matters contained in it.
The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board and its employees accept no responsibility for any loss or damage, whether direct or consequential, suffered by any person as the result of or arising from the reliance on the statements, information or opinions in this document.
The MFESB is subject to the Information Privacy Principles in the Information
Privacy Act 2000. Pursuant to that Act the MFESB note that this document may contain personal information and as such request that you do not discuss or distribute the contents of this report outside your organisation without first discussing this with the MFESB.
Furthermore, it is not the intention of this report to pass judgment on, or fix liability for, the loss of property or the effects upon the occupants, following the fire.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means–electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise–without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
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F i r e I n v e s t i g a t i o n & A n a l y s i s U n i t
4 3 3 S m i t h S t F i t z r o y N o r t h , V i c t o r i a . 3 0 6 8
Telephone: 613 9420 3883 Fax: 613 9420 3985
E m a i l : f i a o f f i c e @ m f b b . v i c . g o v . a u
D X : 2 1 1 0 0 1
21 June 2004
3495
20 June 2004
6:51pm
Toorak House
1011 Toorak Road
Camberwell
City of Boroondara
Boarding house
One (1)
Approximately
No
Localised smoke alarms, thermal detectors and an emergency warning and communications system (EWIS).
Yes
Brick
790m²
No
Tile/Slate
Yes – One occupant with slight smoke inhalation
$2,000
15
Deliberately lit by occupant
Room 15 at rear
19
3
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Toorak House was built as a private hospital in 1964, and was constructed with brick walls, timber floors and a tile roof measuring approximately 525m². In 1966, 1979 and 1987 single storey extensions in materials similar to the existing building were undertaken, increasing the total floor area of the building to the current 790m². By 1979, the building had changed from a private hospital to a nursing home. In early 2004, Toorak House changed occupancy from a nursing home into a boarding house.
Currently the building provides short and medium term crisis care accommodation for persons in a variety of age groups and can accommodate up to approximately 40 residents, in one and two-bed rooms. At present the building provides accommodation for 15 residents.
The installed fire safety equipment in the building includes; illuminated exit signs, thermal detectors in bedrooms, manual call points, a number of single point battery operated smoke alarms in corridors, an
EWIS system, an equipped fire hydrant, fire hose reels and portable fire extinguishers.
Shortly after 6:35pm a thermal alarm was activated by heat from a fire in Room 15. As a result the building’s occupant warning system (EWIS) automatically operated alerting the boarding house caretaker of the fire. He subsequently investigated the local alarm, discovered the fire and commenced evacuation of the residents. He then telephoned the owner and informed him of the fire incident but failed to notify the Fire Brigade.
At 6:51pm the Fire Brigade received an exchange call from the owner for a fire at
Toorak House. Whilst en-route fire crews were advised that the fire was confined to the bedroom and that all residents had been evacuated from the building.
When the first fire crew arrived, approximately eight minutes after being notified, all residents had been evacuated, the female occupant of Room 15 was being restrained outside by residents and smoke from Room 15 was filling the adjacent passageway. Fire crews subsequently discovered a fire involving a double bed mattress which was almost out as a result of residents attempting to extinguish it
The burnt remains of the double bed mattress and base after they were removed from the building. using two water fire extinguishers.
Fire crews removed the bed base and mattress outside to reduce smoke damage and completely extinguished the fire using a garden hose. This hose was also used to extinguish another fire in a wall cavity that had spread into the roof space.
Ambulance personnel transported the occupant of Room
15 to St Vincent’s Psychiatric Hospital and attended to one occupant of the building for slight smoke inhalation.
Due to the number of seats of fire, the cause was determined to be suspicious. The fire damage sustained to the building and contents was estimated to be $2,000. The hole in a plaster wall of Room 15 and evidence of a fire in the wall cavity.
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Following the fire, an investigator from the MFESB Fire Investigation and Analysis Unit conducted an inspection of the building. During that inspection, issues were identified relating to fire safety, which could pose a threat to occupants and assist in the spread of fire.
Smoke alarms were not installed in rooms where people sleep.
Brigade comment: Smoke alarms are designed to alert occupants early to the presence of smoke, thereby enabling them sufficient time to locate a fire and extinguish it during its initial stages or evacuate the building safely. Where these alarms are inoperative or not installed, an occupant might be unaware of a fire until it becomes too large or not at all. Consequently, the outcome could be tragic.
Regulation 5.14 “Self contained smoke alarms” of the (Victoria) Building Regulations 1994 requires the owner/s of any Class 3 building 1 , such as this, to have self contained smoke alarms installed. These smoke alarms must comply with Australian Standard AS 3786-1993 and be installed within each dwelling or soleoccupancy unit (bedrooms).
This building had thermal detectors installed in bedrooms instead of smoke alarms.
In most instances a fire will generate sufficient quantities of smoke to activate smoke detectors/alarms before it will produce enough heat to activate a thermal detector. As such, this delay in notification would give occupants less time to react safely. Also thermal detectors do not alert the occupant of the room because they do not contain an in-built audible alarm. The thermal detector installed in Room 15.
Doors serving bedrooms were not of solid core construction or fitted with self-closers.
Brigade comment: The purpose of self-closers is to ensure doors close automatically when a person enters or leaves a room. In the event of a fire in a room, a closed solid core door is likely to reduce the spread of heat and smoke into paths of egress travel, such as passageways and stairs. The spread of heat and smoke into a bedroom from a fire in a passageway, or other area of a building, would also be reduced if bedroom doors remain closed.
Clause C3.11 of the Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions in the Building Code of Australia (BCA) 2004, requires soleoccupancy unit (bedroom) doors, in a building of this type and classification, to be provided with self closing, tight fitting solid core doors not less than 35mm thick.
A typical bedroom door
1 A residential building which is a common place of long term or transient living for a number of unrelated persons, including: a boarding house, guest house, lodging house or backpackers’ accommodation, a residential part of a hotel or motel.
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The bedroom doors in this building did not close automatically and were fitted with a glass panel. In a significant fire, this glass panel would break, enabling smoke and heat to spread throughout the building, thereby endangering occupant safety.
Fire separation between and bounding sole-occupancy units (bedrooms) did not appear to be adequate.
Brigade comment: Generally, residents occupying rooms in buildings of this type are unrelated; therefore, there is little or no control over their actions or habits whilst in passageways or rooms. As such, fire separation is required in a building of this construction type and classification to minimise the risk of a fire spreading from one bedroom to another or from a bedroom into a path of escape and visa versa.
Table 5 in Specification C1.1 `Type C Fire-Resisting Construction’ in the Building Code of
Australia (BCA) currently requires newly constructed internal walls between or bounding soleoccupancy units (bedrooms) and bounding public corridors/lobbies or the like to have a fireresistance level (FRL) of 60/60/60 .
Emergency/evacuation procedures appeared inappropriate for the premises.
Brigade comment: Appropriate emergency and evacuation procedures assist with the safe evacuation of occupants from a building , the procedures to take in notifying the emergency services and the correct actions to take in an emergency.
The appropriateness of these procedures is especially important where occupants are heavily reliant on staff/caretaker members for their safety.
On this occasion a delay occurred in notifying the Fire
Brigade of the fire. Instead of ringing the Fire Brigade directly, the caretaker who discovered the fire rang the building owner’s home to notify him first of the fire incident. It was left up to the building owner himself to notify the Fire Brigade.
It also appeared that the emergency procedures displayed in the building had not been updated since the change of use from a nursing home to a boarding house.
An example of the obsolete procedures still on display near the main fire alarm panel in the boarding house
This fire has demonstrated the value and importance of appropriate emergency/evacuation procedures and installed fire safety equipment in a building such as this. Especially where up to 40 residents can be accommodated, most of whom would be highly reliant on staff at the premises for their safety in an emergency, and some of who could be troublesome.
Had the fire occurred when most residents were asleep in bed, the caretaker may have found it more difficult to take the actions he did in evacuating residents and fighting the fire. As such, the delay in notifying the Fire Brigade may have played a greater role.
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These recommendations, although not enforceable by the MFB, have been made after considering the use of the building, its size, location and type of construction and the number and type of people likely to use it. The Fire Brigade believes that if the following are implemented, a greater degree of fire safety will be afforded to the building, its occupants and the public, and assist fire crews to effectively combat another fire should one occur.
Note: These recommendations, however, may be mandatory by legislation governed by other relevant authorities.
1. Replace the thermal detectors in all bedrooms with single point battery operated smoke alarms, in accordance with Australian Standard AS 3786 and commensurate with Regulation
5.14 of the Building Regulations.
2. Install solid core doors fitted with self-closing devices to all bedrooms.
3. Ensure appropriate fire separation between sole-occupancy rooms (bedrooms) and common corridors exists. Alternatively, install a residential fire sprinkler system throughout the building. The system when installed should comply with Australian Standard AS 2118 Part 4 –
Automatic Fire Sprinkler Systems – Residential.
Case studies and statistical evidence has clearly shown that these systems are one of the most effective methods to protect lives and property from the impact of fire.
The advantages being:
• Advances in technology have made their installation in residential buildings an economically viable proposition.
• With the advent of residential sprinkler heads, these systems operate very quickly, thereby, extinguishing or controlling a fire, before it has time to develop fully.
• These systems are designed to prevent flash over (total involvement) in the room of fire origin, thereby, keeping smoke and fire damage to a minimum.
• The Brigade is notified quickly, (if the system is connected to a monitoring station).
Note: Proposed changes to the (Victoria) Building Regulations in 2005 may require new and existing buildings of this classification to have a fire sprinkler system fitted throughout.
4. Develop appropriate emergency and evacuation procedures tailored to the building and have them displayed in prominent locations throughout the building. Assistance in the development of these procedures can be sought from the MFB’s Community Education
Department on 9665-4464.
Chris James
Senior Station Officer
cc:
Owner - J & J Dipietro
State Coroner
Chief Fire Officer
Building Surveyor Boroondara City Council
Chair Person Building Appeals Board
Commissioner, Building Control Commission
Fire Safety Commander Southern Zone
OIC SSO Phil. Smith No 23 Station
Director Community Safety
Insurance Council of Australia
Assistant Chief Officer Southern Zone
Exec. Director A.B.C.B.
PIA Internal Distribution List
CFA
Rob Llewellyn AFAC
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