Office Building Fire

JuanValdez · Mar 29, 2007

I don't know if there is much to actually say about the big fire yesterday. It was interesting to me, though, because I was on the cusp of being employed by the management company, Boxer Property, a couple of months ago. If it is true that the sprinklers and fire alarms didn't go off, that company is in for a world of hurt.

Edit: They've actually updated the article on me. Sounds like the legislation is the thing in danger here.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4671663.html

March 29, 2007, 11:21AM
Structural fears keep firefighters out of burned building

By KEVIN MORAN and MATT STILES
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Fears about the structural integrity of a burned-out six-story office building in which three people perished are keeping firefighters from entering today to see if any more victims remain in the ruins, officials said today.

The walls and floors of the building at 9343 North Loop East are waterlogged and parts of the ruined building are moving, Houston District Fire Chief Tommy Dowdy said.

"We're not going to go in there until we get the building engineers here," Dowdy said today, emphasizing that there have been no reports of anyone possibly remaining inside.

Although necessary, the wait for an engineer's examination of the building is frustrating to firefighters, Dowdy said.

"We're not going to feel really good about this until there's a room-by-room, floor-by-floor ... search," Dowdy said.

Firefighters retrieved three victims' bodies around 1 a.m. today. Those retrievals came after a search for victims already had been called off once Wednesday night because officials were leery of the building's condition. However, shortly after midnight Wednesday, about five hours after the fire was declared extinguished, firefighters went into the fifth floor of the building to get bodies they had located before being driven out of the blazing building themselves earlier.

Today, Dowdy said, the walls and floors of the building are heavy with water absorbed during the battle to put out the blaze and weakened by the fire.

"We're concerned about different parts of the outer walls," Dowdy said. "It's more the outer walls than the interior stuff" that appear to be moving.

Perry Schindewolf, the Houston Fire Department's chief inspector, said this morning he believes the building's fire-protection systems complied with city codes.

He said the atrium building had a "minor, partial'' sprinkler system, and that 100-percent suppression coverage wasn't required until an ordinance change in 1980 - after the building went up.

He added, "If this building were built today, it would have a full sprinkler system. This building would be a much different situation than a building that is built today.''

He also said the building was "grandfathered" from current requirements for fire-alarm systems.

"Evidentially they put in some partial fire-alarm systems, meaning some manual-pull stations,'' he said. "If the building were built today, it would be required to have a full alarm system.''

The building was last inspected in March 2005, and there were no violations, said Charles Key, another HFD inspector.

The building isn't considered a "high-rise,'' because it's less than 75 feet - the highest distance reachable by the fire department's ladder trucks.

"Those types of buildings have much more fire protection than a building like this,'' Schindewolf said. ``This building would be grandfathered. There's no code that would go back and make it come up to today's standards.''

He estimates there are 40 similar atrium buildings in Houston built under the old code.

If the building is declared dangerous by engineers, not only a search for more possible victims but the fire investigation itself will have to wait, Dowdy said.

"Arson can't finish up what they need to do util we get the building stabilized," Dowdy said, adding that so far there is no evidence of arson and the fire's cause remains unknown.

Besides families of the three known victims, no one has notified officials that they know someone who might have been in the building and is unaccounted for, Dowdy said.

Early today, an investigator from the medical examiner's office notified one family that their loved one, Marvin Wells, had perished in the blaze. Wells, an assistant pastor at a local church, was identified by the driver's license authorities found in his pocket, said Ken Campbell, the family's pastor.

As the victim's unidentified wife received the news, the woman collapsed into the arms of family. Just minutes before, the wife had been hopeful that her husband had escaped the fire and as she clutched a photograph of her spouse.

The woman's daughter fell to the pavement after she saw her mother crying. They were escorted to a car.

Michael Bonner, the victim's brother-in law, said Wells didn't deserve to die such a horrific death.

"Marvin was a man who helped other people at all times,'' Bonner said. "It's a horrible way to die.''

The medical examiner's office also told members of the family of Willie Hargrove, whose wife Jeanette worked in the building for the Texas Department of Assistive & Rehabilitative Services, that Jeanette Hargrove was among the victims.

The identity of the third known victim was not released. A spokesman for the medical examiner's office, which has not confirmed identities of any fire victims, said autopsies on all three bodies taken from the scene likely will be completed today.

Firefighters at the scene this morning said that a ladder truck was used throughout the night to put out small fire flare-ups.
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