Joelma Building
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''Edifício Praça da Bandeira'', formerly known as the Joelma Building, is a 25-story building in downtown
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
, Brazil, completed in 1971, located at Avenida 9 de Julho, 225. On 1 February 1974, an
air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
unit on the twelfth floor overheated, starting a fire. Because flammable materials had been used to furnish the interior, the entire building was engulfed in flames within twenty minutes. Of the 756 people occupying the building at the time, 179 were killed and 300 injured. The Joelma Building fire happened less than two years after another deadly fire in downtown São Paulo, that of the
Andraus Building The Andraus Building is a well-known building in the República area of downtown São Paulo, Brazil, on the corner of São João Avenue and Pedro Américo Street. It is 115 metres tall and has 32 floors, and its construction ended in 1962. On 24 F ...
. As of 2021, the Joelma fire remains the second-worst skyscraper fire ever in terms of the death toll, after the collapse of the
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on
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.


Fire safety problems

While the Joelma Building is a reinforced fire-resistant concrete hull construction, its interior was furnished with flammable items. Partitions, desks and chairs were made of wood, while ceilings were composed of
cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell w ...
fiber tiles set in wood strappings. The curtains and carpets were also flammable. At the time, no
emergency light An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that switches on automatically when a building experiences a power outage. In the United States, emergency lights are standard in new commercial and high occupancy residential buildings, ...
s, posted in
fire alarms A fire alarm system warns people when smoke, fire, carbon monoxide or other fire-related or general notification emergency, emergencies are detected. These alarms may be activated automatically from smoke detectors and heat detectors or may also ...
,
fire sprinkler A fire sprinkler or sprinkler head is the component of a fire sprinkler system that discharges water when the effects of a fire have been detected, such as when a predetermined temperature has been exceeded. Fire sprinklers are extensively use ...
systems, or emergency exits were fitted to the building. There was only elevators and a common stairwell, which both running the full height of the building. An
air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
unit on the twelfth floor, which started the fire, needed a special type of
circuit breaker A circuit breaker is an electrical safety device designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by an overcurrent or short circuit. Its basic function is to interrupt current flow to protect equipment and to prevent the ris ...
, which was unavailable at the time it was installed. In order to use this unit, it was installed bypassing the twelfth floor electrical control panel.


The fire

The fire occurred at 8:50AM on Friday, 1 February 1974, when the faulty twelfth-floor air conditioning unit
short circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...
ed. The building was primarily occupied by a single banking company, Banco Crefisul S/A, of which 756 employees were present. A person in an adjacent building reported the fire and first responders arrived on the scene at 9:10 AM. Assistance was requested and further units arrived at 9:30 AM, by which time flames were nearly to the roof of the building. The fire reached the building's only stairwell and climbed as high as the fifteenth floor. It did not reach any higher because of a lack of flammables in the stairwell, but it filled the stairwell with smoke and heat, making it impassable. Fire crews attempted to gain access using the stairwell, but could not go any higher than the eleventh floor. Initial efforts led to the successful evacuation of some 300 employees before the heat and smoke became too overwhelming. Approximately 300 more people were evacuated using the elevators, a practice that is not recommended by fire officials. The four elevator operators were only able to make a few trips, however, before conditions within the building made it impossible to continue. Many remaining employees climbed onto balconies for air and a group of 171 individuals fled to the roof. A
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
rescue was attempted but the heat, smoke and inadequate landing space prevented them from reaching the roof until well after the fire had burned out at 15:00 PM. Even if landing space had been available, the heat and smoke made approaching the building by helicopter extremely hazardous. Approximately eighty people hid under the tiles on the roof of the building; they were found alive. Despite the best efforts of rescue personnel and witnesses, who shouted and created signs encouraging people to remain calm, forty individuals jumped to escape the conditions inside and in failed attempts to grasp unreachable fire ladders. None of these jumpers survived. Thirteen people who tried to escape using one of the elevators died of
smoke inhalation Smoke inhalation is the breathing in of harmful fumes (produced as by-products of combusting substances) through the respiratory tract. This can cause smoke inhalation injury (subtype of acute inhalation injury) which is damage to the respirator ...
and their bodies were burnt by the fire; they were never identified and are buried in anonymous graves at the Vila Alpina Cemetery. Thanks to the firefighters, by 10:30 am, the fire started to decrease. Four hours and half later, it had engulfed all flammables and simply burned itself out. Medical teams, fire crews and police were then able to enter the building and search for survivors. At the time, the fire had been the greatest death toll in any such disaster in a high-rise building. Death toll estimates range from 179 to 189.Dutton, Ted. "Bold new tactics for fighting high-rise fires". ''Popular Mechanics'' Sep 1977: 67-71. Print.


After the fire

The Joelma Building remained closed for four years for reconstruction. Once reconstructed, it was renamed ''Praça da Bandeira'' (''"Flag Square,"'' the name of a former square facing the building). The fire became a landmark case that led to changes in fire safety regulations not only in Brazil, but all over the world. For instance,
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enacted Regulation 10, which mandated all new buildings taller than to have a rooftop helipad for emergency fire evacuation, in response to the Joelma fire. Regulation 10 was rescinded in 2014 after petitioning by the builders of the 73-story
Wilshire Grand Center Wilshire Grand Center is a skyscraper in the financial district of downtown Los Angeles, California, occupying the entire city block between Wilshire Boulevard and 7th, Figueroa, and Francisco streets. Completed in 2017, it is the tallest b ...
, who designed a reinforced concrete central core into the building. In 2013, newspaper ''
Folha de S. Paulo ''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã co ...
'' asked a fire safety specialist to inspect both the Joelma and Andraus buildings. He found that the renovated Joelma exceeded current fire safety regulations, many of which were enacted exactly because of the two fires. Joelma even had tactile floors for blind people in the escape routes; this is not mandatory. Andraus failed the same inspection. Footage and survivor testimony were included in the 1977 documentary film ''Catastrophe'', hosted by William Conrad.


References


External links


''Incendio''
(YouTube video), a 14-minute
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
from 1974 by the U.S.
National Fire Protection Association The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is an international nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. As of 2018, the NFPA claims to have 50,000 mem ...
and
the National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
,
U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busin ...
, about the Joelma fire
Historical Survey of Building Collapse Due to Fire
* Watch ''Catastrophe'' (1977) on the Internet Archive {{coord, 23, 32, 58, S, 46, 38, 26, W, region:BR-SP_type:landmark, display=title Skyscrapers in São Paulo Skyscraper office buildings in Brazil Office buildings completed in 1971 1974 fires in South America ja:ジョエルマビル火災