FYI
John Drucker Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 10:34 PM Subject: [NJFireSafety] Upstate NY Group Home Fire - Sprinkler System Failure? An important fire that should be studied.... Here is he local newspaper's accounts of the fire. A 13D system? 4 die as plan 'impractical' State: Evacuation of group home not fast enough to ensure safety of residents By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau Click byline for more stories by writer. First published: Saturday, March 28, 2009 State officials knew it would be "impractical" to evacuate all nine residents of the Adirondack group home that caught fire a week ago. Tragically, they were correct: Four of the home's nine severely disabled residents died in a pre-dawn blaze March 21 at the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities' Riverview facility in Wells, Hamilton County. According to documents obtained by the Times Union, the Riverview residents were too frail or immobile to be quickly evacuated in the event of a fire. For that reason, the home received the slowest of three ratings ? "prompt," "slow" or "impractical" ? that OMRDD uses to describe how long an evacuation should take. The difficulty of a potential evacuation "was anticipated from the very beginning," said Patricia Martinelli, an OMRDD lawyer. "That's the population we built it for." Only two of the residents had the ability to exit the ranch-style house under their own power. An "impractical" rating doesn't mean people can't be evacuated, but represents an acknowledgement that it couldn't be done quickly enough to ensure the residents' safety given the number of staff members in a building. As a result of the rating, and the fact that four of the residents had previously lived in the notorious Willowbrook center in Staten Island, Riverview was equipped with a sprinkler system, which is not required in all OMRDD facilities. Following a 1972 lawsuit over Willowbrook's conditions, former residents of the center were accorded extra oversight. State investigators are continuing to investigate the fire's cause, and it remained unclear if the building's network of sprinklers and its water supply functioned as they are supposed to. "We have every reason to believe at this point that they did function," Martinelli said. There were two overnight workers at Riverview, and there have been questions about whether that was adequate given the immobility of the residents and the "impractical'' rating. "The real issue is what was the evacuation plan, and was it adequate, including the number of staff?" asked Beth Haroules, an NYCLU lawyer who represents the former Willowbrook residents. "Their evacuation plan was inadequate because it clearly failed," she said. In some OMRDD facilities, evacuation would be so difficult that residents are supposed to remain in the building behind fire doors, and wait for help. These so-called "defend in place" policies, which have been used in some Central New York OMRDD facilities, are controversial. "It's Russian roulette," said Susan McLaughlin, a former advocate for the Willowbrook class of residents. McLaughlin said she had protested a "defend in place"-style policy that had been proposed for a facility in Port Leyden, Lewis County. McLaughlin is currently suing the state over what she contends is her firing for acting as a whistleblower regarding OMRDD problems. According to OMRDD documents, the Riverview facility, which was less than a year old, was inspected by the state Dormitory Authority and underwent periodic inspections by OMRDD. For the most part, OMRDD sets its own standards for evacuation protocol. For many smaller residences, fire drills call for evacuations within five or six minutes. OMRDD oversees its own periodic safety inspections, once the facility is certified by the state Dormitory Authority. The emerging details of the fire suggests a scene of horror inside the building as the two overnight workers tried desperately to get people out of a house that was supposed to be relatively fire-resistant. According to one report, two of those pulled out of the house suffered rug burns as workers literally dragged them outside. And two of the dead supposedly made it to the door of the house, but wandered back toward their rooms in a disoriented state. Eyewitness accounts suggested a fast-moving, all-consuming fire. A woman walking her dog 2 miles away said she saw a red glow in the sky. Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury, surveyed the Riverview fire scene hours after the blaze. Little said she spoke with one of the two employees on the 11 p.m.-7 a.m. shift, a woman who suffered a dislocated shoulder ? possibly from trying to pull people to safety. "This is a brand-new house, and how it got so out of control so quickly is unbelievable," Little said. "Bedrooms had large windows at ground level. A capable person could have lifted the window and stepped out." "It was a sturdy house," added Tony Abrantes, the Lake George builder who put up the home. He didn't install the electric or sprinkler system, though and the names of those contractors were not immediately available. First responders wondered if the home had experienced some kind of explosion due to the scope of the destruction, Gov. David Paterson said during a news conference Friday. Paterson said he had spoken to both of the Riverview workers on duty the night of the fire and he was more than satisfied with the performance of the state agencies who responded to the fire or are taking part in the investigation. James M. Odato contributed. Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or rkar...@timesunion.com <mailto:rkarlin%40timesunion.com> Fatal fire frustration State rebuffs town building inspector before group home blaze claims four lives By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer Click byline for more stories by writer. First published: Sunday, March 29, 2009 WELLS A building inspector was told by the state to "butt out" after making inquiries in the months before the construction of a group home that caught fire and killed four disabled residents, Town Supervisor Brian Towers said. Today, Towers is questioning the state's decision to refuse an inspection and believes the tragedy at the Riverview group home will force state officials to involve municipalities in the building process. The state "designed and installed everything" and wasn't required to get a building permit from the town, Towers said last week after an emotional service honoring the fire victims and rescue workers in this close-knit Adirondack town. "We had almost zero to do with (the inspections)," he added. "We thought it was unusual, and my building inspector tried to work with the state but was told in a frank and polite way to butt out and it's not your business." Also, the town and county never received floor plans or blueprints for the facility, which would have been helpful to firefighters and rescuers, Towers said. The investigation into the cause of the March 21 fire, and whether a sprinkler system malfunctioned, is continuing. Consumer Advisory Board staff members were told that an electrical problem is the suspected cause of the fire. The building was less than a year old. State officials will not name the contractor. Two overnight workers frantically tried to rescue nine helpless residents from the building. Two residents died inside the facility and two died on the way to the hospital. The survivors have been moved to a nearby facility. According to documents obtained by the Times Union, the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities knew it would be "impractial" to evacuate all nine residents of the group home in an emergency, which is why sprinklers were installed. Nicole Weinstein with the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities did not return messages left on her cell phone Friday. The workers involved in the rescue have not been permitted to speak to the media. Gov. David Paterson said Friday he is more than satisfied with the performance of the state agencies who responded to the fire or are taking part in the investigation. Wells Building Inspector Gene Harrington said Friday a person she believes was a state project foreman told her the state didn't need a local building permit. "They told us we had no jurisdiction and were not wanted down there," she added. With that, Harrington never returned to the site. The building opened in June with no floor plans on file with the town or county. "It was just for us as a reassurance that the building was good to go, and I'm not saying it wasn't, but we want some involvement on the local level to make us comfortable with the building," Towers said Wednesday. Towers, who also responded to the State Route 30 site in his role as a volunteer firefighter, said the blaze that roared through the home made it impossible for fire crews to save lives, even though they arrived on the scene three minutes after getting the 9-1-1 call. Towers believes any documents showing the layout of state-owned buildings would be helpful to fire crews where split second decisions in an emergency can be the difference between life and death. "That would have been handy for fire line officers to know the layout, and I think that will happen," he said. "You would have to know the layout to be more effective." No blueprints or floor plans for Riverview are on file in Hamilton County. County Clerk Jane Zarecki on Wednesday showed a reporter only a map of the property she pulled from a manila envelope. She checked with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and also came up empty. And Wells Fire Chief Bernie Moldt said the state never gave him any floor plans, nor did he ask for it. He said Friday, however, that he was in the process of obtaining the documents from the director of the two remaining homes on Buttermilk Hill Road and Algonquin Drive. Asked why he didn't request it before now, Moldt said "the state homes have their own way of doing things and are controlled by their own people." The early morning fire in this bucolic Adirondack town of 730 residents almost certainly will change the way the state does business in the future, Towers said. "They will be going back procedurally over how emergency management people deal with and react to these facilities," he added. "This will affect more than just the community of Wells. It will affect every community that has an intermediate care facility from Plattsburgh to Long Island." While the layout of the group home remained a mystery to Wells officials, the four fire victims were not. They and the workers who accompanied them were a common sight around this tiny town. Gloria Bonilla, Anthony Vitti Jr, Cory Desotelle and Theresa Williams attended local churches and regaled at Old Home Days, an annual celebration held the first weekend in August. The Rev. Michael Terrell recounted their unique qualities during a memorial at Community Hall on Wednesday, punctuating his remarks by telling the crowd, "these were our brothers who lost their lives." Terrell also said the lives of the four surviving residents, Elaine, Blancha, Andrew and Raffi, have forever been "changed and disrupted." The deaths of their housemates have shaken the region. Jacob Brenan, 15, was staying with his friend James Hoffman, who lives adjacent to Riverview. By most accounts, James' father, Kenny, a volunteer firefighter in Wells, was the first on the scene after the call came in at 5:30 a.m. March 21. Hoffman has repeatedly declined comment. His family appeared overcome with grief during the memorial. Jacob Brenan said he was awakened when Kenny Hoffman dashed downstairs and out the door toward Riverview that fateful morning. The boys rushed upstairs to the attic window. "There was a lot of smoke and the roof was engulfed in flames that were shooting about 15 feet in the air," he said, adding he could see two people trying to guide residents into a dark blue van. "I was scared for them and we were praying," he said. Wells Councilwoman Roberta Chamberlain said Wednesday the governing body never had any safety issues with the group home and she had not discussed the incident with her colleagues. Moldt said traumatized rescue personnel had debriefing sessions from a county stress team. "Everyone is coming together as a group," he said. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: techsupp...@firesprinkler.org To Unsubscribe, send an email to:sprinklerforum-requ...@firesprinkler.org (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
