A BURLINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA, FIRE INSPECTOR discovered a disaster waiting to happen last month.

FireNews.net is carrying the story that leads off with:

A routine inspection in an industrial park last month found a chemical supply that could have killed hundreds of people and harmed thousands more.On Feb. 14, a Burlington fire inspector found 856,000 pounds of sodium hydrosulfite, a highly combustible powder that can ignite a fire if exposed to moisture in the air. The plume of sulfur dioxide gas produced in such a fire would likely kill those close by.

A recent report from Burlington Chemical Co. to state and local agencies showed the amount of sodium hydrosulfite reached at least 957,000 pounds at one point, but officials say some has since been removed.

On Friday, Alamance County officials said that the combustion of nearly 1 million pounds of sodium hydrosulfite — the “worst-case scenario” — could kill or permanently injure those within 1.5 miles, assuming wind did not carry the plume farther in one direction.

This “dead zone” would encompass Alamance Regional Medical Center, E.M. Holt Elementary School and hundreds of homes.

Read the entire article HERE to learn how the situation was mitigated.

A CONVERTED LOFT BUILDING IN BROOKLYN, NYC, was ordered evacuated Sunday evening by the Fire Department when it was discovered that an imminent hazard existed.

The riverfront factory-building also
lacked an occupancy permit.
N. Y. Times photo

A code inspection visit found that a matzo factory in the basement was storing grain improperly and was an explosive hazard.  Illegal and faulty electrical wiring in the silo triggered the immediate shut-down.  That led to the finding that the building had never been issued an occupancy certificate since it was converted from a cold-storage warehouse to apartment units ten years ago.

Fire officials called the 11-story building a “fire trap.”  In addition, the sprinkler system was not functional.

          NY1 photo

The understandably shocked tenants were ordered out at 5:30 pm Sunday evening and then given just six hours on Monday to gather their belongings and vacate the building.

The Long Island Newsday has the STORY.
The New York Times has a background ARTICLE

THE SANTA ANA COLLEGE, A TWO-YEAR COMMUNITY COLLEGE in Orange County, California, has had broken and disabled fire alarm systems in its classroom buildings for years, yet no action was taken to have them repaired.

While management-level people have always known about the problems, they never took any actions to correct them, nor did they ever inform the college Board of Trustees.  The trustees are naturally furious over this.

The situation only became publicly known when the student newspaper El Don ran an investigative report exposing the years-long cover-up going on.  There are 11 buildings without functioning fire alarms which are required by State law.  In some cases it is because they have never been maintained, such as dead battery systems or rusted controls.  In some instances they were just switched off because the bells kept ringing.  The campus security building is one of those that has a broken alarm system.

The Rancho Santiago Community College District, which operates the college, has hired a law firm to find out why nothing was done for more than two years after reports documented the problems.

“It is an unacceptable practice to compromise the safety of our students or visitors,” said Board of Trustees President John Hanna, who called an emergency meeting Tuesday for trustees to pass a resolution to repair the alarms. “Inspectors don’t issue reports just for the fun of doing it. Somebody knew about this and made a conscious decision not to do anything about it. Clearly something’s rotten in Denmark, and we’re going to find out about it.”

Ironically, SAC has one of the State’s best Fire Administration degree programs.  One Orange County firefighter is quoted as saying:  “When I was taking my Fire Tech classes, our instructors used the buildings on campus as examples of fire code violations.”

Read the full story in the Orange County Register HERE

SINCE THE AUGUST 18th FIRE THAT KILLED TWO FDNY firefighters, the department has instituted a more determined effort to inspect construction and demolition sites.

After the department admitted that the Deutsche Bank demolition project had gone nearly a year without undergoing the required inspections every 15 days, they are vigorously playing catch-up.

New York Times photo

The New York Newsday reports:

The department looked at 485 sites, which included just over 350 actual buildings, and reported 122 fire hazards that required follow-up inspections by the city Department of Buildings, fire and buildings officials said. More than 200 other calls routed to the Fire Department from the city’s 311 complaint line prompted more inspections.

In the six weeks since the blaze, the Buildings Department has issued 27 stop-work orders stemming from fire-safety issues that shut down construction sites. Before the Aug. 18 fire, 67 such orders had been issued in 2007.

Some people in the department are concerned that a few engine companies in high-construction areas might be overwhelmed with inspection duties, but no doubt they will find a solution for it.

Read the complete story HERE.