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176:. The building was primarily occupied by a single banking company, Banco Crefisul S/A, of which 756 employees were present. A person in an adjacent building reported the fire and first responders arrived on the scene at 9:10 a.m. Assistance was requested and further units arrived at 9:30 a.m., by which time flames were nearly to the roof of the building. The fire reached the building's only stairwell and climbed as high as the fifteenth floor. It did not reach any higher because of a lack of flammables in the stairwell, but it filled the stairwell with smoke and heat, making it impassable. Fire crews attempted to gain access using the stairwell, but could not go any higher than the eleventh floor.
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trips, however, before conditions within the building made it impossible to continue. Many remaining employees climbed onto balconies for air and a group of 171 individuals fled to the roof. A helicopter rescue was attempted but the heat, smoke and inadequate landing space prevented them from reaching the roof until well after the fire had burned out at 3 p.m. Even if landing space had been available, the heat and smoke made approaching the building by helicopter extremely hazardous. Approximately 80 people hid under the tiles on the roof of the building; they were found alive.
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Thanks to the firefighters, by 10:30 a.m., the fire started to decrease. Four-and-a-half hours later, it had engulfed all flammables and simply burned itself out. Medical teams, fire crews and police were then able to enter the building and search for survivors. At the time, the fire had been
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Initial efforts led to the successful evacuation of some 300 employees before the heat and smoke became too overwhelming. Approximately 300 more people were evacuated using the elevators, a practice that is not recommended by fire officials. The four elevator operators were only able to make a few
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Despite the best efforts of rescue personnel and witnesses, who shouted and created signs encouraging people to remain calm, 40 individuals jumped to escape the conditions inside and in failed attempts to grasp unreachable fire ladders. None of these jumpers survived. Thirteen people who tried to
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unit on the twelfth floor overheated, starting a fire. Because flammable materials had been used to furnish the interior, the entire building was engulfed in flames within twenty minutes. Of the 756 people occupying the building at the time, 179 were killed and 300 injured.
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enacted
Regulation 10, which mandated all new buildings taller than 75 feet (23 m) to have a rooftop helipad for emergency fire evacuation, in response to the Joelma fire. Regulation 10 was rescinded in 2014 after petitioning by the builders of the 73-story
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asked a fire safety specialist to inspect both the Joelma and
Andraus buildings. He found that the renovated Joelma exceeded current fire safety regulations, many of which were enacted exactly because of the two fires. Joelma even had
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While the Joelma
Building is a reinforced fire-resistant concrete hull construction, its interior was furnished with flammable items. Partitions, desks and chairs were made of wood, while ceilings were composed of
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The Joelma
Building remained closed for four years for reconstruction. Once reconstructed, it was renamed Praça da Bandeira ("Flag Square," the name of a former square facing the building).
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were installed in the building. There were only elevators and a common stairwell, which both ran the full height of the building. An
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and their bodies were burnt by the fire; they were never identified and are buried in anonymous graves at the Vila Alpina
Cemetery.
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112:. As of 2021, the Joelma fire remains the second-worst skyscraper fire ever in terms of the death toll, after the collapse of the
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The Joelma
Building fire happened less than two years after another deadly fire in downtown São Paulo, that of the
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the greatest death toll in any such disaster in a high-rise building. Death toll estimates range from 179 to 189.
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The fire occurred on 1 February 1974 at 8:50 a.m., when the faulty 12th-floor air conditioning unit
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fiber tiles set in wood strappings. The curtains and carpets were also flammable.
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in the escape routes; this is not mandatory. Andraus failed the same inspection.
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unit on the twelfth floor, which started the fire, needed a special type of
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355:[41 years later, Andraus Building fails fire safety inspection].
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regulations not only in Brazil, but all over the world. For instance,
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290:. 3rd ed., illustrated. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2009: 129–130. Print.
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326:"Don't Expect Anything Soon With L.A.'s New Skyscraper Regulations"
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Geraldo Luís revive drama do incêndio no edifício Joelma, de 1974
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The building on fire while firefighters attempt to extinguish it
353:"Após 41 anos, edifício Andraus falha em segurança contra fogo"
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Dutton, Ted. "Bold new tactics for fighting high-rise fires".
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The fire became a landmark case that led to changes in
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484:Reportedly haunted locations in Brazil
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474:Skyscraper office buildings in Brazil
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394:National Fire Protection Association
351:Monteiro, André (17 February 2013).
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324:Dunn, Benjamin (18 November 2014).
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27:Skyscraper fire in Brazil in 1974
398:the National Bureau of Standards
258:. DDS International. 2015-04-16
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422:(1977) on the Internet Archive
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445:23.54944°S 46.64056°W
413:Joelma Building Story
222:Wilshire Grand Center
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450:-23.54944; -46.64056
128:Fire safety problems
31:Joelma Building fire
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332:on 8 December 2015
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122:September 11, 2001
114:World Trade Center
78:Non-fatal injuries
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358:Folha de S. Paulo
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217:Los Angeles
213:fire safety
146:fire alarms
18:Joelma fire
463:Categories
436:46°38′26″W
433:23°32′58″S
365:2 December
336:2 December
262:2015-12-02
242:References
204:Aftermath
135:cellulose
98:São Paulo
60:São Paulo
385:Incendio
300:Incendio
56:Location
73:179-189
418:Watch
70:Deaths
64:Brazil
396:and
367:2015
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168:Fire
81:300+
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