By Doug Pierre, Deputy Fire Marshal
“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” -George Bernard Shaw
On a February evening in 2003, 462 people gathered at The Station Nightclub, excited to see a concert; what they were not planning was being involved in one of the largest nightclub fires in history. A fire broke out from a pyrotechnic that ignited the sound-deadening foam on the walls of the club. The Station Nightclub was not equipped with a fire suppression system throughout the structure. In an investigation conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology it was identified that a fast-spreading fire spread to the wooden frame structure and wood paneling. Fire officials concluded that a sprinkler system would have contained the fire long enough to allow everyone time to escape the fire. The fire that occurred in the nightclub took 100 lives and injured over 200 other individuals. This tragedy had a major impact on the fire codes.
This tragedy had a major impact on the fire codes, and the Fire Code of North Dakota now addresses many of the issues identified in the investigation, hopefully helping our state avoid a tragedy and liabilities similar to what occurred in Rhode Island. Although there were many changes to the fire code, from the use of pyrotechnics in an indoor setting to the use of interior finish materials, the widest sweeping code change was the requirement for fire suppression systems. The changes brought on by this tragedy were A-2 Assembly Occupancies (Bars/Taverns/Nightclubs/Restaurants/Banquet Halls) went from a threshold of 300 occupants to 100 occupants when requiring a fire suppression system.
The changes to the fire code are not something that comes about from a prescriptive measure but out of loss. History has proven repeatedly what happens when we have fire in unprotected assembly occupancies. This can be prevented, and we are here to help ensure that communities in North Dakota do not ever experience a loss such as this.