NIST says sprinklers would have “controlled” fatal Charleston fire

A federal agency released a 3 year study on the 2007 Sofa Super Store fire in Charleston that killed nine firefighters.

 The US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) 700-page report shows several fire code violations at the store. NIST study leader Nelson Bryner says a lack of sprinklers played a key role in the spread and growth of the fire: 

The computer simulations demonstrate that the sprinklers would have activated in 50 to 75 seconds and would have controlled the fire on the loading dock. The fire would not have spread to the showrooms.

Bryner could not comment on how the men died or the cause of the fire. He says the institute just focuses on probable, technical causes of how the fire spreads and the time it takes.