BUILDING SERVICE- II

FIRE INCIDENTS IN 20 TH

CENTURY
Submitted by-
LOBHAS DHOLE -180037
SRUSHTI GARADE PATIL- 180038
NIKHIL KAR - 180042
DNYANESHWARI MANE- 180047
KOMAL LOKHANDE - 180046 Submitted to:
SAKSHI VAIDYA – 180058 Arun Atre Sir
29/01/2021
 SAN JUANICO DISASTER – INDUSTRIAL DISASTER
• The San Juanico disaster was an industrial disaster caused by a massive series of explosions at a liquid petroleum gas (LPG)
tank farm in San Juanico, Mexico (outside of Mexico City, Mexico) on 19 November 1984.
• Representing one third of Mexico City's entire liquid petroleum gas supply, was exploded.
• It destroyed the town and killed 500 – 600 people, and 5000–7000 others suffering severe burns.
• It was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in world history.

FACILITY
• The incident took place at a storage and distribution facility (a "terminal") for liquified
petroleum gas (LPG)
• It consisted of 54 LPG storage tanks; 6 large spherical tanks (four holding 1,600 cubic metres
(57,000 cu ft) and two holding 2,400 cubic metres (85,000 cu ft)) and 48 smaller horizontal
bullet shaped tanks of various sizes.
• All together the tanks contained 11,000 cubic metres (390,000 cu ft) of a propane/butane
mixture at the time of the accident.

ORIGIN
• The disaster was initiated by a gas leak on the site, likely
caused by a pipe rupture during transfer operations,
which caused a plume of LPG to concentrate at ground
level for 10 minutes.
• The gas eventually grew large enough to drift on the wind
towards the west end of the site, where the facility's
waste-gas landfill was located.
 THE FIRE
• At 5:40 a.m., the cloud reached the flare and ignited, resulting in a
vapor cloud explosion that severely damaged the tank farm and
resulted in a massive conflagration fed by the LPG leaking from
newly damaged tanks.
• Just four minutes later, at 5:44 a.m., the first tank underwent a
BLEVE (Boiling Liquid/Expanding Vapor Explosion). Over the next
hour, 12 separate BLEVE explosions were recorded.
• The fire and smaller explosions continued until 10 a.m. the next
morning. It is believed that the a rise was caused by an ineffective
gas detection system.

THE DAMAGE AND CASUALITIES

• The town consisting of 40,000 residents, with an additional 61,000
more living in the hills.
• The explosions demolished houses and propelled twisted metal
fragments (some measuring 30 tons) over distances ranging from a
few meters to up to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).
• The explosion shock wave destroyed a range of 5 km-7Km of houses
and businesses at various level. Windows were found destroyed at
10 km due to the blast wave.
• Much of the town was destroyed by the explosions and ensuing fire,
with the current statistics indicating 500 to 600 deaths, and 5,000–
7,000 severe injuries.
• LOCATION :- Iroquois Theatre fire:-
The Iroquois Theatre was located at 24–28 West Randolph Street, between State Street and
Dearborn Street, in Chicago.
• ABOUT THE THEATER:-
The Iroquois had a capacity of 1,602 with three audience levels.
The theater had only one entrance. A broad stairway which led from the foyer to the balcony level was
also used to reach the stairs to the gallery level. However, the common stairway ignored Chicago
fire ordinances that required separate stairways and exits for each balcony.
The backstage areas were unusually large. Dressing rooms were on five levels, and an elevator
was available to transport actors down to the stage level. The fly gallery (where scenery was
hung) was also uncommonly large.
•  It was the deadliest theater fire and the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history, resulting in at
least 602 deaths AND 250 were injured.

• HOW THE FIRE TOOK PLACE :-

At about 3:15 p.m., Sparks from an arc light ignited a muslin curtain, probably as a result of an
electrical short circuit. A stagehand tried to douse the fire with the Kilfyre canisters provided, but it
quickly spread to the fly gallery high above the stage.
There, several thousand square feet of highly flammable painted canvas scenery flats were hung.
The stage manager tried to lower the asbestos fire curtain, but it snagged. Early reports state that it
was stopped by the trolley-wire that carried one of the acrobats over the stage , but later investigation
showed that the curtain had been blocked by a light reflector which stuck out under the proscenium
arch.

• HOW PEOPLE WERE RESUCED:-

• Many escaped from the burning theater through the coal hatch and through windows in the
dressing rooms, and others tried to escape via the west stage door, which opened inwards .
• The largest death toll was at the base of these stairways, where hundreds of people were trampled,
crushed.
• The Iroquois had no fire alarm box or telephone.
• The Chicago Fire Department's Engine 13 was alerted to the fire by a
stagehand who had been ordered to run from the burning theater to the
nearest firehouse.
• On the way to the scene, at approximately 3:33 pm, a member of Engine 13 activated an alarm box to
call additional units . Initial efforts focused on the people trapped on the fire escapes. The alley to the
north of the theater, known as Couch Place, was icy, narrow, and full of smoke. Aerial ladders could
not be used in the alley and black nets, concealed by the smoke, proved useless.
 HAPPY VALLEY RACECOURSE FIRE
Date 26 February 1918
Time 15:00 (UTC+8)
Location Hong Kong
Casualties 614 dead
THE HAPPY VALLEY RACECOURSE FIRE (CHINESE:  跑馬地馬場大火 ) TOOK PLACE ON 26 FEBRUARY 1918 IN THE 
HAPPY VALLEY RACECOURSE LOCATED AT HAPPY VALLEY, HONG KONG. THE CATASTROPHE CAUSED THE LOSS OF 614
LIVES.
 BACKGROUND :
The racecourse was first built in 1845 to provide horse racing for the British people in Hong Kong. The area was
previously swampland, but the only flat ground suitable for horse racing on Hong Kong Island. To make way for the
racecourse, the Hong Kong government prohibited rice growing by villages in the surrounding area. The first race ran in
December 1846. Over the years, horse racing became more and more popular among Chinese residents.
 THE FIRE :
The annual "Derby Day" race was held every February. To accommodate the extra spectators a temporary grandstand was
built. The fire was caused by the collapse of a temporary grandstand on the second day of the event. The collapse
knocked over food stalls which set bamboo matting ablaze. The district’s fire department was so stretched that the 
water police were called up to fight the fire.  By the next day, as many as 576 confirmed deaths were reported by the Hong
Kong Telegraph.
 AFTERMATH :
Most of the dead bodies became unrecognizable and assumed to be "Chinese". The nearby Tung Wah Hospital was one
of the first to offer assistance and after the fire arranged for labourers to collect the dead bodies. They were buried in
the nearby So Kon Po area (now the site of Hong Kong Stadium). A Chinese-styled memorial site known as Race Course
Fire Memorial was built in the Chinese cemetery (now behind the east stand of the stadium) in 1922 in So Kon Po. It
was declared a monument in 2015.
 MESA REDONA FIRE
Date 29 December 1999
Time 7:30 PM (UTC+8)
Location Lima , Peru
Casualties 291 dead
MESA REDONA FIRE
The Mesa Redonda fire occurred on Saturday, 29 December 1999 in Lima , Peru .
The disaster killed at least 291 people and injured at least another 134. It is currently
the worst fire-work related fire in history in terms of deaths.

ORIGIN :
• In 2001, the Mesa Redonda shopping center, located in Central Lima, consisted
largely of wood and adobe houses lining narrow streets. In December, fireworks
merchants were known to sell their goods for holiday celebrations. Wary of the
danger, the municipal government of Lima declared the area an "emergency zone.”
• The fire began at about 7:30 PM on the night of 29 December when a fireworks
display created a chain reaction, setting off the fireworks of other nearby vendors. A
spark from the demonstration had landed on a stockpile of fireworks, creating the
initial explosion . The aftermath created a "wall of fire" that spread for four blocks and
raged for several hours.
THE FIRE :
At 7:15pm, when the streets bulged just that little more with people, one of the
thousands of fireworks sold on the streets was let off when a customer asked
for a demonstration. The firework exploded and landed on a nearby roof of the
shopping districted, where tons of fireworks and flammable boxes filled with
flammable items were stored floor to roof, blocking exits. The fire spread in
seconds with other buildings catching fire. The entire district went up in flames
in a huge fireball that produced temperatures well above 800ºC.

LOSSES:
• With streets impassable for cars and people alike, with the fire exits in
buildings blocked by boxes and many even padlocked, as many as 291
people were known to have been burned to death in flames and explosions
the raced down the streets and through buildings.
• There was no time for death via smoke inhalation here.
 AFTERMATH:
• The number listed as disappeared rose to more than 800.
• Close to 4,500 merchants and vendors lost their jobs and scarce savings in
the fire.
• It is estimated that more than 30 percent of the victims were youth, and the
majority was female, most drawn from the millions of marginalized poor who go
daily into the streets of Peruvian cities to earn a few cents or buy cheap goods.
 MECCA FIRE OF 1997
Mecca is located in the western city of Saudi Arabia. It is the birthplace of
prophet Muhammad. On 15 April 1997 the fire erupted in the overcrowded tent
city, Mina, where an estimated two million Muslim pilgrims were gathered on
for the first day of the Hajj, the ritualistic pilgrimage to Mecca. There were
people from Bangladesh ,India who had came to Mecca.

TRAGEDY
The fire erupted at 11:45 a.m. as the piligrams were there in their
tents. The fire was caused by exploding canisters of cooking gas .The
fire was fanned by winds of nearly 40 miles per hour (64 km/h)
causing the destruction of an estimated 70,000 tents. Officially, 1,290
were injured and 217 killed, though witnesses and local newspapers
claimed at least 300 were killed, there were hundreds of bodies most
of them died trampled in the panic. The fire spread very quickly from
one tent to another. Around 70,000 tents were wiped out in the fire
leaving hundreds of thousands of pilgrims temporarily without
shelter. The camps were burned and reduced ashes in hours..

Tents in Mecca
HOW FIRE WAS CONTROLLED
• The Saudis used helicopters to battle the fire, along with some 300
fire engines. Television news reports showed trucks shooting
powerful jets of water into the camp as black smoke filled the air.
Fanned by winds of nearly 40 mile per hour, the fire swept quickly
across the plain, spreading chaos through the camp, crammed with
row after row of white tents. All roads were closed to help in the
fire fighting efforts.

• The Saudis also sent troops to the area to help the injured, and to
assist the thousands of pilgrims left stranded without shelter after
their tents were destroyed. Civil defense forces from Mecca and
nearby Jidda and Taif were brought in to hand out tents and
emergency supplies. The fire was brought under control after five
hours by firefighters backed by emergency helicopters.
CAUSE
According to the Jeddah news the fire started
from the tents were gas cylinders exploded
which was used by pilgrims for cooking ,soon
the fire caught all over the camps. As the sun was
harsh and due to gusty desert winds soon fanned
the flames and it spread all over. Hundreds of
pilgrims were seen rushing to safety from the
burning tents.