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> Like you said, fire needs to be considered. Current codes are harming the poor, but it may be less harm than from allowing fire to kill them. The last time t
by jltsiren 3y ago
> Like you said, fire needs to be considered. Current codes are harming the poor, but it may be less harm than from allowing fire to kill them.
The last time there was a discussion on fire codes on HN, I looked up some statistics and reports from Finland. It's a country with an unusually large number of fire deaths per capita for a developed country, because of attitudes and because saunas are common.
Almost all fire deaths happened in the unit where the fire started. Unusually deadly home fires almost always happened in single-family homes. I couldn't find any reports of fires where a second stairwell accessible from the same corridor would have prevented deaths. There were some fires where a second exit from the unit (to a different corridor) would have helped, because the fire started near the exit and people couldn't get out.
This only applies to mid-rise and low-rise buildings. There are very few residential high-rises in Finland.
- wolverine876 3y ago> Almost all fire deaths happened in the unit where the fire started. That could be because of effective fire codes. > I couldn't find any reports of fires where a second stairwell accessible from the same corridor would have prevented deaths. Meaning, you couldn't find anything either way, or in what you found, the second stairwell wouldn't have helped?
- jltsiren 3y agoFinland is small enough that all fire deaths (50-100 / year) make it into national news. There are very few deaths reported outside the unit where the fire started. When reading reports of those outlier cases, I couldn't find a situation where a second stairwell would have helped. Fire codes are effective and fire fighters arrive quickly enough. If you can get out of your unit, you can get out of the building. Second stairwell requirements address a risk that doesn't really exist in Finland. The real challenge is detecting a fire in your unit quickly enough to get out.