Investigation of the Cook County Investigation of the Cook County Administration Building FireAdministration Building Fire

Daniel Madrzykowski, P.E., FSFPE

William D. Walton, P.E., FSFPE

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Gaithersburg, MD

Cook County Administration Cook County Administration Building FireBuilding Fire

October 17, 2003October 17, 2003

Fire in a storage room, 12th floor

Approx. 5 PM, Friday Security calls for complete

evacuation FD can not make successful

interior attack Tower ladders used to make

fire attack 6 people die in the SE

Stairway, 13 more rescued at approx 6:30 PM

View of north side of the Cook County Administration

Building:2 “half windows” were

broken out.

View of east side of the Cook County

Administration Building

Investigations/ReviewsInvestigations/Reviews

Chicago Fire DepartmentOffice of Fire InvestigationOperations

Chicago Police DepartmentBomb and Arson

• http://www.cityofchicago.org

Cook CountyMikva Commission

• http://www.co.cook.il.us/Fire_Commission/Master%20Reports/07.07.04%20County%20Report%20Final.pdf

Investigations/Reviews -continuedInvestigations/Reviews -continued

State of IllinoisJames Lee Witt and Associates - Full Report

• http://www.wittassociates.com/3934.xmlNIST – Fire Study

• http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/NIST_SP-1021.pdfNational Research Council Canada – Human Behavior

Study• http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/fulltext/rr181/

Building ConstructionBuilding Construction

37 stories tall with one level below grade Reinforced cast-in-place concrete with concrete and

glass panel exterior walls Core contains elevators and two stairs Southeast stairs were designed as a “smoke-proof

tower” Partition walls were 1.59 cm (5/8 in) thick type X gypsum

board on steel studs. Partitions extended from floor to a drop ceiling in all areas except the core.

Space above ceiling is return air plenum

1212thth Floor Floor

Area of Significant Fire DamageArea of Significant Fire Damage

NIST InvestigationNIST Investigation

No origin and cause – Used witness testimony to determine initial fire location

Document Scene Fuel, ventilation, damage

Heat Release Rate Experiments FDS Modeling

Examine different vent conditions in the SE stair Examine potential impact of sprinklers

Doorways to Suite 1240Doorways to Suite 1240

North Corridor South Corridor

Open Plan Office AreaOpen Plan Office Area

NE OfficeNE Office

Exemplars – Suite 1210Exemplars – Suite 1210

Cone Calorimeter –ASTM 1354Cone Calorimeter –ASTM 1354Measures

Heat Release Rate (HRR)

Mass Loss Rate

Smoke production

Combustion gases

Cone CalorimeterCone Calorimeter

Materials TestedMaterials Tested

Item Exposure Heat Flux

35 kW/m2 70 kW/m2

Avg. Peak HRR

(kW/m2)

Avg. Peak HRR

(kW/m2)

Carpeting 260 380

Ceiling Tile 10 40

Monitor Case 410 490

Letter Tray 1020 1170

Chair 210 350

Paper w/cb 320 460

Wastebskt 1560 2970

Wk Stn WS 340 590

Cone Calorimeter ResultsCone Calorimeter Results

Sled Based ChairSled Based Chair

Sled Base Chair HRRSled Base Chair HRR

0

50

100

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(kW

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Office ChairOffice Chair

Office Chair HRROffice Chair HRR

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500

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t Rel

ease

Rat

e (k

W)

TIme (s)

Single Work StationSingle Work Station

Work Station HRRWork Station HRR

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3000

3500

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Four Work StationsFour Work Stations

Four Workstation videoFour Workstation video

Multiple Work Station HRRMultiple Work Station HRR

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15000

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Fire ModelsFire Models

Zone Models

- Divide room into two zones

Hot Upper Zone

Cool Lower Zone

Fire ModelsFire Models

Field Models -•Computational Fluid Dynamics•Divide room into large number of

small boxes or volumes

• Computer based fire model• Computational fluid dynamics model based

on conservation of :– Mass– Energy– Momentum

• Predicts gas temperature, gas velocity• Accounts for convective and radiation heat

transfer• Tracks combustion chemistry

NIST Fire Dynamics SimulatorNIST Fire Dynamics Simulator(FDS)(FDS)

• Scientific visualization tool– Forms color graphics based on FDS

calculated values.

SmokeviewSmokeview

Building overview videoBuilding overview video

FDS InputFDS Input

Only the 12th floor simulated Southeast stairs 12th to 27th floors A small flaming fire with a prescribed burning rate was

used to initiate the fire in the storage room based on witness testimony

Burning paper assumed to fall from piles outside storage room

FDS InputFDS Input

Drop ceiling and exterior windows removed during simulation (times based on investigation)

Simulation terminated at 990 s (16 min 30 s) when fire department is believed to have applied water.

Flames and Smoke VideoFlames and Smoke Video

Impact of Smoke Shaft in Impact of Smoke Shaft in Southeast StairsSoutheast Stairs

Door from corridor to vestibule and door from vestibule to stairway opened at 930 s (15 min 30 s) into the simulation. (fire department advances hose line to floor)

Simulations with and without functioning vent

Stair videoStair video

Southeast Stair TemperaturesSoutheast Stair Temperatures

Vent closed Vent open

Southeast Stair VelocitiesSoutheast Stair Velocities

Vent closed Vent open

Sprinklers Used in SimulationSprinklers Used in Simulation

Typical standard response, K-5, pendent sprinklers K factor of 81 L/min/(bar)½

Activation temperature of 74° C (165° F) Response time index of 150 (m·s)½ Each sprinkler was centered in one half of the storage room

Sprinkler videoSprinkler video

SummarySummary

Documented HRRs from “typical” office furnishings Simulated fire spread for first 16 min 30 s Smoke in stairs comparable with or without smoke vent

operation Automatic fire sprinklers would have limited fire to room

of origin

More information:

Reference:

NIST SP-1021, Cook County Administration Building Fire, 69 W. Washington, Chicago, IL, October 17, 2003, Heat Release Rate Experiments and FDS Simulations, July 2004.

fire.nist.govmadrzy@nist.gov