tragedy suggests safer constrction codes.

"Gov. Matt Blunt on Friday proposed a sprinkler system mandate for
Missouri's long-term care facilities in response to a fire that killed
11 people at a group home for the mentally ill.
The Anderson Guest House was not equipped with sprinklers when a Nov.
27 fire started in the attic and swept through the one-story building.
After the fire, Blunt ordered a review of Missouri's fire safety
regulations for such facilities. . . .
The report also recommends that smoking be banned in bedrooms and
restricted only to designated smoking areas at long-term-care
facilities."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...,5333633.story



Robert Green wrote:
I can't recall whether it was here in CHA or in alt.home.repair (hence the
crosspost) but I am certain I read messages from people who short outlets or
wiring with a screwdriver (instead of using a meter or a fox and hound toner
set) to find the controlling circuit breaker for that branch. The article
below points out the possible downside of that approach:

Missouri: Inquiry Ties Wiring to Fatal Group Home Fire

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/us/20brfs-Fire.html

By LIBBY SANDER
Published: December 20, 2006
Hours before a fire killed 10 people in a group home for the mentally ill
and disabled on Nov. 27 in Anderson, a maintenance worker trying to repair a
furnace short-circuited wiring in the attic, where fire investigators said
they believed that the fire started. The worker told investigators that he
did not know which circuit breaker operated the furnace and that he
deliberately tripped the system, according to a report from the Missouri
Fire Safety Division. The wiring may have become overloaded, the report
staid. The fire marshal said the home did not have sprinklers. The report
was obtained by The Associated Press under an open-records law.


--
Bobby G.