Jock Litterick Fire Management Consultant

Jock Litterick Fire Management Consultant Jock Litterick has almost 30 years experience in Fire Engineering Consulting. He has worked on prestigious projects both in South Africa and abroad.

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16/03/2019

Report: NFPA's "Fires Caused by Spontaneous Combustion or Chemical Reaction"
Author: Ben Evarts
Issued: November 2011

Fires caused by spontaneous combustion or chemical reaction accounted for an estimated average of 14,070 fires per year between 2005 and 2009. These included 3,200 structure fires, 1,150 vehicle fires, 5,250 outside non-trash and unclassified fires, and 4,460 outside trash or rubbish fires. The most common occupancy types for structure fires were residential (50% of fires), storage (12%), mercantile or business (9%) and manufacturing or processing (9%). Because the fires are coded as "spontaneous combustion or chemical reaction" there is no way to determine what the exact circumstances were (spontaneous combustion versus some other kind of chemical reaction).

The fire which destroyed the warehouse belonging to Wylie & Lochhead, upholsterers and undertakers at 43-47 Buchanan Str...
12/03/2019

The fire which destroyed the warehouse belonging to Wylie & Lochhead, upholsterers and undertakers at 43-47 Buchanan Street, was observed by thousands of Glaswegians making their way into the city centre on the night of Saturday 3 November 1883. When the firemen arrived on the scene and turned their hoses on the fire they found that the water pressure was too low to reach the higher parts of the building. It was discovered that the pressure had been turned off at the water works at the entrance to the city. One fireman was slightly injured by broken glass whilst fighting the blaze.

The Wylie & Lochhead blaze was one of Victorian Glasgow's worst, causing damage worth over £200,000. Fires of this magnitude had become rare, due to the effectiveness of public fire alarms installed in 1878 and the speed and efficiency with which the fire service answered emergency calls.

Reference: TD 338/23/17

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning

Glasgow suffered a fatal fire disaster on May 4, 1949, when 13 female shop assistants died in a blaze at Grafton's Depar...
09/03/2019

Glasgow suffered a fatal fire disaster on May 4, 1949, when 13 female shop assistants died in a blaze at Grafton's Department Store in Argyle Street.
Two died after jumping from the four-story building
Others were found dead, huddled inside.
The dead ranged in age from 15 to 23.
The blaze occurred on a Wednesday, at that time the busiest shopping day of the week in Glasgow.
When fire crews arrived, there was so much smoke, they did not know which side of the street the fire was on.
When the fire broke out, crowds of cinema-goers from the next door Argyle picture house were evacuated, adding to the crowds and confusion in the street.
In August 1949, two employees received the George Medal for heroism for helping rescue staff trapped by the blaze.
George Kamill Platt, a clerk, and Solomon Winetrobe, former paratrooper turned shop manager risked their lives.
Winetrobe worked his way along a 5in.-wide ledge 55ft. above the street and persuaded five women trapped on the top floor to step on the ledge.
He supported them until they reached Platt, who helped them to ' the safety of the next-door cinema.

Picture 1: Newsquest Herald & Times.
Picture 2: Daily Record.

17/06/2018

https://www.facebook.com/1075710297/posts/10207825444968817/

To those who don't remember their high school chemistry, magnesium reacts with water to liberate hydrogen - and a lot of heat. Metallic Mg reacts only slowly, but Mg vapour, produced when Mg burns, will react extremely quickly due to the high burning temperature, (around 2500C), and produces heat very rapidly. Hence the explosion when water is applied.

This is the sort of issue firefighters can come up against in their day to day work. In this case, a simple storage facility fire could become a death trap.

Had they known there was burning Mg in the building, they would simply have extinguished it by covering it with sand.

Disclaimer: This article is published in the interest of promoting good fire engineering. Use the information at your own risk.

The Palace Hotel Shahdag, Azerbaijan 2012. Fire Strategy Designed to NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, with x-reference to Russ...
12/03/2018

The Palace Hotel Shahdag, Azerbaijan 2012.

Fire Strategy Designed to NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, with x-reference to Russian SNIP codes.

Designed all wet fire services; Sprinklers, Hydrants and Hosereel Systems to NFPA.

Designed Hotel Smoke Extraction Systems using a t^2 model using NFPA 92B and BR368 and BS7346.

Designed Smoke Detection System to NFPA 72.

Designed Stairwell Pressurisation Systems to NFPA 92.

Designed CO Detection System to Basement Car Park.

Designed Jet Fan and Smoke Extract Fan Installations to Basement Car Park.

Was a great job - Was a great challenge!

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