1971 — Sep 15, Lil-Haven Nursing Home fire & suffocations, Salt Lake City, UT — 6

–6 AP. “S.L. Fire Kills 6 in Nursing Home.” Ogden Standard-Examiner, UT. 9-15-1971, 1.
–6 Salt Lake Tribune, UT. “Nursing Home Fire Brings Plea for Strict Code.” 9-16-1971, p. 2.

Narrative Information

Sep 15: “Salt Lake City (AP) – Six persons died and 11 were hospitalized after a blaze that swept through a nursing home early today on the western edge of Salt Lake City’s downtown area. Police said there were 18 persons in the Lil Haven Nursing Home when the fire broke out and that all but one of the 12 survivors were hospitalized.

“Killed were Danny Cowleshow, 22, Henry Gifford, Estaban Rios, Lloyd Hammer, John Opdahl and John Radtke, authorities at four hospitals said. St. Marks’s Hospital authorities said they received four persons dead on arrival. LDS Hospital, one, and Holy Cross Hospital, one. The home was for men only.

“The fire, which started on the second floor of the 2½ story brick and wood building, took only 30 minutes to extinguish….” (Associated Press. “S.L. Fire Kills 6 in Nursing Home.” Ogden Standard-Examiner, UT. 9-15-1971, 1.)

Sep 16: “Fire Chief Leon DeKorver said there probably would have been no lives lost in a nursing home fire early Wednesday if the home had a sprinkling system. He said he tried, but failed, to get a city ordinance requiring older homes to install sprinkling systems.

“Wednesday’s fire swept through the Lil Haven Nursing Home, 376 N. 1st West, claiming six patients and inuring 11 other patients and the manager.

“Robert A. Tanner, state fire marshal, agreed with Chief DeKorver and added he had requested sprinkling systems be required on a state level, but the request had been turned down when the 1970 building code was adopted.

“Salt Lake City has taken several steps requiring fire protection in hotels, convalescent centers and nursing homes having three or more floors, but has not passed ordinances affecting one and two-story facilities. The last ordinance, passed in 1966, did not become effective until 1970, after four extensions and deletion of one key point, Salt Lake City Commissioner E. J. Garn said. He noted that a requirement that older nursing homes construct a corridor-type device with doors between stairways as well as separating floors was removed from the code.

“New buildings must meet stricter tests, including corridor isolation and a sprinkling system – even if the construction is steel and concrete, according to the fire marshal.

“Commissioner Garn pointed out he was the only commissioner who voted for the stricter code in 1970 when the weaker code was finally adopted, and said he expected a full review when all the reports from Wednesday’s fire are completed.

“Commissioner George B. Gutmull said it wasn’t his job to know what was in the fire code, but he understood 64 nursing homes and apartments had complied with the present code and also had installed sprinkling systems and corridors, while 53 met minimum requirements and 57 were in the process of complying.

“ ‘The reason we (the commission) didn’t want the new code to apply to existing buildings was that it would put hardships on their owners,’ Commissioner James L. Barker Jr. said. He said the new codes would have put some of the existing operators out of business because of the high costs of the changes required to comply. ‘Placing doors to isolate the stairways on each floor wouldn’t work as well as it is imagined,’ he continued, ‘because on a hot day, the doors would be opened for ventilation and fire protection would be nil.’….” (Salt Lake Tribune, UT. “Nursing Home Fire Brings Plea for Strict Code.” 9-16-1971, p. 2.)

Sources

Associated Press. “S.L. Fire Kills 6 in Nursing Home.” Ogden Standard-Examiner, UT. 9-15-1971, 1. Accessed 2-25-2022: https://newspaperarchive.com/ogden-standard-examiner-sep-15-1971-p-1/

Salt Lake Tribune, UT. “Nursing Home Fire Brings Plea for Strict Code.” 9-16-1971, p. 2. Accessed 2-25-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/salt-lake-tribune-sep-16-1971-p-2/