This study examines the human behavior during an evacuation from a building fire and how each reaction affects the ability for the occupant to evacuate the building safely. Many deaths have occurred when people are unable to escape from a burning building, due to the improper building design, fire detection and suppression systems, and visibility of exit doors and signs. According to Fire enthusiast, the major contributing factors that leads to a tragic evacuation is lack of sufficient exits for the population, lack of direction for egress, lack of fire walls, fire doors and smoke doors and not having an evacuation plan. This should be a topic of concern, because many people die each year in house fires or industrial fires due to the lack of an evacuation plan, so when a fire outbreaks, the occupant is psychologically and physically challenged in a way that makes the individual think irrationally, in which we will identify the appropriate solutions in preparing for an evacuation in case of a fire and how to stay calm.
Introduction
Did you know that when a person is under pressure or in a life or death situation that it particularly impairs their ability to think? Although there are several methods for evacuating a fire in a building the obstacle that challenges most occupants is staying calm under pressure and remembering the evacuation plan. When a fire develops, it creates smoke which is a mixture of tiny particles and gases produced by fire, the particles are mainly of two kinds: Carbonaceous solid particles (soot), producing black smoke and liquid droplets (aerosol mist), which form as some gas molecules cool and condense, producing light colored smoke (Friedman). In the event the occupant is unable to retrieve ...
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...but with further research and statistics on evaluating the way individuals respond to fires is an ongoing learning experience that will continue to be a concern. With a growing number of deaths in fire related events it raises the question, do people think rationally or irrationally when a fire outbreaks? Just to think about it, the individual could act in accordance to a fire situation but if the tools needed are not available the person could be left with severe injuries or even death.
Works Cited
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Kuligowski, E. THE PROCESS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN FIRES http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire09/PDF/f09027.pdf
Friedman, R. 2009. Principle of Fire Protection Chemistry and Physics. Third Edition. Chapter 11: Combustion Products Evacuation Models
71 percent of the people that were at The Station Nightclub Fire, which occurred in West Warwick Rhode Island on February 20, 2003, that either died or was injured. This paper will look at the contributing factors in this shocking number as it pertains to fire prevention. When breaking down a case study, this case being The Station Nightclub Fire, there are three main factors you must look at. Those factors are fire behavior, human behavior, and building behavior.
Bachelard, Gaston. the Psychoanalysis of Fire. trans. Alan CM Ross,pref. Northrop Frye Boston: Beacon Press, 1964. (Orig pub. in French under the Title La Psychoanalyse du Feu 1938 by Librarie Gallimard)
Since the early 1980’s Grimwood (2000) has studied and implemented the use of water fog spray directly into the fire gas layers from a fog nozzle, also termed (3-D) water fog, developed by the Swedish Fire service. Grimwood reviews studies and tests conducted by the U.S. Navy. Compared to a straight stream attack using a smooth bore nozzle three significant observations were recorded, the time spent fighting fire was reduced, the working heart rates of the firefighters were reduced, and peak body temperatures of the firefighters were lowered, while implementing the (3-D) water fog technique from a fog nozzle. The author indicates that over the last 10-20 years Line of duty Deaths (LODD) from flashovers, or ignition of the fire gases, in the United States, has increased, while in Sweden there has been a decrease in LODD’s since the uses of fog nozzles was adopted during this same time period. Grimwood evaluates several spe...
...nd others for injuries, look for and extinguish small fires, inspect your home for damage, listen to the radio for instructions, and expect aftershocks.
In making the decisions to protect people’s lives from hazards and disasters, evacuations sometimes become necessary. Of course early in the reaction to the incident, or the response phase, this may become a decision for local and state emergency managers. The San Diego, California wildfire which occurred in October 2007 caused a large scale evacuation. This essay is an analysis, and identification of lessons learned from the evacuation incident. As well a plan of personal recommendations and improvements will be made based on information covered in the National Housing strategy, and Robert Stafford Act.
Catching Fire: How Coooking Made us Human by Richard Wrangham is a fresh perspective on the evolution of humankind. Wrangham has made a concentrated effort to prove that humans have evolved particular adaptations, like bipedalism, due to the introduction of cooked foods into their diet. In his book, he is legitimately arguing that humans are the way they are because early on in human evolution, early man discovered fire, discovered the joys of cooked foods, and developed all sorts of fascinating traits still being utilized today.
The City of Detroit, Michigan, seems to be a city on the decline in America. Job prospects some of the lowest in the country and one of the only cities to be shrinking, rather than growing. There are a lot of problems Detroit is facing, one of them is there incidence rate for fires. Detroit is the number one city in America for house fires, not to mention their high rate of fires in the many vacant buildings throughout the city. There are many socioeconomic factors with the city that make the incident rates rise, and response less effective.
In the case, “Facing a Fire” prepared by Ann Buchholtz, there are several problems and issues to identify in determining if Herman Singer should rebuild the factory due to a fire or retire on his insurance proceeds. I believe that this case is about social reform and self-interest. I think that Singer needs to ask himself, what is in the firm’s best economic interests. There are several things to question within this case, what should Herman Singer do and why, should he rebuild the factory or begin retirement, if he rebuilds, should he relocate the firm to an area where wages are lower and what provisions, if any, should Singer make for his employees as well as for the community?
Fire safety education is a crucial aspect of fire prevention. The general public needs to know how big of a threat fire is to them and how they can do things in their everyday lives to improve their safety, as well as preventing the threat of fire to begin with. The commission also realized that it was critically important that people know how to properly act once a fire has started. It is important that people have the knowledge to act quickly, safely, and effectively. When people don’t understand fire they can react in many negative ways such as panicking, not evacuating effectively, or by trying to fight a fire that they are not going to be able to extinguish. All these human reactions can decrease safety and end with tragic results. In the commission’s report they approximate that nearly 70 percent of all building fires were due to people acting carelessly because they did not understand the fire dangers that were present. The commission cited studies like one conducted in southeast Missouri. In the southeast Missouri community, a huge emphasis was put into public fire safety education because the fire death rate of the community was much higher than the national average. After increasing fire safety education in the community it was no surprise that the rate of deaths and injuries decreased
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The release of the hazardous material or exposure to the fire that ensues results in the need to evacuate 25 or more people
...r it is arson, an uncontrolled camp fire, or a cigarette butt it doesn’t take much for humans to spark a disaster. Yet there is as well a few set by good old Mother Nature. On top of the effects on the earth as well as humans, there is only one thing we all can do and that is listen to our old pal Smokey the Bear when he says, “only you can prevent wildfire.”
Water fogging and mist systems are suitable for fighting various types of fires. It provided with sensors that works only when the temperature of the room is exceeding the natural levels, where these sensors release the water droplets or fogs in the air at high velocity which cools the surrounding area effectively and hence minimize the expected heat related damage (Bre, 2005).