Analysis Fire Systems - Assignment Example

Running Head: Title of Work Name Name of Instructor Subject Institution Date Fire systems Study of fire system is an important aspect in the analyzing of various methods used in quantifying the fire causes. Various mitigation processes have to be set aside to ensure that proper fire safety design codes are adhered to, when designing buildings. This calls for the implementation of design strategies, safety measures undertaken and qualitative analysis of the effect of each approach. This paper, tries to identify four case studies of fire incidences in (Spain, U.K, Canada and Italy) and, analyse the grounds under which they occurred. Fire in Spain It occurred at Windsor tower which is a 32 storied building that has a concrete core reinforced with the waffle slabs of dimension 280mm which, are supported by the internal RC columns in combination with the 360mm steel beams. The fire is believed to have started in the 21st floor at around 23:00. In a span of about one hour, all the buildings above the 21st floor were burning out in flames. As the fire continued to rage, it spread to the lower floors till the third floor. The whole scenario took a roughly time of about eighteen to twenty hours. The cause of fire has had several speculations with some pointing out to be as result of a short circuit. However, some believe to have been caused by arsonist. It has proved a difficult aspect to ascertain the truth as the break out floor had collapsed. Following the Spanish code of building, these buildings were not protected. The second and the third floors had reinforced concrete that linked the sixteenth and seventh floor .The building had a cladding system attached to the perimeter around the steel columns. At the time of fire break out, Winsor tower had been fully equipped with refurbishment with boarding system on the perimeter of the steel columns. It had also spray to protect the internal steel beams, a system that in cooperated a sprinkler and an aluminium cladding network. All the floors except the ninth and the fifteenth had fire protection when this incident occurred. Some of the essential s units missing were the fire stopping to voids and the doors to the vertical shafts. In addition the gap sealing the floor slab and the cladding had not been sealed. Taking the time when the building was constructed in around the 1970s, there was need to put much fire protection measures in the Spanish design code more so in the sprinkler works and the steel works. There were massive damages caused by this fire and most of the floors above the seventeenth floor collapsed due to the buckling of the beams. This incident stipulates how it is important to adhere to the regulation of safety standards. The buildings that had been refurbished, managed to withstand the intense fire. Fire in Italy Incidences of fire on buildings on buildings in Italy have occurred majorly due to; electrical faults resulting from errors in control department, carelessness in handling equipment and appliances which are powered by electricity, explosions from devices that use flammable fuels like petrol and paraffin and also fire on buildings could be as a result of fire set up deliberately by individuals out of malice. Whatever the cause, fires occurring on buildings just like many other places are usually very destructive. They bring about destruction and loss of property, loss of lives as well causing injuries to people. It was on a Thursday early in the morning at around 3.30 a.m. when suddenly fire broke out at the back compartment of the second floor of a two-storey building. The building was just a few meters away from Ottawa’s Little Italy neighbourhood. Most people were still asleep at the time the incident occurred, most businesses closed and not so much businesses going on as usual at 173 Preston Street on which the two-storey building stood. Eye witnesses reportedly saw huge flames which emanated dangerously from the openings of the two-storey building. Another eye witness Laura Grunder who was staying in a house adjacent to the building on fire, reported that when she woke up at around a few minutes to 4.00 a.m. she saw a glow out which was yellowish orange in colour outside her window. It is at that particular time that it occurred to her that something was on fire. It later turner out that it was her building that was on fire. She in the company of other people who were also occupying the building frantically packed a few of their belongings before fleeing for their lives. Before long, around forty fire fighters from the Ottawa Fire Service swung into action and, after combined efforts managed to the fire that had already spread even to the roofs of the building. It was estimated damage worth around $400,000 was caused to the building and its content. However, surprisingly, a woman who was staying in an apartment on the second floor is reported to have managed to come out with no injuries. It is apparent that the floor had fire fighting The Ottawa Fire Service reported, through their spokesman Pierre Savary that the blaze was not suspicious mechanism that could be able to control the smoke generated The building was reported to contain the smoke vents but lacked the reinforcing beam fire protection that made it to crumble easily. . A few injuries were reported but no lives were lost in the 173 Preston Street two-storey building early morning fire incident and those evacuated were expected to get back to the building as soon as the situation was restored. Fire in U. K Thursday the 26th of November the year 2009, is the day when a huge fire broke out at building in London setting it on flames. The incident which occurred at around 4.30am early in the morning at a neighbouring building situated at Peckham, south-east London was a surprise to many of the residents who were not expecting such a thing to happen to them. The flames were so strong and rapid that they spread over to the nearby building four-storeys high harbouring residential flats as well as a pub. A good number of persons occupying the flats and pub in the building situated in Carisbrooke Gardens at the time the building caught fire managed to flee with part of their belonging. Some however fled without their property, when they learnt that the blaze had proved to be unmanageable to them. A few minutes later, fire fighters from the London Fire Brigade amounting to about a hundred and twenty five in number were already spread all over the building in efforts to put out the blaze. Upon arrival, the fire fighter gave the priority to saving lives, which they did through searching the compartments of the building thoroughly while at the same time trying their best to stop the fire from spreading. Fire fighters are able to penetrate the smokes and heat in search of people to rescue by virtue of the fact that they are well trained in that field and usually put on protective clothing while on duty. The fire fighters from London Fire Brigade at last managed to rescue and evacuate all the occupants of the building and no casualties had been reported by the time they were coming to the conclusion of the exercise. The number of people evacuated was one hundred and fifty. According to the report issued by The London Fire Brigade spokesman that the possible cause of the fire was the explosion of gas cylinders being in use within the building Rau (1977, pp33-45). He added that the reason why the fire appeared to have spread so rapidly was the considerable number of gas cylinders within the compartments of the building which exploded as well. The building had all the required safety measures for fire incidents such as the sprinklers, stand pipes and smoke shafts. These tried to reduce the effect of the fire to its occupants. It took close to three hours of tireless struggle for the estimated one hundred and twenty five fire fighters from the London Fire Brigade to completely put out the fire. They were working in the company of a number of officers belonging to the Metropolitan Police as well as being facilitated with the presence of twenty five fire pumps. Fire in Canada A fire incident occurred at Quebec Canada in 2010. It is believed to have started at approximately 4am.in one of the storied buildings. The building had much flame that made the fire fighters to have a rough time. They tried to put off the fire by pouring water. The cause of the fire had been presumably an electric fault of which investigations were still in operation. The building had a lot of traffic as it accommodates a restaurant and a pharmacy. In the design process, the floor space for such an occurrence was lacking in this building, which made evacuation process a hard task to implement. Smoke control was successfully achieved as, the smoke generated from the fire could not spread to other parts; instead it was oozed off through the vents. The presence of brick firewall also aided in controlling the flame. Lots of gallons of water were used. For instance a value of about three hundred thousand gallons of water was use. This was tenable as the electricity had been cut off. Moreover, selection design strategies may come in handy where there may b e use of approach such as engress and the fire endurance. After analysis there must be need to ensure these methodologies have met the set goals. A number of systems may be in cooperated such as, the stand pipes, the fire sprinklers, fire detection alarms, clean agent and the attributes of smoke management. As stipulated in the above case studies, it is seen that safety is a paramount feature in the design of a building. When these are observed, more casualties are more likely to be rescued. Buildings should be fitted with safety fire fighting measures to avoid fatal accidents. These may entail the use of standpipes, fire alarm systems and the sprinklers. Supporting beams should also be protected with fire proof materials. Design of building Safety in building is a paramount feature while considering design of buildings. This calls for structural engineers to consider various factors in construction purposes. Having in mind a 40 storied building that has 60% hotel and 40% residential, careful fire safety measures have to be considered. The building would have a lot of traffic and concentration of people. The design has to embrace diversification and redundancy. The materials used have to adhere to fire standards codes of a given design Washburn (2003, pp87-96). The safety factor has to embrace the nature of structural fire the fire system safety and the intervention of fire measures in relation to human service and reaction to such issues. Consequently, the floor of the building should be such that it may withstand the vibrations from the floor, due to its height. This is accomplished by erecting proper beams and the slabs. To ensure the security of the beams, they have to be protected by the fireboards. There should be an intumescing system that has to be included in the internal beams which necessitate the maximizing of the presence of the cell aperture while in service distribution. The building should be such that it can sustain its stability in case of a fire incident. The columns should be strong such that it is able to support the beams without instances of failure occurring. The failure occurrence should be in tandem in deflection criterion. This may further be enhanced by ensuring the furnace test is performed criterion failure to envisage the functioning of the slab. The realization of fire is relied on the inherence of the fire resistance in a given structure. Fire proofing mechanism In the design methods, the building has to contain materials which are non combustible materials for instance using heavy timber. This would ensure in case of fire, the consequences would be less pronounced. Sprinklers have to be fitted in the building with the in cooperation of vestibular on each floor. The vestibular have to contain an exist opening that is connected directly to the floor space Thonas (1985, pp211-219). This serves as a protection to the elevators. In addition, the floor has to be designed to accommodate the traffic jam that may arise in case of a fire emergency and, when there is need for evacuation. The exit have to be interconnected to the vestibule so as, the exit may be attained without entering the interconnected space. Smoke reservoirs have to be provided by drafts stops which are adjacent to the surrounding. The smokes have to be detected at the ceiling. The draft may the height of the whole building from the bottom to the top. There should be a mechanical system that removes smoke from the air space at an approximate rate of about 5 air changes per given hour. This aspect would assist fire fighters to combat smoke in case of fire incident. This also has to be effected manually so as it is reachable to the fire fighting department. Each floor should be limited in the combustible materials used. Fire safety The relationship between the exposure of fire and the time has to be ascertained in order to estimate the fire exposure duration. The may be achieved by use of ire curves that may indicate the various fire exposure time of different materials. In addition, the atmospheric temperature in relation to a given compartment may be achieved by the natural calculation of fire Hinkley (1986, pp45-54). The behaviour of the ventilators may also be determined. The results of the graphs may indicate the duration a given beam may withstand fire without collapsing. This prevents steel temperature from getting too high. In addition, the strategies may in cooperate the use of stand pipes to enhance the smoke control. Architectural techniques may be employed to ensure proper designs are attainable. The use of structural approach to ensure that the materials used are resistant to high temperatures and, may withstand fracture. Taking into account the performance based design, there is need to set objectives to attain the fire safety. The scenarios of fire occurrence may be analysed and their cause will analysed critically to prevent future occurrences. This may lead to quantitative assessment to opt for other preventive techniques. These safety measures should in cooperate the safety of life, property protection and ensure environment benign. Control of smoke in building Smoke is a hazardous material more so in tall buildings. This is because it tends to rise up easily and may cause severe suffocation Emmons (1984, pp123-131). Studies from computer simulations indicate smoke tend to rise faster inside the building as the temperature high temperature than the outside. By aspect of stack action, smoke may rise and fill the stories at the top and the elevators There is need to employ smoke shafts to reduce volume of smoke. The smoke shafts may take the height of the building and contain dampers that seal the openings. There is an opening at each storey building Irwin (1977, pp77-85). These dampers will be the one that are exposed to the smoke and try to combat it. There is need to install the automatic sprinklers and reduce the usage of combustible materials during construction. Smoke may be vented through the openings of the vents Sustainable energy technology and carbon management Commissioning of installation is essential during the early design stages a sustainable energy system is attained. This calls for evaluation of costs and benefits of all approaches. The energy used in building should be such that they minimize the expenditure of energy. The energy may be used in form of cooling, heating electricity and power. The determination of the actual cost may be evaluated from the annual cost of the unit Frank (2007, pp56-61). Currently, where is a growing regulatory pressure by the governments of different countries on management of buildings and their environmental performance. Carbon efficient buildings have been exhibited in green buildings and LEED. And there benefits are diverse ranging from environmental, economic and health. By reducing the solid waste, improving air and water quality and conserving natural resources by reducing the rate of their consumption in buildings, it leads to less emission in the environment hence helping conserve it Peter (2008, pp73-80). Demand side energy efficiency are initiatives which reduce the power demand through various ways like either electrical or thermal efficiency these measures are like the use of energy efficient light bulbs, pumps, motors and air conditioners. By the use of these utilities, the demand for power is greatly reduced hence saving the energy required and emitting less emission. Still on the demand side, efficient design and construction of walls with material with better insulation properties and roof construction helps vastly in lowering the energy required for heating rooms in polar countries. Supply side energy efficiency are initiatives which increase efficiency of power produced through ways such as improved fuel combustion, waste heat or gas recovery and utilization. Also reuse of low energy waste heat of flue gases exhausted from the boiler stack to preheat boiler feed water and improve generation efficiency of boiler and, the reuse of waste heat of the return steam condensate to reduce HSD consumption. Clean energy production measures are other initiatives undertaken in carbon management in buildings for, they ensure that energy produced and used has less or no carbon traces in them by producing energy from cleaner sources than baseline energy consumption. On this, there is replacement of electric water heater with solar water heaters. Lastly to say there are other measures put in place in buildings all geared towards management of carbon like enhancement of treatment efficiency of the sewerage treatment unit, retrofitting various pumps, energy efficient glass area, high performance chillers and heat recovery wheels. Extinguishing agents Different types of fires are put off by different extinguishing agents. Fire is known to take three forms, namely; class A, class B, and class C. The choice of the fire extinguisher relies solely on the capability of a given agent to combat fire. There is a regular dry chemical agent that combats fire of class B and C Hodges (2010, pp241-249). Halotron are types of agents that may find application in classes A, B and C. It is normally a liquid that vaporises and has no residue. They find their application in telecommunicating rooms such as computer rooms. This is drawn from the fact that, they don’t require any cleaning as they are environment benign. In addition, foam agent may be used. It is majorly used to combat fire of class A and B. It acts by floating on the flammable liquids to withhold the fire and ensuring there are no reflashes. It has a disadvantage of leaving residues; hence it needs to be clean up. It finds its application in homes, and even the workshops. (Purple K dry chemical) It’s a chemical which is dry such as the potassium bicarbonate. It is also environmental benign as, it does not corrode parts. It may be cleaned by aid of a vacuum process or by using water to flush. They find their application in oil industries and military base. Also water may be used to combat fire. It has a limitation that, it can only be used to combat fires of class A and D only. They find its application in schools and also the stock rooms. Multipurpose dry chemical-This may be used to deal with fires of class A, B, C. It takes advantage of ammonium phosphate which is a dry chemical agent. It has an advantage of being mild corrosive. It finds its application in hospitals schools and homes. In buildings where electricity is paramount, it is advisable to use the CO2 or halon or a dry chemical In conclusion, fire safety has to be adhered to in order to have a secure building where individuals can stay without much risks in times of emergencies. All the safety standard codes have to adhere to ensure the building is fully secure. The fire fighting organizations are ensuring these measures are adhered to and this has led to reduction in the number of casualties. References Emmons, H. 1984. The prediction of fire Growth in buildings:an introduction to Fire phenomena . Cambridge,MA: Harvard university, Division of Apllied sciences. Frank, K. 2007. handbook of Energy Efficiency and renewable Enargy. Boca: CRC. Hinkley, P. 1986. Ignition and growth of Fire in a Room. England: Building research esatblishment. Hodges, S. 2010. Fire Extinguishing Agents for protection of occupied spaces in millitary Ground Vehicles. Ft. Bevoir: Defense technical information centre. Irwin, B. 1977. Control of smoke movements in buildings a review. Wasington D. C: centre for fire research. Peter, D. 2008. Urban Energy Transition from fossil fuels to renewable Power. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Rau, D. 1977. Fire Safety. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark Thonas, R. M. 1985. Fires in Buildings: Proceedings of a European stmposium. London: Elsevier Biomedical. Washburn, R. 2003. Using Modeing and Simuklation to Graphically Display the Interaction of Fire and the Extinguishing Agent. Ft Belvoir: Defense techical Information Centre. Read More