— 10 Isner. Fire Investigation Report: Board and Care Facility Fire, Detroit, MI, June 2, 1992, p. 2.

— 10 NFPA. Fire Investigations, Board and Care Fires. 1998, p. 28.

— 10 USFA. Ten-Fatality Board and Care Facility Fire, Detroit, Michigan (June 2, 1992). 1999.

— 10 The News, Frederick, MD. “Ten Dead in Detroit Fire at Boarding Home,” June 2, 1992, 3.

Narrative Information

AP, June 2: “Detroit (AP) — A fire roared through a boarding house early today, killing 10 people, many of them handicapped, and seriously injuring two others, authorities said. The blaze broke out about 2:30 a.m. and gutted the three-story brick building. It was extinguished about three hours later, fire officials said.

“Sixteen people were believed to have been inside the house, called New Way Development, Fire Chief Harold Watkins said. He said four of them escaped without injury and two others, a man and a woman, were hospitalized in serious condition.

“The 10 other residents were found dead inside, most in their rooms, Chief Watkins said. Many of the residents were physically or mentally handicapped, authorities said. Four women and six men, ranging in age from mid-40s to an 89-year-old, were killed, Chief Watkins said.

“Chief Watkins said it was the most deaths in a single fire in the more than 30 years he had been on the Detroit force. The cause of the blaze was unknown, the chief said. “I had been asleep when they said ‘It’s a fire, it’s a fire,'” said Willis Darnell, one of the residents who escaped. “I couldn’t walk. I fell down the stairs.” “I grabbed my blanket and put it over my head and I got out. I walked fast,” said Delores Strempeck, 60, another resident.

“Caretaker Tyree Fluckes, 37, said he heard a fire alarm and he and a resident, Glenn Gregory, tried to wake up the other residents, knocking on their doors. But the smoke got so thick that he and Gregory finally had to flee, he said. “Those people were like family to us,” Mr. Fluckes said.

“Mr. Fluckes said the fire started in the kitchen. Chief Watkins said he could not confirm that.

“Janie Nelson, 69, who with her husband, Robert, has owned the home for 33 years, said the house undergoes annual city inspection and licensing. “Some of them have been there 27 years,” she said. “It’s terrible”.” (The News, Frederick, MD. “Ten Dead in Detroit Fire at Boarding Home,” June 2, 1992, 3.)

NFPA: “At approximately 2:15 a.m., on Tuesday, June 2, 1992, a fire occurred at an adult foster care facility in Detroit, Michigan, and it resulted in the deaths of 10 occupants. The building involved in this fire was originally a three-story, two-family dwelling. However, in the early 1970s it was renovated for use as an adult foster care facility. At the time of the fire, 16 predominantly elderly individuals lived in the facility, and some of these residents were mentally or physically handicapped. In addition to the residents, one night supervisor was in the facility.

“Local investigators believe that the probable cause of the fire was smoking materials discarded in a wastebasket in a first floor kitchen. Once ignited, the fire spread to the combustible interior finish materials in that room, and then the growing fire ignited combustible finish materials in other first floor rooms. Open stairways and other unprotected vertical openings allowed the combustion products to spread rapidly throughout the building. Untenable conditions developed in the building before most of the residents could evacuate safely.

“The following factors significantly contributed to the loss of life:

The lack of an automatic fire sprinkler system
The presence of combustible interior finish throughout the structure
The lack of fire safety and evacuation training for staff and residents
The presence of open stairways and other unprotected vertical openings
The lack of a second exit for the second floor.”

(NFPA. Fire Investigations, Board and Care Fires. 1998, p. 28; Isner. Fire Investigation Report: Board and Care Facility Fire, Detroit, MI, June 2, 1992. NFPA, p. 2.)

USFA/Chubb: “Overview. An early morning fire in an adult board and care facility housing mentally disabled adults left ten residents dead and two seriously injured. Detroit Fire Department investigators determined that smoking materials carelessly discarded in a kitchen trash receptacle started the blaze which led to the largest loss of life in a single residential fire in the city’s history….

“Although AC-powered smoke detectors with interconnected sounding devices were installed throughout the dwelling, only one survivor — a third floor resident — reported hearing and responding to their warning. The night manager was alerted to the fire by sounds coming from the kitchen. Three other survivors reported that they first became aware of the fire when they heard the shouted warnings of the night manager and the occupant who had heard the smoke detectors. These warnings seemed to have alerted most if not all of the building occupants, including the victims….” (pp. 1-2)

“The most important issues associated with this fire were the building features which fueled the fire and contributed to the spread of combustion products; the delayed detection and notification of building occupants; and the capabilities of the occupants themselves, most of whom were mentally or physically impaired and thereby unable to act appropriately. Questions have also arisen about the regulatory status of the premises, coordination of regulatory responsibilities between different agencies and levels of government, and compliance with the various codes, standards, ordinances, and statutes in effect at the time of the fire….” (p. 3.)

Summary of Key Issues

“….Emergency Planning and Preparedness: An emergency plan had not been prepared or posted and fire exit drills were not performed.

Interior Finish: Combustible interior finish materials added during remodeling contributed to rapid fire growth before the fire was detected.

Means of Egress: Unenclosed front stairways provided avenues for smoke spread which probably cut off the primary escape routes for many of the occupants.

Fire Department Notification: Fire called in by neighbor, but several witnesses and at least one occupant reportedly attempted to notify the fire department via 911, but received busy signals.” (p. 2.)

“The fire took more than 45 minutes to bring under control. Firefighters said that at no time during their firefighting efforts were they made aware that many of the building’s occupants might still be inside. Shortly after the fire was under control, they began a search of the building and discovered that 10 of the building’s 17 occupants had died….” (p. 6.)

“When the State of Michigan assumed control of licensing and regulation of the adult foster care facility in 1976, local government enforcement efforts were restrained in accordance with the state’s reserved powers doctrine. At the end of 1977, state officials declined to renew the license to operate as an adult foster care facility and sought a court injunction to bar the operators – Nu-Way Development Center – from continuing to use the structure as an adult foster care facility. In an August 1979 Wayne County (Mich.) Circuit Court decision, Judge Thomas J. Brennan ordered the facility closed and permanently enjoined the owners of 88-90 Pingree Street from:

Operating an adult foster care facility
Interfering with the relocation of residents to other licensed facilities
Interfering with the notification of residents that the home’s adult foster care license had been revoked
And, transferring any of the residents to unlicensed facilities they operated.

“All indications are that the owners violated this order and continued operating the home at 88-90 Pingree Street as an unlicensed adult foster care facility. Records furnished by the state Department of Social Services confirm that eight of the ten victims who died in this fire had been

residents of an adult foster care facility operated by the defendants in this court action at the time the permanent injunction and judgment were issued.” (pp. 11-12.)

“….The building was located at 88-90 Pingree Street in the center of Detroit in a residential neighborhood north of the New Center district. In recent years, this area had been referred to as a “human services ghetto” due to the large number of board and care facilities located in the six square blocks of Pingree and Blaine Streets between 2nd Avenue on the east and Woodward Avenue – the city’s main north-south surface street – on the west. The building was one of four such facilities in this area which had been owned or operated by Nu-Way Development Center at one time. Of these, only two remained in operation at the time of the fire: the others having suffered previous fires. In 1989, one of these fires resulted in four deaths. (This facility was operating at the time of this fire.) Another fire in 1986, killed three occupants and destroyed that building. (The fourth building operated by Nu-Way Development had been closed for other reasons.” (pp. 12-13.)

“Regulatory Environment: Four state and local agencies had jurisdiction over this facility at some time during its occupancy.[1] In the aftermath of this fire, considerable attention has been focused on the role of each authority and the relationship between the overlapping jurisdictions. Although the issue of who was responsible for 88-90 Pingree Street remains unresolved, it is clear that the facility had “fallen between the cracks” of the regulatory system.” (p. 18.)

“….The courts have ruled repeatedly that once a fire safety inspection is performed, the inspection authority incurs a special obligation to the occupants of that building to pursue every available legal remedy to compel compliance with safety standards. Regardless which agency one holds responsible for the regulation and inspection of the Nu-Way Development Center, it is clear by the continued citation of violations by various authorities and the continued operation of the facility over a period of nearly 15 years despite those conditions, that the available procedural remedies were not diligently pursued. Besides failing to prevent this tragedy, their actions have exposed both city and state agencies to unnecessary complications in regard to pending civil litigation.” (p. 29) (USFA/Mark Chubb. Ten-Fatality Board and Care Facility Fire, Detroit, Michigan (June 2, 1992).)

Sources

Isner, Michael S. (Fire Protection Engineer). Fire Investigation Report: Board and Care Facility Fire, Detroit, MI, June 2, 1992. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association, no date. Accessed 4-9-2016 at: http://www.nfpa.org/research/fire-investigations/health-care

National Fire Protection Association. Fire Investigations, Board and Care Fires. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1998.

The News, Frederick, MD. “Ten Dead in Detroit Fire at Boarding Home,” 6-2-1992, 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=11962029

United States Fire Administration (Mark Chubb). Ten-Fatality Board and Care Facility Fire, Detroit, Michigan (June 2, 1992). Emmitsburg, MD: National Fire Data Center, USFA Technical Report Series, FEMA, 1999, 59 pages. Accessed 5-9-2016 at: http://www.interfire.org/res_file/pdf/Tr-066.pdf

[1] Detroit Fire Department, City of Detroit Buildings and Safety Engineering Department, Fire Marshal Division of the Michigan State Police, and the State of Michigan Department of Social Services Division of Adult Foster Care Licensing. Pages 18-22 discussed the various responsibilities

1992 — June 2, Fire, Nu-Way Development Home (Adult Foster Care), Detroit, MI — 10