Downcity Diner fire

Anyone who's spent any time in Providence is likely to have eaten at least once at the Downcity Diner, so though the news is a couple of weeks old here, there are probably many Brown grads and other former Providence residents who didn't hear about the fire that destroyed the restaurant and the historic downtown building it occupied ("Built as a church and used as the state's first teachers' school, 151 Weybosset St. was one of the oldest buildings downtown").

The various articles are still up, behind registration, at the ProJo website (here, here, here, and here); it now seems clear that it was grease buildup in the kitchen ductwork that set the whole thing off, which leads me to wonder if there could and should be a higher standard for such ductwork's ability to contain such a flareup. It's just anecdotal, but it seems as if I've heard of an awful lot of restaurant flue fires over the years, and not just here in Providence. Would a stricter inspection protocol be enough, or should the pipes be better sealed and insulated?

The other thing that struck me was the difficulties faced by the firemen in dealing with old construction:

Costa said the restaurant's sprinkler system had activated and the chef had discharged the oven's fire-suppression system. Both systems failed to stop the fire. The fire burned in the void between the first and second floors, out of reach of the sprinklers, he said.

Firefighters tried to break through the ceiling, but encountered a layer of tin, wire lathe and plaster as strong as concrete. . . .

I can well believe it, as neighbors recently had a bathroom renovated in their c. 1900 house. The interior demolition work ended up taking days and days, as it turned out the old walls were not only wire-reinforced lath and plaster but double-thickness to boot -- resilient and virtually indestructable. Yet another reason not to use any of the fireplaces in my house, especially given that the central placement of the chimneys: if there should be a leak that ignites anything alongside (which happened to friends with a chimney along the outer wall, which the firemen cut through to get at the fire), it would be impossible to gain access without drastic damage to the structure, and even then access could not be counted on. The long-term plan is to convert the fireplaces to gas . . . .

Posted by David on June 6, 2006 9:13 PM