1978 — Jan 28, Fire, Coates House Hotel (many low-income elderly), Kansas City, MO– 20

— 20 Best. “The Coates House Hotel Fire..” Fire Journal, Vol. 72, No. 4, July 1978, p. 23.
— 20 Jones, Jon C. “A Brief Look At The Hotel Fire Record.” Fire Journal, May 1981, p. 41.
— 20 Jones. “1978 Multiple-Death Fires: Smoking Materials…” Fire Journal, July 1969, p. 34.
— 20 National Fire Sprinkler Association. F.Y.I. 1999, 7.
— 18 Ward. “Hotel Fires: Landmarks in Flames…,” Firehouse, March 1978, p. 40.

Narrative Information

Best. “The Coates House Hotel Fire..” Fire Journal, Vol. 72, No. 4, July 1978:
“….All of the 220 rooms had high ceilings….The south wing…was almost totally destroyed by the fire, and the areas that remained were razed in the process of recovering bodies….

“The hotel was 143 feet by 180 feet and was U-shaped…with one main stairway serving all floors…Another stairway at the east end of the south wing was reportedly open, with no cutoff between floors. It was along this stairway that the fire is believed to have spread; this stairway was destroyed in the fire. The stairs reportedly were open or had non-fire-rated doors, if any….On the upper floors, a masonry wall was provided between the main corridor and stairs, with two labeled, metal, self-closing fire doors at openings. The top-floor access to the main stairway consisted of a single door that opened against the direction of exit travel.

“The only other way out of the building was by open metal fire escapes located at the east ends of each wing and at the north and south ends of the main corridor. Access to the fire escapes was through windows, and required climbing over windowsills to reach the fire-escape balconies. The fire escapes were not protected against fire in the hotel; i.e.; a fire on the lower floors could render the fire-escape stairs impassable before the occupants on upper floors would have time to use them.

“The ground and first floors of the hotel were mostly vacant….The first floor had suffered fire damage at an earlier date and had never been repaired for occupancy. The second through fifth floors of the building were occupied by approximately 150 to 200 guests on the day of the 1978 fire. Fifty single rooms were located on each on the upper floors. The larger suites of the original hotel layout had been subdivided at some time to form single rooms about 9½ feet by 18 feet….

“Although the Coates House Hotel was an elegant landmark at the turn of the century, the hotel had deteriorated over the years; at the time of the fire, it was occupied by transients and elderly people in low-cost rooms, was inadequately heated, and was in general disrepair….

“….A fire alarm system was provided, but the extent of coverage could not be determined. There were no pull stations observed in the building, and apparently the only means of activating the alarm system was on the first floor at the hotel clerk’s desk. The system may not have covered all floors….

“There was no evidence of emergency lighting systems or illuminated exit sights on any floors, and no air-conditioning or ventilating systems.

“The Fire

“An occupant of the fourth floor of the hotel (in Room 405) heard someone running in the corridor sometime around 3:30 or 4:00 am on Saturday morning January 28, and went to the door of his room to investigate. He saw a ball of flame shooting up over his head. Shouting to his wife to get out, he then ran down the south-wing corridor to within ten feet of the main corridor. There was smoke at the ceiling level at that location. He latter said that he had seen fire at the east end of the south-wing corridor in the area of the storage rooms.

“The desk clerk turned on the building heat at about 3:45 am [was 6⁰-7⁰ outside], and at approximately 3:50 someone came down the stairs and reported a fire on the fourth or fifth floor. The clerk called the hotel manager, and the manager instructed him to call the fire department, which he did.

“The Kansas City Fire Department received a telephone report of the fire at 4:12 am. First-alarm companies were dispatched, and apparatus arrived at the hotel within three minutes after notification. By that time, the upper floors of the hotel were untenable. As the battalion chief arrived at the fire, he could see heavy smoke on the top floors of the south wing; about four people were hanging out of windows on the west (front) and south sides.

“When the deputy chief arrived at 4:21 am, he could see eight to ten people hanging out of windows on the north side of the hotel. He saw several more people handing out of windows on the back side of the hotel, and also noted heavy fire involvement on the fourth and fifth floors extending down the entire sough wing.

“The walls began to buckle due to the intense heat. Truck Number 7 was set up at the southeast corner of the building, and fire fighters rescued four people by way of the aerial ladder. As they did so, four other people jumped to their deaths from the south wall. At this time, pieces of the wall began to fall. The south wall collapsed, sending ignited debris into the air.

“Approximately 25 persons were rescued by aerial ladders from the fourth and fifth floors on the east side of the building, and at least seven persons were rescued from the fire escapes. Approximately 150 persons were rescued or evacuated by fire fighters, policemen, and some occupants who assisted. Fire fighters were hampered by 6⁰ to 7⁰ temperatures and 12- to 13-knot winds out of the northwest. A total of 14 engines, eight ladder trucks, and approximately 90 fire fighters were required to complete rescue operations and bring the fire under control….

“Analysis

“Kansas City adopted the 1976 edition of the Uniform Building Code, effective June 1, 1977. Because the Coates House Hotel was an existing building, requirements in the Uniform Building Code to improve the alarm system and stair enclosure could not be applied. The NFPA Life Safety Code is not enforced by the Kansas City Codes Administration. The Kansas City Fire Protection Code incorporates by reference NFPA 101-1970, but the Code is enforceable only where it is determined that there is distinct hazard to life.

“The analysis and conclusions in this report are primarily based on the application of the 1976 Life Safety Code, so that conditions at the conditions at the Coates House Hotel on the date of the fire could be compared to the latest edition of the Life Safety Code. It is recognized that the 1976 Life Safety Code was not in effect in Kansas City during the operation of the Coates House Hotel or prior to the fire.

“The 1976 Life Safety Code requires that exits shall be so arranged that from any corridor room door, exits will be accessible in at least two different directions. None of the rooms in the Coates House Hotel had access to a second acceptable type of exit. Fire escapes and sub-standard stairways provided the only alternate means of egress to the central stairway. Open metal fire escapes, unshielded against fire in the structure to which that are attached, are not recognized by the Life Safety Code as exits. These escapes are actually considered a menace, as they are utterly inadequate and give a false sense of security.

“Because of the unacceptable fire escape exits, travel distance to the nearest exit was excessive. Another egress problem involved the main stairway to the ground floor. The stairway was open between the ground and first floors, and did not lead directly to the street.

“The Life Safety Code requires that doors between hotel guest rooms and corridors be self-closing and have a fire-protection rating of at least 20 minutes, except that in existing buildings previously approved, 1¾-inch solid bonded wood core doors can remain in use. Transoms are required by the Code to be fixed in the closed position, and covered or otherwise protected to provide a fire-resistance rating at least equivalent to that of the wall in which they are installed. Doors at the Coates House Hotel were wood-panel doors, not self-closing. Transoms above the doors to sleeping rooms in the hotel were covered by metal or hardboard in some areas, but were merely painted glass in other areas.

“The 1976 Life Safety Code also requires that hazardous areas be separated from other parts of the building by construction having a fire-resistance rating of at least one hour, and that communicating openings be protected by approved automatic or self-closing fire doors, or that such areas be equipped with automatic extinguishing systems. Rooms on the north side of the central stairway and on the east end of the south wing were used for storage of mattresses and other combustible materials, and should have been separated from other parts of the building or equipped with an automatic suppression system.

“The alarm system at the Coates House Hotel was not properly installed according to the Life Safety Code. The system apparently had not been installed throughout the building, and did not function properly at the time of the fire. Manual pull stations were not observed in the building. The desk clerk reported that he was on the upper floors, but did not hear the alarm system until he reached the second floor. He also stated that the alarm system was heard during the fire in the north end of the hotel, but not in the south end.

“The Life Safety Code requires that every stairway and elevator shaft opening be enclosed or protected to prevent the spread of fire or smoke. Stairways at the southeast and northwest corners of the hotel were not properly enclosed or protected. The types of doors provided at the elevator openings could not be determined because of the complete destruction of that portion of the building….None of the roll-type fire doors that were located immediately7 south of the main stairwell activated during the fire. It was not verified that the doors were arranged for automatic operation. The Life Safety Code requires emergency lighting in hotels with more than 25 rooms, and illuminated exit signs in all hotels. Neither emergency lighting systems nor illuminated exit signs were provided at the Coates House Hotel….”

Jones. “1978 Multiple-Death Fires: Smoking Materials…” Fire Journal, July 1969:
“The largest loss of life fire in 1978 was the Coates House Hotel fire in Kansas City, Missouri, which killed 20 people on January 28, 1978.” (p. 34.)

“The Seven 1978 Fires Taking Ten or More Lives” (box on p. 38):
“Residential….
“Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri…
“On January 28, 1978, 20 occupants of this 92-year-old hotel died in a fire of undetermined origin. The six-story building had no automatic sprinkler protection and no smoke or heat detection systems. Sub-standard means of egress, an ineffective alarm system, unprotected vertical openings, and an unsafe arrangement of storage contributed to the large loss of life in this fire.”

Ward: “At least 18 residents were killed in a fire that that swept through the historic Coates House in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, on January 28. Four of them leapt to their deaths from upper-story windows where they were trapped by flames. The once-elegant hotel house 147 people, many elderly and with limited incomes. The Coates House, opened in 1867, had housed three presidents: William McKinley, Grover Cleveland, and Theodore Roosevelt, during its proud past. It was included in the National Register of Historic Places by the Department of the Interior.

“One hundred men and 23 pieces of apparatus fought the fire in five-degree weather. The search for victims continued for days.” (Ward. “Hotel Fires: Landmarks in Flames…,” Firehouse, March 1978, p. 40.)

Le: “The Coates House Hotel was partially destroyed, and many area residents assumed that remains were to be demolished, instead replaced by a parking lot to meet the demand of new downtown jobs. In 1979, the Historic Kansas City Foundation (HKCF) bought the ruined hotel in July of 1979, seeking to preserve the heritage and history of the building citing a number of dignitaries that stayed in the past and, “The Coates House is symbolic in nature….and was ‘THE’ place in Kansas City.” The HKCF owned the building for more than five years until a developer bought the building. Renovations were complete in 1987 and the former Coates House Hotel became the Quality Hill Apartments. Additionally, after the problems faced during the fire, the fire department changed many of its procedures. For example, on a ‘high-rise’ response, the department now sends ten companies right-off the bat instead of the one sent the morning of. Additional changes were made to fire safety codes to keep older buildings fire safe.

“As of now, the northern part of the Coates House Hotel still stands as the Quality Hill Apartments. Thanks to the efforts of the HKCF, the exterior of the building remains largely the same. Other than the HKCF’s preservation of appearance of the building there is only one plaque with mention of the existence of the Coates House Hotel, outside of the building on the corner of 10th and Broadway is a plaque that commemorates April 11, 1912 , the when the first Sertoma International meeting took place at the hotel. Additionally, there is also a plaque dedicated to Kersey Coates, the man who developed the hotel, detailing his accomplishments and his work for developing Quality Hill. Since the renovation of the former Coates House Hotel, there have been no additional attempts made to commemorate the hotel’s significance. Though there is no explicit memory site that commemorates the event of the fire, the restoration of part of the hotel remains as one of Kansas City’s great architectural jewels.”

Sources

Best, Richard. “The Coates House Hotel Fire. 20 Die, 36 Rescued Down Ladders in 92-Year-Old Kansas City Hotel.” Fire Journal, Vol. 72, No. 4, July 1978, pp. 23-29.

Jones, Jon C. “A Brief Look At The Hotel Fire Record.” Fire Journal, May 1981, pp. 38-41. Boston: National Fire Protection Association.

Jones. “1978 Multiple-Death Fires: Smoking Materials Lead Ignition Sources.” Fire Journal, Vol. 73, No. 4, July 1969, pp. 33-40.

Le, Karen. “The Coates House Hotel Fire.” Clio: Your Guide to History. December 11, 2019. Accessed June 14, 2021 at: https://www.theclio.com/entry/89037

National Fire Sprinkler Association, Inc. F.Y.I. – Fire Sprinkler Facts. Patterson, NY: NFSA, November 1999, 8 pages. Accessed at: http://www.firemarshals.org/data/File/docs/College%20Dorm/Administrators/F1%20-%20FIRE%20SPRINKLER%20FACTS.pdf

Ward, Neale. “Hotel Fires: Landmarks in Flames, History’s Famous Hotel Fires,” Firehouse, March 1978, pp. 40-45.