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In this paper, we make the case for more social science research into fire incidents and fire-related risk behaviour. Unlike other vulnerabilities, such as crime, illness or risk-associated activities such as smoking, or accident ...
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In this paper, we make the case for more social science research into fire incidents and fire-related risk behaviour. Unlike other vulnerabilities, such as crime, illness or risk-associated activities such as smoking, or accident avoidance, remarkably little research has focused on this area. This is perhaps surprising given the propensity for fire, its emotional, social and economic impacts, and evidence that fires and fire victims are not equally distributed across socio-demo-graphic or geographical domains. In making our case, we outline: recent numbers and trends in incidents in the UK, focusing on domestic incidents and recent policy developments affecting fire and rescue services. Next, we review the social-science based literature on fire incidents, suggesting that while this offers useful insight, much more needs to be done to develop a rigorous evidence base. While we would not want to dismiss or downplay existing social science contributions, our contention is that a considerable number of opportunities exist for further work in this area. Consequently, we propose a number of ways in which popular ideas about risk theory can be applied to a domestic fire context and raise a number of questions that social scientists are well positioned to contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of domestic fire incidents and associated risks.
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The authors revisit their 1991 Bigglestone Award winning Fire Technology paper "Fire Risk Analysis: General Conceptual Framework for Describing Models" and comment on what has changed, what has evolved, and what has remained the s...
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The authors revisit their 1991 Bigglestone Award winning Fire Technology paper "Fire Risk Analysis: General Conceptual Framework for Describing Models" and comment on what has changed, what has evolved, and what has remained the same in our understanding of good practice in the conduct of fire risk analysis. Also, the authors refer to the present issues and the future prospects in this regard.
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The risks, hazards, and relative severity of wildland fires are presented here within the ecological context of historical natural fire regimes, time, space, and process. As the public dialogue on the role and impacts of wildland ...
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The risks, hazards, and relative severity of wildland fires are presented here within the ecological context of historical natural fire regimes, time, space, and process. As the public dialogue on the role and impacts of wildland fire increases, it is imperative for all partners to converge on clear and concise terminology that defines risk, hazard, and the characteristic (or uncharacteristic) nature of wildland fire. These terms must be defined in the context of scale - both spatial and temporal. The concept of historical natural fire regimes involves a classification of the characteristic, or "natural" processes and effects associated with wildland fire occurring in sustainable ecosystems. When a wildland fire occurs within the time, space, and severity parameters of the historical natural fire regime, the fire can be called natural, or "characteristic". The milieu of disturbance effects we call catastrophic, such as economic losses, damages to communities and structures, or impacts on short-term aesthetic values involve social, cultural, and economic values and risks - none is directly associated with ecological values, damages, or risks. In the context of technical risk assessments, the term "risk" considers not only the probability of an event, but also includes values and expected losses. However, within the fire community it refers only to the probability of ignition (both man- and lightning-caused). 'Hazard' refers to the state of the fuel, exclusive of weather or the environs in which the fuel is found. Unlike many common uses of the term 'severity', fire severity refers specifically to the effect a fire has on wildland systems. It is inappropriate to use the term severity to describe the behavior of the fire phenomenon itself. Instead, we should confine its use to that relating only to a fire's effect. Finally, I discuss the limitations and conflicts to integrating all social, cultural, economic, health, and safety values in our public and policy-forming dialogue relating to fire risk, hazard, and severity. Typical risk assessments consider all relevant endpoints, including socio-economic, management, as well as ecological elements. Herein, I use the Black Mountain 2 Fire from August 2003 in the northern Rockies to illustrate the spatiotemporal extent of fire's impacts on the endpoints. When expressed over all affected spatiotemporal scales, the overlay of all endpoints from this synthetic scenario results in a "decision space" ranging in time from an hour to a century, and in space ranging from a few square meters to the continent..
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Reducing injury and death in house fires is an important public health intervention activity with the presence of an operating smoke alarm widely considered an important way of reducing harm from fire. Yet despite a number of init...
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Reducing injury and death in house fires is an important public health intervention activity with the presence of an operating smoke alarm widely considered an important way of reducing harm from fire. Yet despite a number of initiatives and fire-safety campaigns, a number of households at greater risk of domestic fire fail to have a functioning alarm. This paper provides empirical insight into everyday experiences of owning, maintaining and testing smoke alarms among a purposive sample of individuals identified as being less likely to own a functioning smoke alarm. Analysis from focus group data identifies a number of reasons why individuals may not own or test an alarm, and provides new insight into how fire risk is understood in the context of a range of competing, and potentially more prominent, individual and household risks. We suggest that while initiatives that aim to reduce fire injury and death should be continued, their success, and indeed future research on fire risk, should pay attention to the mundane and everyday contexts within which individuals currently rarely reflect on their risk of experiencing a domestic fire.
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Abstract In recent years, the occurrence of fires in some important buildings such as Plasco took the attention of engineers and authorities to the importance of fire safety in existing buildings. The aim of this paper is to prese...
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Abstract In recent years, the occurrence of fires in some important buildings such as Plasco took the attention of engineers and authorities to the importance of fire safety in existing buildings. The aim of this paper is to present a regulatory framework for assessment and improvement of fire safety in existing buildings. The proposed framework is based on fire risk assessment and comparison with prescriptive standard values. A safety scoring system was developed to assess fire protection measures in buildings. Sixteen effective parameters and corresponding sub-parameters were defined by method developers. The scores corresponding to parameters and sub-parameters were further refined using an expert panel. Means of egress, detection and warning system, and fire compartmentation were among the highest contributing parameters. The importance of buildings was classified and the minimum required safety scores for each class of importance level were prescribed. To consider other safety measures including preventive and management measures, a qualitative fire risk analysis system was developed for the entire building. At the end, considering the results of scoring system and total fire risk assessment, an action plan should be designed for upgrading the building fire safety. The method is proposed as a regulative framework and can be used by local authorities, corresponding to the conditions and local fire codes.
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Forest fire is one of the key drivers of forest degradation in Nepal. Most of the forest fires are human-induced and occur during the dry season, with similar to 89% occurring in March, April and May. The inaccessible mountainous ...
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Forest fire is one of the key drivers of forest degradation in Nepal. Most of the forest fires are human-induced and occur during the dry season, with similar to 89% occurring in March, April and May. The inaccessible mountainous terrain and narrow time window of occurrence complicate suppression efforts. In this paper, forest fire patterns are analysed based on historical fire incidence data to explore the spatial and temporal patterns of forest fires in Nepal. Three main factors are involved in the ignition and spread of forest fires, namely fuel availability, temperature and ignition potential. Using these factors a spatially distributed fire risk index was calculated for Nepal based on a linear model using weights and ratings. The input parameters for the risk assessment model were generated using remote sensing based land cover, temperature and active fire data, and topographic data. A relative risk ranking was also calculated for districts and village development committees (VDCs). In total, 18 out of 75 districts were found with high risk of forest fires. The district and VDC level fire risk ranking could be utilised by the Department of Forest for prioritisation, preparedness and resource allocation for fire control and mitigation.
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Cable bridges such as cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges are supported by members such as cables, reinforced girders, and pylons. Fires on the bridge can cause structural degradation in members, which can pose a severe da...
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Cable bridges such as cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges are supported by members such as cables, reinforced girders, and pylons. Fires on the bridge can cause structural degradation in members, which can pose a severe danger to the bridge. However, in most countermeasure standards for structures, no information regarding the installation of firefighting facilities on cable bridges is available. In this paper, a fire risk assessment method for the installation of fire hydrants and standpipe systems on cable bridges is proposed. To determine the grade of the fire hazards for these bridges, the fire risk was classified into categories, such as the likelihood of fire occurrence, fire response conditions, the vulnerability of the bridge to fire, and impact of fire on the society and economy. The degree of fire hazard was determined by assigning weightage factors to each category, and the fire risk for 70 existing cable bridges and those under construction in Korea was evaluated. Application of these results can ensure adequate fire extinguishing facilities are installed on any bridge based on its fire risk.
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Fire in electrical cabinets is of major concern in nuclear power plants. With the need to reduce incoming electrical power from 14 kV to as low as 50 V, and the need to supply power to hundreds of electrical components, there is a...
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Fire in electrical cabinets is of major concern in nuclear power plants. With the need to reduce incoming electrical power from 14 kV to as low as 50 V, and the need to supply power to hundreds of electrical components, there is an abundance of electrical cabinets in nuclear power plants. The combination of fire load and live electrical energy within electrical cabinets has caused fires and explosions. Such fires are of concern as they may disrupt the delivery of electrical power and instrumentation and control in the plant. In addition, the fire can propagate to nearby cabinets and plant components. This paper presents advances in the knowledge and understanding of the conditions inside a cabinet due to fire and ranks fire hazard potential of electrical cabinets. Test results for electrical cabinet fires have been reported by Sandia National Laboratories and by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). The Sandia tests provide data for fires in control cabinets. The VTT tests provide a model for calculation of burning rates inside a specific electrical cabinet. This research included a site visit to a nuclear power plant to understand variations in electrical cabinet design as well as performing 39 cabinet fire tests with varying burning rates, ventilation openings, and cabinet sizes. Two types of fuels were used for this study: propane gas and heptane liquid. This paper identifies the minimum fire size that can be maintained in a cabinet as a function of ventilation openings, cabinet wall temperatures, and radiation levels, and the characteristics of external smoke and fire plumes. Based on the test results, a one-zone model was developed for mathematical simulation. The model was used to expand on the results of the tests to construct a risk matrix of fire hazards for various cabinets as a function of the cabinet size, fire size, and ventilation openings. Since the test results in this study are based on propane and heptane as the fire load, it is desirable to also test the effect of fire load from electrical components and wiring, given a range of cabinet dimensions and vent conditions. Heat flux measurements should include the external smoke and/or flame plumes. Further studies should analyze the possibility and implications of an explosion within a cabinet, and results should be compared with existing national and international design standard requirements.
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Risk assessments are used to inform decision-making in hazardous systems. The process involves highly technical steps such as quantifying uncertainty and it is typically carried out by subject matter experts with a robust engineer...
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Risk assessments are used to inform decision-making in hazardous systems. The process involves highly technical steps such as quantifying uncertainty and it is typically carried out by subject matter experts with a robust engineering background. The process also involves value-loaded steps such selecting the risk acceptance criteria for evaluating the risks. In the built environment, risk assessments support performance-based design and of late, these have been increasingly framed as the preferred option to quantify and demonstrate adequate fire safety performance. This argument is supported by the assumption that risk is an adequate proxy for fire safety goals. The present work puts forward a counterargument, stating that fire safety performance should be mainly defined as a function of fire consequences, avoiding the use of fire risk assessments as a proxy to fire safety goals. An alternative fire risk assessment methodology is introduced based on the concept of maximum allowable damage, which is exemplified in a combustible facade residential building case-study. The methodology presented here aims at building upon the knowledge and tools of fire safety engineering to obtain more trustworthy risk assessments and therefore attain a safer built environment.
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Purpose: Despite the existence of established fire codes, the frequency of building fires in Sri Lanka has been on the rise in recent years. The primary objective of building codes is to ensure minimum acceptable fire safety stand...
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Purpose: Despite the existence of established fire codes, the frequency of building fires in Sri Lanka has been on the rise in recent years. The primary objective of building codes is to ensure minimum acceptable fire safety standards in buildings, but deviations from the code can increase fire risk factors and exacerbate the severity of fires. This study aims to identify and rank such risk factors in three stages, beginning with design and concluding with maintenance. Project and Methods: The methodology of this research consists of a qualitative approach, which includes a literature review, a questionnaire-based survey, and semi-structured interviews with fire industry professionals. The questionnaire was developed in a Sri Lankan context following an extensive literature review that included the author's experience. The qualified and experienced panel of fire specialists was asked to rank the prepared questionnaire, which was summarized into twelve risk categories. Though there are few fire risk ranking methods, the relative importance index method was applied in this research as it is simple and easy to use for ranking the risk factors. The results obtained from the five-point Likert scale, where “1” is the least risk level and “5” is the highest risk level, were converted to identify priorities with RII. Results: In the Sri Lankan context, it was discovered that issues with design and the approval of inaccurate building plans are the first and second major risk factors, respectively, out of the twelve categories identified. Thus, it was evident that deviations made at the design stage are the most significant risk factors, according to the Sri Lankan setting. Most of the mistakes that are made at the design stage cannot be rectified at a later stage under normal conditions, as it could incur huge costs to change the building structures. Conclusions: The study summarizes twelve factors that contribute to fire-related incidents in Sri Lankan buildings. Among these factors, the survey data shows that incorrect building design and the approval of inaccurate building plans for construction are the primary contributors to the high frequency and severity of fire-related incidents. Despite the availability of comprehensive fire safety regulations in Sri Lanka, the research reveals a significant gap in their implementation, from design to maintenance. These findings stress the importance of incorporating fire and safety management criteria into the building design stage, covering both construction and subsequent maintenance, to prevent fire incidents in Sri Lanka.
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