Exit Signs

Historical Moment: 1903 Iroquois Theatre Fire

A holiday theatre matinee at the new Iroquois Theatre with a standing-room only crowd of 1900 people became Chicago’s deadliest fire. Over 602 people died, mostly women and children.

A tiny flame amid the backstage scenery started it. A stagehand tried to crush it out with his hand, but it was inches out of his reach. The flame spread quickly and burning items began falling on the stage.

The star of the show, Eddie Foy, tried to calm the crowd, but the frightened singers and dancer fled from the back stage door. The door’s sudden draft of icy air fed the flames, creating a huge fireball on the first floor. Instantly, everything combustible ignited and the audience ran for the doors.

They bolted for the twenty-seven exits of which the theatre boasted, only to find most locked, with iron gates covering them. Some gates were unlocked, but required a special operation to open. Other doors opened inward, causing those people in front to be trampled and crushed against them by the frightened, surging crowd behind them.

In darkness, the living clawed over bodies piled 10 high by the doors and windows as well as the stairwell area exits from the balcony to the main floor. Other fatalities occurred as a fire broke out underneath an alley fire escape, causing people above the fire to jump. The people first to jump died as they hit the hard pavement, while the rest of the jumpers survived, landing on the bodies.

Patrons also jumped from the balcony to the main floor of the theater with the same effect. Within fifteen minutes, it was all over. By the time firefighters arrived, the auditorium was silent. Firemen snuffed out the blaze within half an hour, leaving the building largely undamaged.

An inquest revealed gross negligence on the part of the theater and the city officials charged with public safety. ‘Complimentary’ tickets motivated city inspectors to ignore the fire code and let the theater open.
Many theatre principles and city officials, including the Chicago mayor, were indicted, but those cases were dismissed on technicalities. The only person to serve a jail term was a tavern keeper whose nearby saloon was used as a temporary morgue. He was convicted of robbing the dead.

A result of the tragedy was the adoption of a new set of safety regulations for theaters.
It’s impossible to avoid every calamity or accident, but prevention and safety are our top concerns. UDEC Emergency Lighting provides quality lighting when you need it most.

UDEC’s Featured Product: Dot Matrix Exit Signs:
This patented simplified design has cut the energy usage in half while increasing reliability. The AC circuit is controlled with a lossless capacitor. This does away with heat producing transformers, diodes and resistors, which are all subject to failure. Dot Matrix Exit Signs

Emergency lighting and exit signs are about saving lives. UDEC Corp. offers

Historical Moment: The 1942 Cocoanut Grove Fire

The Cocoanut Grove, one of Boston’s most elegant clubs, remains one the deadliest nightclub fires in United States history, killing 492 people and injuring hundreds more.

An underage busboy trying to replace a light bulb on the night of November 28th, lit a match to see what he was doing. Almost instantaneously, someone noticed flames along the satin ceiling. Seconds later, a fireball burst across the central dance floor just as the orchestra was beginning its evening show. Within five minutes, flames had spread to the main clubroom and the entire nightclub was ablaze.

Panic erupted as 1,000 patrons, entertainers and employees fought desperately to gain the exits through sheets of flames, crushing, trampling, and burning as they tried to escape. Several exits were locked, trapping scores of screaming victims, and a plate-glass window that would have provided egress for 200 people was boarded up.

Exits that weren’t locked were quickly jammed with panicked patrons. The main revolving door become so jammed and packed with dead victims who tried to escape, that firefighters had to disassemble the door to get in. It’s been estimated that possibly 300 of those killed could have been saved had the doors swung outward.

The tragedy was over in a matter of minutes as flames and fumes swept through the club. Although most victims died that night, it took 90 hours to identify all the bodies.

An investigation blamed the massive death toll on gross violations of fundamental principles and the club’s owner was eventually found guilty of manslaughter.

The Cocoanut Grove fire prompted major efforts in the field of fire prevention and control for nightclubs and other related places . Immediate steps were taken to provide for emergency lighting and occupant capacity placards in places of assembly. Exit lights werw also required as a result of the concern generated by this fire.

It’s impossible to avoid every calamity or accident, but prevention and safety are our top concerns. Udec Emergency Lighting provides quality lighting when you need it most.

Udec’s Featured Product: Exit Signs with Emergency Light Combination: Wet Location
The Wet Location LED unit satisfies both exit and emergency lighting requirements and features a durable ABS, corrosion resistant, UV stabilized housing to withstand wet locations or harsh industrial or laboratory conditions.

Emergency lighting and exit signs are about saving lives. UDEC Corp. offers powerful, safe, unique solutions and 40 years of experience of emergency lighting and exit signs.

Historical Moment: 1980 MGM Grand Hotel Fire

An early morning fire on November 21 broke out in The MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The hotel and casino had over 5000 tourists and employees inside the 26-story luxury resort with 2000 rooms. The fire claimed 87 lives and injured 785 people.

The fire, caused by an improperly grounded electrical wire that apparently smoldered undetected for hours, was first detected by a hotel employee. Once the fire burst into flames, it moved so rapidly that it spread through the casino at 15-19 feet per second. It spread to the lobby, fed by wallpaper, PVC piping, glue, and plastic mirrors, materials which created toxic smoke and fumes.

The hotel’s fire sprinkler system performed properly, helping to keep the fire out of the high rise hotel area. The fire sprinkler system within the casino and restaurant area kept the fire contained while the firefighters extinguished the fire in those areas.

However, it was the openings in vertical shafts, i.e. the elevators and stairwells, and seismic joints that acted as chimneys and spread the toxic smoke and heat all the way through the 26th floor. While most of the fire damage occurred in the casino, the majority of the deaths were on the upper floors where the victims died from smoke inhalation. Most of the deaths occurred in the stairwells, where the doors locked behind each person.

Guests only learned of the fire upon actually seeing smoke or hearing the warnings from other guests. The hotel’s alarm system was destroyed before fire alarms could activate. Fire doors had recently been installed, but only after complaints from firefighters attending a convention.

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) studies show that in this fire the hotel occupants did not exhibit panic behavior. Instead, many took rational steps to preserve their lives, such as putting towels around doors to block out smoke, notifying other occupants, offering refuge in their room, and using wet towels for their face.

The MGM Grand eventually paid $223 million in legal settlements. The hotel and casino was repaired and then sold to Bally’s Entertainment which changed the name to “Bally’s Las Vegas.

It’s impossible to avoid every calamity or accident, but prevention and safety are our top concerns. UDEC Emergency Lighting provides quality lighting when you need it most. Emergency lighting and exit signs are about saving lives.

UDEC Corp. offers powerful, safe, unique solutions and 40 years of experience of emergency lighting and exit signs.
UDEC’s Featured Product: Exit Signs: LED Exit Signs - Edge-Lit Recessed

How do know if an exit sign is working? You don’t—because no one notices if they are on or out! UDEC’s auto-test exit signs automatically test each sign as required by the codes each month and annually.

UDEC: LIGHTING THE WAY TO SAFETY
Historical Moment: The 1996 Düsseldorf Airport Terminal Fire

A fire broke on the roof of terminal A at the airport in Düsseldorf, Germany’s third largest airport. 17 people were killed and 62 injured. The fire was caused by insufficient structural fire protection and ongoing welding work during a time where there was no fire watch.

The fire was enhanced by a litany of human and structural safety errors and violations. Smoke detectors were observed in the office areas of the second floor, but not at the ceiling level in the main concourse area. There where no fire walls or traps in the suspending ceiling. The west end was partially equipped with sprinklers, but the fire broke out on the east end that was built earlier and was not equipped with sprinklers.

Escape ways were not readily available at the right places. Eight of the victims were trapped at the Air France desk because of no nearby exits. Ventilation did not automatically stopped and poisonous smoke gases spread uncontrollably across ventilation systems, posing an even greater danger to people than the high temperatures of the fires. Unprotected vertical openings carried the fire upstairs.

The municipal fire brigade was called 27 minutes after fire alarm. The terminal’s alarm system had prerecorded messages, but did not transmit any signals to the local Düsseldorf fire brigade. After the alarm sounded, somebody started the wrong prerecorded warning message, which called people to go right into the burning area.

Elevators were not stopped, or even going to a safe place. Seven victims went by elevator from the parking lot on the roof top directly into the deadly smoke. When the door opened, the dense smoke hindered the light beam so that the elevator doors could not be closed again.

Besides the loss of life and injuries, damage to the airport was estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.

It’s impossible to avoid every calamity or accident, but prevention and safety are our top concerns. UDEC Emergency Lighting provides quality lighting when you need it most.

UDEC’s Featured Product: Exit Signs: Self Luminous Exit Signs
How do know if an exit sign is working? You don’t—because no one notices if they are on or out! Udec’s auto-test exit signs automatically test each sign as required by the codes each month and annually.

Emergency lighting and exit signs are about saving lives. UDEC Corp. offers powerful, safe, unique solutions with 40 years of experience of emergency lighting and exit signs.

UDEC: LIGHTING THE WAY TO SAFETY
Historical Moment: The 2004 Paraguay Supermarket Fire

The Paraguay supermarket fire on August 1, 2004 was one of the countries worst disasters in decades. Over 400 people died, including numerous children and entire families.

The supermarket, located in a working-class neighborhood, was a three-story Ycuá Bolaños supermarket and commercial complex with offices, a restaurant, and an underground parking garage.

A faulty barbecue chimney in the food court that leaked hot flammable gases into the ceiling, which ignited, is believed to be responsible for the fire. The fire burned for seven hours before firefighters were able to extinguish it. Firefighters found the main doors shut when they arrived.

Later, volunteer firefighters and several survivors of the fire alleged that, when the fire broke out, doors within the complex were deliberately closed and locked, even though there were customers inside, under the direction of the father-son mall owners to prevent looting. The complex also lacked emergency exits as well.

The mall owners and a security guard were eventually found guilty of culpable homicide and were sentenced to seven years in prison in a second trial. The first trial’s ruling - that was later annulled - minimized the crimes committed by the mall owner and enraged the survivors and relatives of the tragedy, causing demonstrations of such magnitude that they became known as the “Tuesdays of Rage”.

It’s impossible to avoid every calamity or accident, but prevention and safety are our top concerns. UDEC Emergency Lighting provides quality lighting when you need it most.

UDEC’s Featured Product: Udec Classic Systems Central Power: Decorative Area Light for Office

The Edge Lit LED Exit Sign is ideal for architectural applications where an aesthetic and low profile appearance are desired to enhance interior spaces. LED’s cast a brilliant red or green illumination on letters embedded inside the acrylic face. LED indicator light and test switch.

Emergency lighting and exit signs are about saving lives. UDEC Corp. offers powerful, safe, unique solutions and 40 years of experience of emergency lighting and exit signs.

UDEC: LIGHTING THE WAY TO SAFETY
Historical Moment: The 2004 República Cromagnon Fire
Argentines awoke on New Year’s Eve to scenes of horror on television: Pictures flashed of dazed, sobbing survivors from a nightclub fire, blackened by soot, outside the club or in hospitals. Others were frantically searching for loved ones, and  fainting, wailing  parents guarded charred bodies lined up outside on the club’s sidewalk.

 4,000 fans at a New Year’s Eve concert by the band Los Callejeros, nearly three times the building’s capacity of 1500 people, fought to reach the exits after a flare ignited the foam ceiling, sparking a blaze that killed 175 people and injured another 714.
 
Four of the six emergency exits were found padlocked or wired shut to prevent people from entering the club without paying. Instead, the barred exits prevented the young adults from leaving the building as burning debris fell on them.
  
Before the concert, the rock band playing at the club warned the crowd not to shoot flares because of the fire hazard. People attending rock concerts in Argentina frequently set off flares and fireworks. But during the first song, a flare was fired, turning the club into a blazing inferno.
 
The fire tore through the concert hall in the working-class neighborhood of Once, filling the club with thick, choking, black smoke. Several small children and babies, found in a makeshift nursery in the women’s bathroom upstairs, were also killed in the fire. 

One of the club’s barman said that a flare fired a week earlier in the same club caused a small fire that was quickly extinguished. It later became known that República Cromagnon was overdue for a fire hazard inspection since late November 2004.  

It’s impossible to avoid every calamity or accident, but prevention and safety are our top concerns. UDEC Emergency Lighting provides quality lighting when you need it most.  

UDEC’s Featured Product: Exit Signs: Self Luminous Exit Signs

These exit signs are entirely self-powered and do not rely on electricity, back-up batteries or generators for its illumination. It can be mounted anywhere without wiring or outlets, and needs no maintenance and is specifically constructed to resist tampering and vandalism and can withstand explosive, corrosive, humid or other harsh environment.

Emergency lighting and exit signs are about saving lives. UDEC Corp. offers powerful and unique solutions and 40 years of experience of emergency lighting and exit signs.

UDEC: LIGHTING THE WAY TO SAFETY
Historical Moment:  NYC World Trade Center Attacks

I don’t think any adult who was alive then forgot where they were on the morning of September 11, 2001 as el-Qaeda suicide hijackers flew two planes into the World Trade Centers Towers.

At work, we gathered around my friend’s desk and speaker-phone. She worked with the New York district and they were on the phone relating their eyewitness view of the tragic events from their office windows, only three blocks away from the World Trade Center towers.

Can I even relate to you the horror as our New York co-workers started screaming and crying as they watched people jump to their deaths from the flaming, crumbling towers? They abruptly hung up, no longer able to speak. In shock we gathered around our break room television to watch the rest of the horrific story until released to go home.

Ultimately, 2,750 deaths were related to the 9/11 attacks, 340 emergency personnel and 60 police officers were killed in the collapse of the Twin Towers. The World Trade Center site cleanup and recovery continued 24 hours a day and involved thousands of workers. The massive pile of debris smoked and smoldered for 99 days.

It’s impossible to avoid every calamity or accident, but prevention and safety are our top concerns. UDEC Emergency Lighting provides quality lighting when you need it most.              

 UDEC’s Featured Product: Exit Signs - Photoluminescent Egress Marking Systems
Based on the  WTC Commission recommendations , PL was chosen as the only acceptable system for the progressive NYC building code, Local Law 26.

 According to my UDEC source, one of the few things that did save lives was the emergency egress strips installed in the stairwells in the World Trade Center buildings. They glowed in the dark and were thought of as very important in avoiding panic and confusion with all the people in the absolute dark not even knowing which way was down.

Emergency lighting and exit signs are about saving lives. UDEC Corp. offers powerful and unique solutions and 40 years of experience of emergency lighting and exit signs.

UDEC: LIGHTING THE WAY TO SAFETY
Historical Moment:  Moscow Hospital Fire

The 2006 Moscow hospital fire occurred on December 9th in Hospital No. 17, a drug addict rehabilitation center in Southern Moscow, Russia.
 
The pre-dawn fire started in a kitchen located at the end of a corridor on the second floor when a wooden cabinet suddenly caught fire. The woman’s ward of the hospital on the same floor, quickly filled with smoke. All people in the ward were trapped, as the main emergency exit was barred by a locked gate. The only other exit was rendered unusable by thick smoke.
 
All windows in the hospital were shut and locked. The staff had the keys to open these windows, but it appears they did not have the time to do so. A call was made to the fire department at 1:30 a.m., but by the time firefighters arrived, all 45 of the trapped women, including two hospital workers, were dead.
 
Most of the victims were killed by suffocation from the smoke, with some fatalities attributed to burns. The situation was made worse by toxic fumes emitted from burning plastic wall coverings.
 
The hospital had been inspected by fire inspectors in February and in March of the same year. The result of the March inspection was a recommendation that the facility be temporarily closed due to fire safety violations.
 
46 people died in this fire. 160 people were evacuated from the building. Arson is suspected.
 
It’s impossible to avoid every calamity or accident, but prevention and safety are our top concerns. UDEC Emergency Lighting provides quality lighting when you need it most. 

UDEC’s Product Feature: Vandal Resistant LED Exit Sign with Clear Lexan Graffiti Shield  

The Edge Lit LED Exit Sign is ideal for architectural applications where an aesthetic and low profile appearance are desired to enhance interior spaces. LED’s cast a brilliant red or green illumination on letters embedded inside the acrylic face. LED indicator light and test switch.   

Emergency lighting and exit signs are about saving lives. UDEC Corp. offers powerful and unique solutions and 40 years of experience of emergency lighting and exit signs.

UDEC: LIGHTING THE WAY TO SAFETY
Historical Moment: Triangle Factory Fire

The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was the largest industrial accident in the history of New York City. 

The fire began on the eighth floor, sparked by either a cigarette or a lighted match. Most of the workers on the eighth and 10th floor were alerted and evacuated, but the warning did not reach the ninth floor workers in time.
 
The only safety measures available at the time of the fire for the workers were 27 buckets of water and a fire escape that collapsed when people tried to use it. Most of the doors were locked.
  
Water streams from the fire departments’ hoses only reached the 7th floor, and their ladders only reached between the 6th and 7th floor. The fire department’s blankets were ripped when multiple girls tried to jump into the same blanket.
 
146 garment workers, mostly young European immigrant women, either died in the fire or jumped to their deaths.

While this tragic incident led to legislation requiring factory safe standards and helped to solidify support for workers’ union, safety concerns came at too steep of a price.
 
It’s impossible to avoid every calamity or accident, but prevention and safety are our top concerns. UDEC Emergency Lighting provides quality lighting when you need it most. 
 
UDEC’s Product Feature: LED Exit Signs without Battery Backup
LED Exit Signs are brilliant and visible and use a fraction of the power. LED Exit Signs without battery backup are clean, bright and modern looking.

They are ideal for commercial and industrial standard non-emergency applications where low maintenance and operating costs are a must.
 
Emergency lighting and exit signs are about saving lives. UDEC Corp. offers powerful and unique solutions and 40 years of experience of emergency lighting and exit signs.

UDEC: LIGHTING THE WAY TO SAFETY
Historical Moment: Winkler Hall Fire

An early morning fire in Winkler Hall, a Rutgers, New Jersey dormitory, forced students to evacuate the building earlier this year. The main entrance was blocked by a pile of blazing newspapers, so students fled to an emergency door only to find it wouldn’t open.

Never used unless in an emergency situation, the door’s metal door frame rusted over and remained stuck in a close position. Students were able to leave via another emergency exit and no injuries were reported.

Residence hall emergency doors were checked only during annual fire inspections and when fire drills are performed. But as a result of the fire, a monthly inspection of emergency doors has been created by Rutgers Housing to make sure doors are ready for immediate use in the event of an emergency.

It’s impossible to avoid every calamity or accident, but prevention and safety are our top concerns. UDEC Emergency Lighting provides quality lighting when you need it most.

UDEC’s Product Feature: Exit Signs with Emergency Light Combination

How do you know if a combination exit-emergency light is working? You don’t, because the emergency lights are only on when the power fails!

Udec’s auto test feature will tell you if there’s trouble or not by automatically running a code required test of the system each month as well as annually. This means no remembering or losing time with required monthly manual testing. A steady light means all is ok and blinking led means the fixture needs attention.

Emergency lighting and exit signs are about saving lives. UDEC Corp. offers powerful and unique solutions and 40 years of experience of emergency lighting and exit signs.