Risk-Based Selection of Design Fires to ensure an Acceptable Level of Evacuation Safety

Abstract

In a performance-based (P-B) fire safety design, the level of fire safety of a building achieved by the design depends upon the design fire scenarios and acceptable safety criteria used. In other words, their essential role is to keep the fire risk of a building below an acceptable level. However, the relationship of the design fire with the acceptable fire risk is not clearly recognized, which often causes fire performance gaps between a P-B fire safety design and the existing building fire code. It is thought to be vital for a P-B fire safety design method to incorporate fire risk concepts for its sound development. In this paper, consideration for determining acceptable fire risk in the context of fire safety design is made and a methodology for selecting such a design fire as to ensure the risk of evacuation in fire be under the acceptable level is proposed.