Joelma Building, Brazil

April 9, 2009 in South America

Joelma Building is the famous 25 storied skyscraper located in Sao Polo Brazil, exactly based in “225 Avenida 9 de Julho”. It is one of the most memorable tragedies that ever took place in Brazil. At the time of the fire, the building was built of armored concrete, specifically fire-resistant but the only the fact that it had flammable items as its furniture, desks, chairs, even cubicle partitions, etc while the ceiling was made of tiles, prepared from cellulose fiber tiles, strapped in wood. Even the carpets and curtains were made of flammable substances.
The building was very weak when it came to fire safety and precaution. It had no emergency exits, no fire extinguishers, no fire alarms and no fire sprinkler systems available in the office. The only way out was the stairway, leaving no other evacuation plan in hand. None of the precautions were taken if a fire ever broke out.