Old Buckingham Station Apartment Complex Fire - (Chesterfield, Virginia - May 19, 1995) » Building Codes

At the time of design and construction of the Old Buckingham Station apartments, Chesterfield County was using the 1984 editions of the BOCA Basic National Building and Mechanical Codes. These documents did not require automatic sprinklers throughout any of the buildings planned for the complex. Negotiations between the developer and Chesterfield County officials produced an agreement requiring a modified NFPA Standard No. 13D automatic sprinkler system to be installed in all buildings. This agreement provided for the use of 1/2-inch type “C” gypsum board in place of 5/8-inch type “X” board except at common party walls and fireplace chases. The agreement also allowed that, subject to building separation distances, the exterior walls did not need to have a fire resistance rating and fire rated floor/ceiling assemblies would not be required, allowing the use of 1/2-inch dry wall. Allowable setback distances from streets and parking areas were also increased.

Fire stop partitions in an attic are important to slow the fire’s spread throughout this large unsprinklered combustible concealed space. Their purpose in the building code is to provide a brief, rarely more than 20 minutes, period to hold the fire from spreading horizontally beyond the first compartment. Their successful function anticipates that the fire department can be in place and attacking the fire within this time period. Even when constructed in accordance with building code requirements and well maintained (i.e., with no openings or holes around penetrations), they require timely fire department intervention to be effective. Firefighters with hose lines and tools will need to be dispatched to these locations early on the fire. These partitions also have to be located where the fire cannot easily travel around or under them. It is good practice to locate them in conjunction with the tenant separation walls as they are also required to have some resistance to fire spread.

The developer requested that the attic firestops be provided on the basis of 3,000 square feet segments. In the requested attic firestop arrangement, the walls in the attic may not have been located at the same place as the tenant separation walls. According to April 28, 1987 correspondence, the County rejected the request. The tenant separation walls were to continue through the attic space to the underside of the combustible roof deck. Based upon the fire department’s investigation after the fire, the attic firestop walls were not in alignment with the tenant separation walls.

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