Udec Corporation

Historical Moment: The 1998 Göteborg Discothèque fire

Just before midnight on 29 October, 1998, a fire raced through an upstairs discotheque jammed with almost 400 teen-agers at a Halloween dance in Goteborg, Sweden. The investigations after the fire estimated over 400 people to be in the building, for a facility licensed to hold 150 persons.

A group of boys, as a revenge for being thrown out of the party for fighting, set the fire in the emergency exit stairway using furniture stored there, which left only the main stairway free.

The fire grew unnoticed and warm gases filled the stairwell until the DJ smelled smoke and opened the stairwell door to investigate. He left the door open, inadvertently creating a chimney effect. In a matter of minutes the entire dance hall was filled with smoke and the floor covering ignited creating a pool fire. Authorities concluded later that the catastrophe could have been avoided if the door had been equipped with a door-closer.

Despite the rapid response from the Fire and Rescue Service, 63 teenagers died entrapped in the burning building and over 200 were injured. Fire fighters reported that their access to the hall was blocked by a wall of bodies inside the doorway that reached the top of the doorjamb. One firefighter said later, ”It reminded me of the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Medical treatment on the scene was hindered by the reactions of the bystanders and friends of the injured.

A 15- year-old survivor was on the dance floor when the blaze started. He said, ”It was chaos. Everybody was trying to get out and people trampled on each other on the way to the exit. . . . Others kicked out the windows and jumped out.”

The building had passed previous inspections, meeting all safety requirements for fast evacuation. The arsonists were tried and convicted.

Are you aware that not every exit sign, emergency light, or emergency light fixture is safe? Just because you can see the EXIT with the lights shining, doesn’t mean it works when the power is off.

UDEC’s auto-test is the difference between safety and Russian roulette with the lives of the people inside your building. It’s easy, but most important, it is the safest way to ensure emergency lighting is there when it’s needed.

UDEC’S Featured Product: Exit Signs: NYC Approved - Steel

Universal Steel LED Exit Sign w/Battery Backup

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.

Historical Moment: The 1970 Club Cing-Sept Fire

A ghastly fire at a nightclub in France on November 1, 1970, wiped out nearly a generation of young people from a nearby village. A total of 147 lives were claimed where only 60 of the 180 people in the building are believed to have escaped, but many of the survivors were hospitalized with up to 90% burns.

The nightclub “Cing-Sept was packed with revelers when the fire broke out. The fire, caused by a home-made heating system, started in an upstairs room around 1:45 a.m. Many of the interior fittings, including the ceiling, were flammable and the partly-wooden building “went up like a box of matches”.

Drops of burning plastic fell like rain from the ceiling above engulfing the people below. The revolving doors at the entry quickly became jammed by the number of people trying to escape. Many of the dancers are believe to have been trampled to death in a stampede as people rushed to get out of the dance hall through the main entrance.

Firefighters found bodies piled five deep around the exits which had been padlocked and barred with planks to keep out gatecrashers. The victims perished within 10 minutes.

Relatives were shown only pieces of clothing or charred personal possessions as many victims were burned beyond recognition. Most of the victims came from the close-knit town of St Laurent du Pont where nearly every family suffered a loss.

It was discovered that the night club, built seven months previously, had never been inspected to see if it met fire safety regulations. Two of the club’s three managers were among the fatalities.

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: NYC Approved
Attractive and easy to install. These units are ideal for any commercial, institutional, or industrial application.

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.

Historical Moment: 1996 Rockefeller Center High Rise Fire

A predawn fire broke out one early fall morning at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Several fires broke out in five different remote locations, filling much of the building with smoke. Since the fire had occurred early in the morning, there were few people in the building, fortunately, and everyone was able to evacuate successfully with no loss of life and minimal injuries.

The New York City Fire Department received a telephone report of the fire and dispatched a full first alarm assignment. When the fire fighters arrived, they could see smoke coming from one of the upper floors of the building. However, according to the first arriving command officer, the on-site building security staff was not even aware of any fire condition within the building, nor were there any alarms indicated on the fire alarm system.

Fire fighters who entered the building received reports from civilians of fire on floors 7 through 10. It was later determined that there were fires in five separate electrical rooms. The fire department ultimately transmitted five alarms, bringing approximately 300 fire fighters to the scene.

In spite of the large amount of resources, the fire had become so deeply entrenched in the electrical wiring system in the five separate electrical rooms on several floors that it took fire fighters over four hours to extinguish the fire.

The building had many safety hazards listed against it. Such as, the lack of smoke detection in the areas of the fire, the lack of sprinkler protection in the same area, and the failure of the building fire alarm system to transmit the alarm. In spite of the severity of such fire hazards and due to the timing of the fire, only five civilians and 12 fire fighters were injured.

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: Integrated Night & Emergency Light Module for Corridor Troffers

The Model 14WEN is a 14-watt fluorescent lamp assembly retrofit. It provides emergency illumination when AC power fails and provides night lighting when corridor lights are switched off.

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 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 1971 Ibrox Football Stadium Disaster

THe 1971 Ibrox disaster is listed as one of the blackest days in Scottish football history attended by a crowd of 80,000 football fans. The tragedy resulted in the loss of 66 lives with another 145 other fans injured. Among the dead were 31 teenagers, and four schoolboy pals from the small town of Markinch in Fife, who never returned from the game alive.

The disaster occurred when crush barriers collapsed on the stairway adjacent to passageway 13 as thousands of fans were leaving the Ibrox Park stadium in Glasgow on Jan 2, 1977. The collapse created a smothering chain-reaction pile-up of the crowd. Bodies were found stacked as deep as six feet in the area.

It was at the end of a Rangers versus Celtic game and after 89 minutes of scoreless football, Celtic took a 1-0 lead and many Rangers supporters left the stadium. However, in the last seconds of stoppage time, Colin Stein scored an equalizer for Rangers.

An untrue report circulated for years that fan who were leaving the grounds, came back and met a wave of jubilant fans coming in the opposite direction, but that has been proven untrue. All were heading in the same direction when the crush took place halfway down Stairway 13.

The Ibrox disaster led to a huge redevelopment of Ibrox Park and is a testament to those who died. A plaque and a statue of the Rangers captain at the time of the disaster commemorates the scene where the tragedy occurred.

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

UDEC Ultra-Thin office decor area lights are specifically designed to attractively compliment any setting. They can easily be mounted on wall or ceiling for optimum style and lighting.

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 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: Emergency Light Fixtures and the 2004 Bangladesh Factory Stampede

A fire alarm started a stampede that killed six women in a Bangladeshi clothing factory on May 3, 2004.

The women were crushed to death when hundreds of people rushed for the exits during the fire alarm. The fire, caused by a transformer exploding, was soon put out, but caused workers to panic and jam firewalls.

One worker stated that “trying to get out was terrifying; no one really knew what to do.” At least 35 people were also injured in the stampede in the six-story building in Dhaka’s Mirpur district.

Accidents in Bangladeshi clothing factories used to be commonplace until a few years ago, but with the introduction of new safety measures the situation has improved immensely.

Bangladesh earns around $5 billion a year in clothing exports. The industry employs nearly two million workers, most of whom are women.

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: Emergency Light Fixtures: Dual Beveled Integral Incandescent Heads
Completely self-contained; fully automatic operation; compact low-profile design in neutral finish.

Emergency light fixtures 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: Fraser Pier Fire (Ocean Park, CA)

A fire broke out at Fraser’s Million Dollar Pier in Ocean Park on September 3, 1912.

The fire started by someone carelessly tossing a smoldering cigarette in some bedding in the Japanese servants’ quarters in the basement. A strong late afternoon breeze fanned the flames and within minutes cries of “Fire!” came from a dozen different directions.

Sparks, leaping two hundred feet high, showered down like a fiery bath over the flimsy paint canvas and light wooden grill that adorned the pier’s attractions. Over a thousand visitors were still on the pier heading for the two main exits when the Skating Rink caught fire, blocking one of the exits. 

Fire companies’ efforts amounted to a few puny streams of water until Venice’s high pressure system was used. The Los Angeles Fire Companies speedy arrival only 27 minutes later did little to control the blaze.

Panic on the pier erupted. People, including owner Fraser and his young son, reached the docks and escaped by boat. Other’s leapt into the sea.
 
The fire totally destroyed the pier, all the amusements and five square blocks of the business district. All 225 structures burned, two people died, several were missing, 75 people were injured and 800 people were homeless. The loss was set at $2,000,000 with little of it insured.
 
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: Emergency Lighting Fixtures Accessories: Fluorescent Emergency Lighting Ballasts

The BAL fluorescent emergency Ballast allows the same fixture to be used for both normal and emergency operation.

In the event of a power failure, the BAL switches to the emergency mode and operates one or two of the existing lamps for a minimum of 90 minutes.

The unit contains a battery, charger and inverter circuit in a single package. The BAL can be mounted in the wireway or on top of the fixture, and is UL Listed for factory installation or retrofit applications.

All Ballasts are Standard with Dual 120/277 Volt Input.

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: Coney Island’s Dreamland Fire

On May 27, 1911 at two in the morning, opening day for Coney’s new Dreamland Hell Gate Attraction was only a few hours away. Several lights bulbs burst, buckets of tar were accidentally tipped over, and Hell Gate exploded into flames.
 
The fire spread quickly to the rest of the park, but fortunately for the fire companies at the scene, the wind’s direction calmed the fire that had the potential to destroy the rest of the park.
 
All of Dreamland was destroyed, along with Coney Island icons like Thompson’s Scenic Railway, and the Iron Tower.  Dreamland’s lathe & plaster structures were so flammable that it caused the Dreamland tower fire to be exceptionally bright. People in Manhattan could see the tower fire during a period where the city’s buildings averaged only ten stories tall. 

It is believed that William H. Reynold’s greed was the undoing of the park. He set down Dreamland so fast that the city did not have time to pull up their fire hydrants. The firemen reported serious issues of low pressure, assumed to have been caused by the dozens of hydrants leaking water amongst the ruins. 

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: Light Fixtures: Incandescent Emergency Light Fixture with Battery Backup

• Universal Voltage of 80 VAC up to 300VAC; ceiling or wall mount; Two adjustable; halogen; glare-free light heads; Rechargeable; maintenance-free;  replaceable 6-volt; 4.5-ah lead calcium battery provides 90 minute of emergency operation; Push button test switch and charge rate indicator included; White injection molded thermoplastic housing; Unit snaps together for easy installation. Quick wire connection; UL listed for damp location; UL 924; NFPA and NEC approvals; Warranty; Email or call for quantity discounts.

(Incandescent Emergency Light Fixture w/ Battery Backup & Remote Control Test
Remote Control Option: Conduct testing for 30 seconds or 90 minutes by selecting the test time on the remote control.)

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.