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Essay / Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire - 1520
IntroductionOne of the deadliest nightclub fires in United States history occurred on May 28, 1977, a busy Memorial Day weekend in the suburb of Cincinnati. The Beverly Hills Supper Club was a popular nightclub located in Southgate, Campbell County, Kentucky, in the greater Cincinnati area. It was located on a hillside less than 1,000 feet from the highway on seventeen acres of land just three miles from downtown Cincinnati (Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire D-1). It has since become a case study for its numerous code violations and the behavior of the fire from its ignition until the building collapsed. Although there are no factors contributing to the significant loss of life at this facility, a study of the building's history, the sequence of fire progression, and an analysis of the fire chemistry can provide valuable lessons for the future firefighter. To better understand the dynamics of this fire, one must first take a look at the background of the building and the conditions that existed before the fire. At the time of the fire, the 54,000 square foot building was divided into nineteen separate rooms (Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire D-10). The original building was constructed in the 1940s, but has recently undergone extensive renovations and additions. According to the "Investigation Report to the Governor", the construction type of the building was "unprotected, non-combustible" and the fire resistance rating of the roof-ceiling was undetermined. There were suspended plaster ceilings on the first and second floors, with a 3-foot air space between the ceiling and the roof. The 1970 expansion plans, including the kitchen, garden room and cabaret room, were made of single-story concrete blocks...... middle of paper...... Report d investigation to the Governor, submitted September 16, 1977. Sl: Commonwealth of Kentucky, 1977. Internet resource. Brannigan, Francis L and Glenn P. Corbett. Construction of the Brannigan building for the fire services. Sudbury, MA: National Fire Protection Association, 2007. Print. Bright, R G. Reconstruction of a Tragedy: The Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire, Southgate, Kentucky, May 28, 1977. an analysis of the development and spread of the fire since the Fire Origin Room (Zebra Room) in the Cabaret Room. Appendix C. Analysis by Richard Bright. Unidentified place of publication: unidentified publisher, 1977. Internet resource. Peige, John D., editor, Fire in Beverly Hills Supper Club Kills 162, Fire Protection Publications, International Fire Service Training Association, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, August 1977. Internet Resource.