There is no more perfect North American example to learn about fire science history and earthquakes than at the city of San Francisco. Even a centennial after the 1906 quake and fire, the effects still resonate within the city in both its new infrastructure and the character of its constructions. I had a wonderful opportunity to…
Category: Opinion
Hauntings and the Denver Equitable Building
The Denver Fire tests of 1890 were revolutionary to the practice of fire safety engineering. The tests were performed under direction of architectural firm, Andrews, Jaques and Rantoul. The objective was to compare three allegedly 'fire-proof' flooring arch systems which had been proposed for the Denver Equitable Building through a competitive bid process. For the building contract, the Pioneer fire proof construction company…
How I play with Lego grown up
Last month the company Lego released their Research Institute set (conceived by geoscientist Ellen Kooijman to promote science careers for women). The set features a woman chemist, a woman astronomer, and a woman archaeologist. The set sold out on the first day (online and in-store). I managed to pick up a set though to support the message of…
National Personnel Records Center Fire of 1973 – Why its news today
In 1956, a National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) building was constructed in St Louis to hold military personnel records. The upper floor of this building caught fire on July 12th 1973. After a 22 hour fire the roof of the structure (made of prestressed concrete) suffered a 30% collapse. Ultimately the upper floor was removed post-fire. Today the…
Flare night club fire
I took a stroll the other day through Kingston upon returning from NIST in Washington. Often we hear fires in the news, but we fail at times to see the resulting economic consequences which occur the days following (closed businesses from smoke damage etc.). The above are several photos taken a few days after a fire…
YorkU Fire Research Team 