On the Boate Kiss Fire and the Brazilian Safety Legislation - What we can learn

Abstract

Brazil was recently the scenario of a great tragedy in the fire at Kiss nightclub, where 242 people were killed. The starting point of the fire was the use of a pyrotechnic device over an acoustic coating made of polyurethane foam. The causalities were caused mainly by asphyxia and inhalation of toxic gases in a very fast smoke expansion. However, several additional causes contributed to the amount of damage and human losses. The accident investigations emphasized the necessity to discuss details in the applicable Brazilian legislation. In this work, the tragedy of Kiss nightclub is presented and the some of their mainly aspects discussed. The Brazilian standard (ABNT NBR 9077) to determine the dimension of emergency exits is also presented. Then, a computational simulation of evacuation process in an environment externally similar to Kiss nightclub with different width exits and populations is performed using the software Fuga. It was found that, in spite of the configurations of Kiss nightclub have had a fundamental role in tragedy, the current Brazilian standard was not appropriate for the design of such environment and should not have been used. Moreover, clear and more rigorous standards also need to be further discussed, particularly for panic situations. At the end, some considerations are made in order to improve the standards about the dimensioning of emergency exits.