The considered fire emergency event was in the Rosemont Hotel located in the city of Chicago. The Rosemont Hotel is part of the Hampton Inn & Suites Hotel. The hotel is located 2.5 miles from the O'Hare International Airport 17 miles from the downtown of Chicago. The nearest fire department station is located in the International Airport with a 7 minutes range. The event was last August 04, 2016 and affected one floor of the hotel (Armentrout, 2016).
The Rosemont Hotel fire steps were the following:
Incipient Step: In this phase, there are no flames, there is a little smoke, the temperature is low; a lot of combustion particles is generated. These particles are invisible, pulling up toward the ceiling. This stage lasted three hours according to different versions of the housekeepers and receptionist of the Hotel. The incipient step started in the Room 308 of the Hotel. The found material in the room was raw materials to produce methamphetamines (ABC, 2016).
Latent stage: There is no significant flame or heat; begins to increase the number of particles to become visible; now they called smoke particles. The duration of this stage was one hour.
Stage flame: The ignition point is reached, and the flames begin. Lower the amount of smoke and heat increases. This stage took seconds. At this moment the receptionist and three guests made the 911 emergency calls (Eltagouri, 2016).
Heat Stage: At this stage large amount of heat, flames, smoke, and toxic gasses generated. The emergency committee of the hotel extinguished the fire with the use of two fire extinguishers of 20 pounds each and the counter fire system of the hotel. When the Fire Fighters arrived at the hotel 95% of the fire was under control, but there were more than 15 guests that required paramedic attention due to the smoke aspiration of the fire and physical injuries in the evacuation process of the hotel (ABC, 2016).
The main factor that caused the fire was a human cause; the two guests in the room 308 were not in the room when the fire started. The guests had five kilograms of a concentrated raw material for the elaboration of methamphetamines. The material has a low ignition temperature of 57°C that contributed to the fire generation in the room and the intoxication of several guests in the rooms located on the upper floors of the hotel.
The fuel source of the fire was a lighted cigarette that turned on the bed sheets, increased the temperature of the room and the material the guests stored in the room (Armentrout, 2016).
The building has all the conditions to difficult the development of a fire event. Each room and hallways have smoke detectors, and each floor has fire extinguishers that have an annual maintenance program. The key factor in the fire event was the low ignition temperature of the methamphetamines raw material than reacted at a temperate bellow the set point of the smoke detectors provoking the smoke generation without the alarm activation.
There were no problems with the building design referred to the fire response. Once the fire signal is given, the Hotel started the emergency procedure with the blockage of the elevators and the activation of the emergency signals to the hallways, the stairs and emergency exits (Eltagouri, 2016).
The recommendation for the hotel, to reduce the severity of a fire event is the possibility to open the windows inside the rooms. The hotels do not offer that possibility to the guests except for the rooms with balcony.
Reference List
Armentrout, M. (2016, August 04). Investigation ongoing into suspicious materials at Rosemont hotel. Retrieved from Chicago Sun Times: http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/suspicious-materials-force-evacuation-of-rosemont-hotel/
Eltagouri, M. (2016, August 05). Cops investigate suspicious materials after Rosemont hotel fire. Retrieved from Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-rosemont-hotel-haz-mat-criminal-investigation-20160804-story.html
