Provo Tabernacle Fire

“ It was a series of errors, and one compounded the following 1, ” a summing up by Provo Fire Investigator Lynn Marshall. The Provo Tabernacle was a 19,228 square pes edifice used by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, along with the community, as a meeting hall and topographic point to keep events such as graduations, dramas and funerals. On December 17, 2010 fire destroyed the Provo Tabernacle, a symbol of the community to many. Several factors went into the cause and growing of this fire including the technology of the edifice, instruction of the residents and enforcement of fire codification.

The original Provo Tabernacle was built between 1883 and 1886. It was constructed of unreinforced brick five wythes deep with a roof made up of unsmooth cut 2 x 12 boards. The roof deck was 1 ten 8 planking and plyboard with cedar shingles. Inside the edifice were several balconies supported by 2 tens 12 unsmooth cut joists accessed by turrets located in each of the four corners. The ceiling deck was lath and plaster supported by 2 ten 8 ceiling joists covered with plyboard decking. ( Provo Tabernacle Fire Investigation Task Force, 2011 ) As stated by Provo Fire Marshal Schofield in a picture interview with Professor Noll from Utah Valley University the edifice “was built to last.” ( Noll, 2011 ) However, constructing building of this type provided a generous sum of combustibles ensuing in a big fire burden.

In 1985 a remodel of the Tabernacle was preformed adding an air managing system, updated electrical constituents and a fire sensing system. The fire sensing system was local to the edifice and non monitored off-site. Harmonizing to the Fire Investigation Report the fire sensors in the Attic country were “well below the crest of the roof, ” leting a fire to turn significantly before any dismay was activated. The remodel did non include a fire sprinkler system as several other Church owned edifices received during their remodels. ( Provo Tabernacle Fire Investigation Task Force, 2011 ) With a few little technology alterations such as a monitored fire dismay, sprinkler system and protected edifice stuffs the Provo Tabernacle could hold been saved from entire devastation.

Alexander Pope wrote “To err is human, ” the Provo Tabernacle fire was a consequence of several human mistakes that may hold been prevented with proper instruction. As a consequence of the fire probe, the cause of the fire was believed to be an energized lamp removed from its lodging to suspend a lighting truss used for a drama at the Tabernacle. The beginning and do study stated “The lighting technicians did non acknowledge, or take to disregard the jeopardy associated with an energized 300-watt lamp being placed onto a wood surface.” ( Provo Tabernacle Fire Investigation Task Force, 2011 ) Proper instruction of the technicians as to the appropriate manner to render the lamps safe would hold prevented the fire. It was reported that on two separate cases people involved in the Glory drama production failed to describe the odor of fume. Along with those involved in the production, a messenger stated that he noticed fog around the visible radiations at the Tabernacle with no presence of fog anyplace else in Provo that dark ; he did non describe this to the security guard or fire section. With the proper instruction to describe fume or the odor of fume to the fire section, the fire could hold been found earlier ensuing in significantly less harm to the edifice. ( Meyers, 2011 )

“I would instead be called to an dismay a thousand times and happen out that it was false than non called and have it be the existent thing.” Captain Corey Bybee, Syracuse Fire Department. The fire sensing system at the Provo Tabernacle had a history of false dismaies which the fire section was merely called to one clip in the past five old ages. With the prevalence of false dismaies the edifice directors became self-satisfied to the fire dismay system as a whole, frequently resetting it without look intoing the cause. Two hebdomads prior to the fire Best Building Systems failed the dismay system during an review. That failure was non reported to Provo Fire Department as required by province jurisprudence. On the dark of the fire the security guard encountered an hearable dismay in the edifice which he thought was an interloper dismay. Upon review of the dismay panel he did non acknowledge it as a fire dismay panel. When he contacted the responsible party about the dismay he was advised of the frequent happening of false dismaies and told to reset it. With instruction of what a fire dismay is and proper process followed when encountered, the fire in the Tabernacle could hold been found hours earlier. ( Provo Tabernacle Fire Investigation Task Force, 2011 )

The authorization holding legal power over the Provo Tabernacle was Provo Fire Department. This meant that the fire section was in charge of one-year reviews and doing certain the edifice met fire codification. If Best Building Systems notified the fire section of the Tabernacle’s dismay system failure so the fire section could hold enforced their authorization to necessitate the system be fixed.

As a consequence of incendiarism a fire in the Happyland Social Club claimed the lives of 87 people on March 25, 1990. The nine was being operated illicitly in New York City ; it was ordered closed for fire jeopardies and edifice codification misdemeanors 16 months prior to the fire. The edifice merely had one entryway and issue on the land floor, there was no manner to go out the upper floor without traveling downstairs. The fire was intentionally set in the room access by a dissatisfied frequenter of the nine. The taking investigator on the instance stated the incendiary poured gasolene in the entryway and put it on fire with lucifers. The fire grew quickly, cutting off the lone door and pin downing people indoors. The nine had no fire dismay or sprinkler system installed. Similar to the Provo Tabernacle fire, this fire could hold been avoided if the fire marshal enforced the fire codification misdemeanors. ( Blumenthal, 1990 )

In November 1980 a fire in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas resulted in the hurt of over 600 people and the decease of 86 invitees and hotel employees. Similar to the Provo Tabernacle, the MGM Grand received several fire protection system updates in a anterior remodel. The MGM Grand installed a partial fire sprinkler system, whereas the Provo Tabernacle installed a non-monitored fire dismay system. Neither edifice possessed a full or complete fire protection system. During the fire at the MGM it was reported that the fire dismay system was shut off by an employee in the edifice because they thought it was a false dismay. Some of the victims’ studies stated there was no hearable dismay ; the lone indicant of fire was from the response of the fire section. Other human factors that contributed the fire spread were smoke dampers that were tied unfastened, lending to fire spread and fume filled hallways. ( Best & A ; Demers, 1982 )

In a series of intensifying errors the Provo Tabernacle was destroyed due to fire in December of 2010. Several times in the yearss prior to, and the twenty-four hours of the fire this calamity could hold been avoided. If the Provo Fire Department would hold enforced their authorization to hold the fire dismay system fixed, or the edifice was updated to current fire codifications with a fire sprinkler system engineered for the edifice, the fire could hold been avoided in the first topographic point. With a small instruction on the proper fire processs to the edifice directors, security guards and occupants the fire could hold been found in the incipient phase, cut downing the overall harm to the Tabernacle. The MGM Grand, Happyland Social Club and Provo Tabernacle fires are all illustrations of ways that proper instruction, technology and enforcement of fire codifications can cut down harm and salvage lives.

Mentions Best, R. , & A ; Demers, D.P. ( 1982 ) . Investigation Report on the MGM Grand Hotel Fire. National Fire Protection Association. Blumenthal, R. ( 1990, March 26 ) . Fire in the Bronx ; 87 Die in Blaze at Illegal Club. The New York Times. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nytimes.com/1990/03/26/nyregion/fire-bronx-87-die-blaze-illegal-club-police-arrest-ejected-patron-worst-new-york.html Meyers, D.W. ( 2011, March 31 ) . Light fixture, human mistakes led to loss of 103-year-old edifice. The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51538974-75/fire-building-alarm-tabernacle.html.csp Noll, G. ( 2011 ) . Case Study on Fire Prevention – The Provo City Tabernacle [ Video file ] . Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //uvu.instructure.com/courses/345654/assignments/1816154 # submit Provo Tabernacle Fire Investigation Task Force. ( 2011 ) . Tabernacle Fire Report Executive Summary. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //media.bonnint.net/slc/2490/249074/24907424.pdf