The jail’s warden was initially certain that the fire had been designed as part of an escape plot. The fire advanced prodigiously, becoming so hot that a tower of catwalks warped and twisted into a snarl of metal. The 40-year-old structure contained six tiers of cellblocks, and those on tiers 5 and 6 were trapped by smoke and flame. Most inmates were eventually evacuated despite the ensuing chaos.
That prison fire in Columbus, OH, remains the deadliest in U m.S. history. On its heels, the NFPA Life Safety Code (NFPA 101) and other model codes called for new jails to be constructed of limited- or non-combustible materials, and to be provided with automatic fire sprinkler and detection systems. [NFPA 101 is authored in part by a technical subcommittee on Detention and Correctional Occupancies and contains one full chapter outlining specific required provisions for prisons.] But until 1977, few automatic fire sprinkler systems were present in correctional facilities. In June and July of that year, three major fires in unsprinklered prisons combined to end 68 lives.