Bangkok nightclub fire

New Year’s Eve tragedy:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090101/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_nightclub_fire_18

“Firefighter Watcharapong Sri-saard said that in addition to a lack of exits, a number of staircases inside the club as well as bars across the second-floor windows made escape difficult.”

Sound familiar?  Remember the nightclub fire in Rhode Island in 2003?  Here is a recent article discussing the resulting litigation: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=6368145

While the rules vary in different countries, the principals are similar; good egress, ample exits, etc.  The Life Safety Code here in the US was born from the Triangle Factory disaster from the early 1900’s.  After 100 years we are still failing to apply knowledge and implement lessons learned.  How unfortunate.