Indictments in Rhode Island Nightclub Fire

3 Men Are Indicted in Fire at Rhode Island Nightclub, New York Times December 10, 2003, reports that two owners of the Rhode Island night club and a rock band tour manager have been indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges for their parts in the February 2003 fire that killed 100 and injured nearly 200 more. The purported causes of the fire are pyrotechnics ignited by the band during their performance and the presence of a highly flammable polyurethane acoustical foam insulation that had been installed by the owners.

What controls on the design and building process exist to prevent such disasters?

The Building Code
Combustibility of interior finishes is regulated by the building code. For example, in the International Building Code, Chapter 8 provides requirements for interior finishes, including their combustibility. As an example of these requirements, see Figure 22.5, page 797 in the text, which illustrates Table 803.4 from the IBC. However, in the specific case of foam plastic, an earlier paragraph in this chapter of the code states that foam plastics may not be used as an interior finish at all, except as specifically provided for in a separate chapter devoted entirely to plastics, Chapter 26.

Fire-resistance rated construction is also addressed in Chapter 7 of the IBC, and thermal and acoustical insulation materials are specifically addressed in Section 719. However this section also indicates that in the case of foam plastic insulation, the requirements of Chapter 26 apply.

Chapter 26 Plastics of the IBC does provide detailed requirements for the use of foam plastic insulation in buildings. Here are some of the more relevant points:

• Packaging of foam plastic materials brought to the project site must provide information about the product, the product manufacturer, and how the material is permitted to be used in building construction. The labeling itself must be produced by a testing and labeling agency recognized and approved by the building department.
• Combustibility limits are set for foam plastic insulation. Generally restrictions are comparable to a Class B interior finish material.
• Under most circumstances, foam plastics cannot remain exposed in finished construction. They must be covered by a 1/2 inch layer of gypsum wallboard or some other thermal barrier material that can provide protection from the heat of a building fire.
• Foam plastics may be used as an exposed finish, without the normally required thermal barrier, when specially tested and demonstrated to not present a special fire hazard under these conditions.
• A variety of additional special circumstances, too numerous and complex to discuss here, are described where it may be permissible to use exposed foam plastics in the building without the normally required thermal barrier protection.

So in the case of the Rhode Island night club, if regulated by the IBC, the installed materials would have to have been labeled for the intended use, and either covered by a protective thermal barrier material in the finished construction, or specifically tested and approved for use in an exposed finish application. (Other building codes contain roughly similar requirements.)

Other Sources of Regulation
Fire codes regulate the ongoing use and maintenance of buildings, and in some cases aspects of building design and construction as well. States and local municipalities may legislate regulations independently from building and fire code requirements. Organizations may adopt voluntary standards--see for example NFPA 1126, Use of Pyrotechnics before a Proximate Audience.

More Information:
Nighclub safety equals life safety, NFPA Journal July 8, 2003, provides a comprehensive discussion of the factors surrounding this event and related information.
Alliance for the Polyurethanes Industry, Polyurethane Combustibility in the Regulatory Environment