• Board and care facilities
• Hotels and motels
• Fires in vacant buildings
• School fires
• Religious and funeral properties
• Campus and dorm fires
• Oil refineries
• High-rise buildings
• Nightclubs/assembly occupancies
• Summary of code changes
• Technical Committee meeting
• 60 Minutes II interview
• Fire safety in assembly occupancies
• Public assembly and nightclub fires
• Educational messages/safety tips
• Nursing homes

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Nightclubs/assembly occupancies

Every so often, the unexpected happens. Anyone who enters public assembly buildings needs to be prepared. See safety tips for nightclubs and other assembly occupancies.    AUDIO Gary Keith, former NFPA Vice President of Field Operations, speaks about The Station nightclub tragedy in Rhode Island:   How did the Station nightclub fire start?   Why was the fire so deadly?   What was the firefighter response? Why didn't the Station nightclub have sprinklers?   What was the purpose of the NFPA investigation?

Nightclub fire in Brazil kills hundreds on January 27, 2013.
(AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

Fires in assembly occupancies have shown to be some of the most deadly when the proper features, systems and construction materials were not present. NFPA code provisions mandate that a considerable number of safety systems and features be present in order to keep everyone safe should an unwanted fire occur.

• Ten deadliest public assembly and nightclub fires in U.S. history
• Ten deadliest nightclub fires in world history

From the NFPA Today blog

Video: NFPA president Jim Shannon says what makes the Brazil nightclub fire so heartbreaking is that it could have been avoided with adherence to codes including the use of sprinklers.

 
Video: NFPA's Robert Solomon says consumers need to know how to protect themselves when they visit nightclubs and other public assembly venues.
 

Video: NFPA's Robert Solomon was asked if he was surprised that a fire of this magnitude can still happen in this day and age.

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The Cocoanut Grove fire
The deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, the Cocoanut Grove nightclub burned on November 28, 1942, killing 492 people.

• Cocoanut Grove Coalition website 
• NFPA launches effort to conserve Cocoanut Grove stories and artifacts (includes video featuring survivors of the fire)
• "Last Dance at the Cocoanut Grove" (includes photo gallery and audio from a survivor)
• "Searching for Answers to the Cocoanut Grove Fire" (PDF, 2.5 MB), NFPA Journal®, May/June 2000

The Station nightclub fire
A fire at The Station nightclub in W. Warwick, RI, on February 20, 2003, claimed 100 lives and is the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history. Since the fire, NFPA has enacted tough new code provisions for fire sprinklers and crowd management in nightclub-type venues. Those provisions mark sweeping changes to the codes and standards governing safety in assembly occupancies.

• Ten years after The Station nightclub fire, a survivor returns to the site to remember the fiancée and friends he lost, and recount how he became a champion for fire sprinklers.
• Slideshow: NFPA investigator Robert Duval recounts the scene at The Station nightclub. 
• Video: The Station nightclub fire in a real-scale environment (NIST).
• Final NIST report on The Station nightclub fire (June 2005)

 NFPA reports and resources

• NFPA Case Study: Nightclub fires (PDF, 3 MB)
  This 2006 case study reviews historic fires in assembly occupancies as well as The Station nightclub fire and the response of NFPA to this tragedy. In addition, changes made in RI and MA as well as an investigation completed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology are summarized.
• "U.S. Fires in Selected Occupancies: Eating and Drinking Establishments", November 2012
• NFPA reports on assembly occupancy fires.
• Information on the inspection of assembly occupancies (PDF, 2.2 MB) from the eighth edition of NFPA's Fire and Life Safety Inspection Manual. Provides the basis for ongoing inspections of existing buildings regardless of use or occupancy.
• Inspection checklist for assembly occupancies (PDF, 48 KB) which can be used as the basis for inspection if a jurisdiction does not otherwise have a prepared list available.
• Chapter 3, Codes and Standards for the Built Environment (PDF, 241 KB) from the 19th edition of NFPA's Fire Protection Handbook. Provides information about the history and role of regulations in the built environment, standards organizations, and enforcement, along with information about standards developing organizations, both nationally and internationally.