Fire Safety
Fires that changed materials, exits, firefighting, testing, and the standards used to limit fire spread.
Investigations
The Hatch Opened Inward
Apollo 1’s ignition source was never conclusively identified. NASA’s review instead found a pressurized pure-oxygen cabin, combustible materials near possible ignition sources, and an inner hatch the crew could not open before…
The Filter Was at the Top
Windscale’s chimney filter was a late addition 125 metres above the reactor. In 1957 it caught most radioactive particulate—but iodine vapour still escaped into the milk supply.
They Thought They Had Ten Minutes
USS Forrestal’s firefighters believed they had about ten minutes before a burning bomb could explode. The Korean War-era weapon detonated after roughly ninety-four seconds.
The Crowd Became the Lock
At Chicago’s Iroquois Theatre in 1903, some exits opened inward. As hundreds pressed toward them, the crowd itself could keep the doors shut. The disaster helped change how public exits work.