Fire Safety Management Research Articles

Safety alert on scaffolding practices in Hong Kong

There are many incidents involving scaffolding which might lead to serious occupational safety consequences. A poor scaffold erected along public access in Hong Kong is taken as an example to alert the hidden hazards. This indicates inadequacy in safety management with possible violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance and possible violation of at least three local fire codes of practice, including Means of Escape, Means of Access and Fire Service Installations Codes. Blocking public access for fire exits would lead to hazardous consequences. Occupants might not be able to escape safely and efficiently, and firemen might not be able to access the fire spot quickly. These would lead to unnecessary injury and property damage, court case, insurance claim, and so on. It is obvious that fire safety management should be implemented properly to ensure proper monitoring of the scaffold. However, current control appears to be too loose. Safety culture should be promoted by stakeholders with tighter government control, inspection and penalty. The new penalty scheme of the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance is a good starting point.

Development of an Education and Training System Based on Augmented Reality to Improve the Firefighting Facility Maintenance Ability of Fire Safety Managers

This study grafts fire safety manager education to augmented reality technology to increase the familiarity of fire safety managers with facility inspection and operation based on the automatic fire alarm system that plays the most critical role in early fire situations. To design the education and training content, the Korea Fire Safety Institute, which educates and trains fire safety managers, arranges the training content in the textbooks provided to actual fire safety managers and sets the sequence of operating principles and inspection methods. The purpose is to provide fire safety managers with realistic inspection methods and practice opportunities by implementing them in augmented reality. The education and training program allows learning about automatic fire alarm systems in the following order: structure and operating principles → inspection and practice → assessment. In structure and operating principles, fire safety managers can acquaint themselves with the role of automatic fire alarm systems and facility components and circuit tests according to operation principles. During inspection and practice, at least three inspection methods are learned for each facility. Finally, the assessment refers to the actual evaluation and achievement standards of the Korea Fire Safety Institute, checking a facility in a given mission without guidance or explanation based on the aspects learned in inspection and practice. In addition, it reviews the aspects learned in theory by including a quiz during inspection to improve proficiency by setting it up to be applied in practice.

Development of Education and Training Scenarios to Improve the Ability of Fire Safety Managers to Realize Situations and Induce Evacuation in Case of Fire

This study developed an education and training scenario to improve the ability of fire safety managers to recognize situations during a fire and induce evacuation. By reflecting on the characteristics of evacuation facilities and the occupants of multi-occupancy buildings, a scenario similar to that of a real situation was designed through unexpected situations that could occur during actual evacuation induction. Each evacuation facility in the scenario was developed by applying additional methods considering the factors influencing the evacuation in the previous case, referring to Article 4 (1) of the adaptability of evacuation equipment according to the installation location of firefighting objects. The developed scenario was a multi-occupancy building with four basement levels and 50 floors above the ground with a piloti structure and was designed based on the order of evacuation initiation → induction of evacuation → gather at the evacuation site → rescue recipient state report. The details were designed to be applied to practical training by assigning elements that can occur in real situations by causing evacuation using evacuation facilities according to the number of fire floors, assigning situations through various characteristics of occupants, and inserting role conflict elements through unexpected situations. By conducting practical and feasible education for fire safety managers, they can flexibly cope with unexpected situations that may occur in the process of inducing occupants to evacuate in the event of a fire while on duty and improve their skills in using evacuation facilities.

Modulating Thermal Conductivity and Flame Retardancy of Polyolefin Composites via Distributed Structures of Magnesium Hydroxide and Hexagonal Boron Nitride.

Thermally conductive and flame-retardant polyolefin composites are facing great challenges in meeting the increasing demands for fire safety and thermal management. Aiming at simultaneously enhancing thermal conductivity and flame retardancy, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and magnesium hydroxide (MH) were adopted in ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer/polyolefin elastomer (EVA/POE) blends to design composites with selective filler distributions and co-continuous networks via different processing schemes. The thermal conductivity and flame retardancy show strong dependence on the distributed structure of hBN and MH. The composites with hBN-rich centers and MH-rich edges in the filled POE phase show a thermal conductivity of 0.70 W/(m·K) and an LOI of 27.7%, which are very close to the thermal conductivity of EVA/POE/hBN and the LOI of EVA/POE/MH at the same total filler content. The composites with MH-rich centers and hBN-rich edges show pHRR, THR and TSP values of 169 kW/m2, 49.8 MJ/m2 and 1.8 m2, which are decreased by 40%, 33% and 62% in comparison with EVA/POE/MH, respectively. Modulating the filler structure distribution provides a strategy to co-enhance thermal conductivity and flame retardancy.

AIoT-enabled digital twin system for smart tunnel fire safety management

High traffic flow in a confined tunnel makes fire safety a critical issue. This paper proposed a digital twin framework for tunnel fire safety management in real-time, driven by dynamic sensor data and AIoT technologies. A deep learning model trained by the Transformer network and simulation dataset is used to predict real-time fire location and size. Then, the AI model is integrated into a 3D digital twin platform developed by the game engine Unity 3D. The performance of the proposed digital twin framework is demonstrated using numerical experiments and large-scale tunnel fire tests. Results show that the established AI model achieved promising accuracy in predicting fire location and power for both numerical and experimental data. The digital twin platform can also visualize the 3D fire scene that supports evacuation, firefighting, and emergency rescue. This research demonstrates the feasibility of using a 3D environment and digital twin in real-time fire safety management.

Emergency evacuation of urban underground commercial street based on BIM approach

Urbanization has led to increased construction of underground buildings to overcome limited surface space. However, safety concerns in urban underground commercial buildings have become a major issue due to frequent accidents. Ensuring safe evacuation in densely populated underground commercial buildings is crucial. This study focuses on the safe evacuation of an urban underground commercial street A in Fuzhou City. A simulation framework based on Building Information Modelling (BIM) is proposed, integrating the Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) and BIM. The framework overcomes limitations in fire dynamic simulators. Using a BIM model, the study analyzes the risk of each fire protection area and selects the most unfavorable area for simulation. PyroSim technology is employed to study the entire fire development process in the underground commercial street under three different fire scenarios. The analysis includes evacuation stair travel time and personnel available safe evacuation time (TASET). By comparing the results, the study optimizes building layout design and identifies factors affecting personnel evacuation efficiency. The simulation outcomes aim to minimize casualties and property losses, contributing to fire safety management in urban underground commercial streets.

Constructing a novel porous skeleton based on polycarbonate/expandable graphite for phase change materials with improved flame retardancy and shape stability

Phase change materials (PCMs) have been utilized in thermal management to stabilize the temperature and improve the fire safety of operating electronics. Paraffin wax (PW) is usually used as PCMs due to its high latent heat, stable performance, environmental friendliness, and low cost. However, PW has inherent weakness of easy leakage and high flammability. In this work, a porous skeleton composed of polycarbonate (PC) and expandable graphite (EG) was innovatively fabricated, and then the skeleton was applied to construct PCMs with enhanced flame retardancy and reduced leakage of PW by absorbing PW and triphenyl phosphate (TPP) into the PC-EG skeleton. The phase change performance, fire safety, and thermal management capacity of the PC-based PCMs were characterized. The results showed that at the loading ratio of PW/TPP = 3/1, the PC-based PCMs had a leakage ratio of only 0.26 % and a latent heat of 94.1 J g−1. The peak heat release rate (pHRR) and total heat release (THR) of the PC-EG/(PW/TPP-3:1) sample were decreased by 58.8 % and 39.1 %, respectively compared with that of the PC-EG/PW sample. The char residue was increased to 10.0 % from 5.0 % by the presence of TPP. The as-prepared PCMs exhibited high thermal management ability in the pouch cell operation. It is suggested that the PC/EG skeleton have never been used in PCMs for the improvement of flame retardancy and shape stability. This work provides a feasible method to fabricate PC-based PCMs with excellent flame retardancy, shape stabilization, and high phase change efficiency, which has great potential to produce ideal thermal management materials.

Regional High-Rise Building Fire Risk Assessment Based on the Spatial Markov Chain Model and an Indicator System

High-rise buildings (HRBs) are prone to high fire hazards due to their high occupant density, limited evacuation routes, and high fire load. The indicator system method, as a systematic evaluation method, is widely applied to assess HRB fire risk. However, the method is subjective because the determination of the indicator weights mainly relies on expert experience. In order to reduce the subjectivity of the indicator system method in assessing the fire risk of HRBs, this study proposes a new assessment method by combining the spatial Markov chain model and the indicator system method. In this new method, fire occurrence probability is calculated by the spatial Markov chain model using historical HRB fire accident data. An indicator system is built to characterize the fire consequence by the structure entropy weight method. Subsequently, HRBs in Beijing are used as a case to illustrate the practicality of this approach. Firstly, the spatial Markov chain model is trained and validated using the chi-square goodness-of-fit test based on fire accident data from 2018 to 2023 in Beijing. It was found that the best performance was achieved with the monthly period and the four-state. Then, the distribution of regional fire occurrence probability in April was predicted based on fire accident data in March 2023 in Beijing. It showed that areas with higher fire occurrence probability are mainly located in the central region, especially in the I District. Then, the indicator system was used to evaluate the HRB fire consequence in the I District. The assessment results showed that the areas with more severe fire consequences are mainly located in the II and IV Districts, due to the poor performance of the fire system or the absence of fire protection systems. Coupling the fire occurrence probability and its consequences shows that HRBs with higher fire risk are mainly located in area II and should be carefully supervised for fire management. This developed method can provide some insights into the fire safety management of HRBs and the layout of the fire stations.

Bio-based chitosan/amino trimethylene phosphonic acid films enabling highly-efficient intumescent flame retardancy and ultra-fast fire early-warning function

Early fire warning holds immense potential for achieving more efficient fire-safety management. Despite the emergence of numerous fire-alarm sensors in recent years, they display deficiencies in providing prompt and repeatable early detection during fire accidents, thus failing to mitigate potential losses. Herein, we demonstrated a bio-based fire-warning film with chitosan (CS) and amino trimethylene phosphonic acid (ATMP) prepared by an environmental-friendly water evaporation method. The transparency, thermal stability, flame retardancy and fire-warning performances of CS and CS-ATMP films were comprehensively investigated. Remarkably, the inclusion of ATMP results in a significant improvement in the thermal stability and char yield. Moreover, the total heat release value of CS-ATMP-1 film exhibits a remarkable 35.7% reduction compared to that of pure CS film, demonstrating a substantial enhancement in flame retardancy. The thermosensitive properties of CS endow it with fire-warning capabilities. The CS-ATMP-2 film triggers an alarm signal within 0.3 s and the signal maintains for 196.0 s under alcohol flame attack, indicating its high sensitivity and stable alarm signal. Furthermore, the possible flame-retardant and fire-alarm mechanisms are proposed. This bio-based CS-ATMP film with excellent flame-retardant and repeatable early warning capacities manifests promising applications in building fire prevention and detection.

Digital-Twin-Based Fire Safety Management Framework for Smart Buildings

In recent years, the implementation of digital twin (DT) technology has gained significant attention in various industries. However, the fire safety management (FSM) sector has been relatively slow in adopting this technology compared to other major industries. Therefore, this study aims to explore the limitations, opportunities, and challenges associated with adopting DT technology in the FSM sector and further develop a DT-based FSM framework towards smart facility management (FM). To achieve this objective, this research started by reviewing several promising DTs for FSM, including building information modeling (BIM), the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented reality (AR). On this basis, a conceptual framework was synthesized in consideration of the benefits of each technology. A questionnaire was conducted for FM professionals to evaluate the proposed framework and identify the challenges of adopting DT in the FSM sector. The survey results reveal that the proposed framework can assist decision makers in obtaining comprehensive information about facilities’ communication among stakeholders. The survey results validate the potential of the adoption of DTs toward smart FM practices in FSM. The survey results provide insights into the perception of DT technology among FM practitioners and identify the current state of DT technology in the FSM sector, its expected benefits, and its potential challenges. The main barriers to adopting DTs in FSM are a lack of knowledge about DTs, their initial costs, user acceptance, difficulties in systems integration, education training costs, a lack of competence, development complexity, difficulties in data management, and a lack of trust in data security.

Smart Fire Safety Management System (SFSMS) Connected with Energy Management for Sustainable Service in Smart Building Infrastructures

The scale of human accidents and the resultant damage has increased due to recent large-scale urban (building) fires, meaning there is a need to devise an effective strategy for urban disasters. In the event of a fire, it is difficult to evacuate in the early stages due to the loss of detection function, difficulty in securing visibility, and confusion over evacuation routes. Accordingly, for rapid evacuation and rescue, it is necessary to build a city-level fire safety service and digital system based on smart technology. In addition, both forest and building fires emit a large amount of carbon dioxide, which is the main cause of global warming. Therefore, we need to prepare both energy and fire management to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. In this study, we developed an AI-based smart fire safety system for efficient urban integrated management using a city-based fire safety architecture. In addition, we designed a fire management infrastructure and an energy management system for buildings. The proposal was demonstrated by building a test bed in the A building, and the AR-based mobile/web application was tested for optimized evacuation management. Furthermore, AI-based fire detection and the optimal evacuation of occupants were implemented through deep learning-based fire information data analysis. As a result, this paper presents four points for safety and energy management, and we demonstrate that the optimization of occupant evacuation ability and energy saving can be achieved. We also analyze the efficiency of the data transfer rate to prevent data communication delays by using Virtual Edge Gateway (VEG) management. In the future, we expect that the appearance of future fire and energy management buildings through this research will produce more accurate data prediction technology and the development of cutting-edge smart technology in smart city infrastructures.

ADDRESSING THE FIRE SAFETY PROBLEMS IN SHOPPING CENTRES OF DHAKA CITY: A CASE STUDY ON SOME SELECTED SHOPPING CENTRES IN MIRPUR AREA

The city of dhaka has been seeing a significant number of fire incidents. The exacerbation of the crisis is mostly attributed to a combination of institutional incompetence, insufficient equipment support, poor preventative measures, and a lack of awareness among people. The occurrence of fires in various shopping malls has become more prevalent in contemporary times. In the event of fire incidents inside shopping malls, there is a potential for both human casualties and property damage to occur. Contemporary shopping practices include the use of ornamental materials that possess a heightened susceptibility to combustion, hence amplifying the risk of fire incidents. The objective of this research is to assess the state of fire safety management in retail complexes. This research focuses on conducting a survey to assess fire safety in four high rise retail complexes located in the Mirpur region of Dhaka city. This study aimed to design a checklist methodology for assessing the fire safety standards of retail complexes. The assessment of fire safety levels in shopping malls by the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense directorate involves assigning varying weights to several parameters related to fire safety management. A study has shown that the majority of shopping malls exhibit characteristics of being high rise and mixed use, hence exacerbating their susceptibility to fires and subsequently increasing the associated fire risk. The majority of the shopping centers that were assessed are situated next to important roads, which are often broad enough to accommodate fire engines. However, a recurring issue arises as these roadways often experience congestion or occupation. Out of the shopping centers surveyed, only Mirpur Shopping Center possesses an emergency exit and some essential fire signs and symbols. Conversely, the remaining three shopping centers, namely Shah Ali Plaza, Muktobangla Shopping Complex, and Shah Ali Shopping Complex, do not have designated emergency exits, signs, and symbols altogether. This deficiency causes these shopping centers to be more vulnerable to fire hazards and reduces their overall level of safety. These shopping malls are extensively encompassed by various electric poles and transformers. The fire safety score of Mirpur Shopping Center is 56.57 (excellent), Shah Ali Plaza is 33.55 (average) and Shah Ali Complex and Muktobangla is 25.44 and 26.75 (poor) respectively. The Fire hazard vulnerability score of Mirpur Shopping Center is 11 (less vulnerable), Shah Ali Plaza is 26 (moderate vulnerable), Muktobangla Shopping Complex is 31 (highly vulnerable) and Shah Ali Shopping Complex is 35 (highly vulnerable). A lot of people are talking about how the fire brigade in our country doesn't have the right tools or the most up-to-date training, and they aren't keeping an eye on safety measures closely enough.

베이지안 기법을 이용한 다중이용시설의 소방대 화재진압 확률모형 개발

This study developed the probabilistic fire brigade suppression model for assembly occupancies whose risk is significant in terms of life and property damage due to unspecified majority of people and the high density in the space when fire occurs using Bayesian Markove Chain Monte Carlo method. As a result of deriving a fire brigade suppression probability model based on actual fire experience data over the past five years, 17 cities and provinces were able to be grouped into 3 for which, Log-normal or Gamma based probability models are developed. The probabilistic fire brigade suppression models for 3 groups drawn through this study are expected to contribute to secure the realism of quantitative fire risk assessment and to enhance reliability of the fire safety management measures through support of risk based decision by reflecting the real fire event experiences.

Developing the Urban Fire Safety Co-Management System in China Based on Public Participation

The new situations, problems, and challenges facing urban fire safety work are gradually increasing in China, so innovating urban fire safety governance modes is an urgent task. In the fire management practice of the Chinese government, the establishment of an urban fire safety co-management system is an important measure for aggregating fire safety management resources and improving the level of urban fire safety prevention, as well as control. In order to reveal and clarify the interacting relationships and influencing mechanisms among multiple subjects in an urban fire safety co-management system, we constructed an urban fire safety co-management game model comprising fire supervision departments, production management units, and the public based on evolutionary game theory. The stability of the urban fire safety co-management game system is explored from the perspective of game subjects. The influencing factors of strategy selection between game subjects in the game system were investigated using numerical simulation analysis. The research results show that elevating the informatization level of co-management, the risk perception level of the public, and the disclosure level of fire safety information are conducive to stimulating the public’s positivity to participate in co-management. Strengthening the accountability of the superior government is conducive to ensuring the supervision level of fire supervision departments. The above measures have positive value for optimizing China’s urban fire safety co-management systems, establishing urban fire safety management synergy, and ensuring the stability of social fire safety situations.

Building fire safety management analysis based on the reliability assessment method of making safety systems in greenhouse display buildings

Fires must be alerted and anticipated or detected as early as possible. If a fire occurs, it will be fatal such as damage to buildings, infrastructure, other facilities and can even result in casualties. Therefore, a reliable fire protection system must be applied. To prevent or anticipate fires, detection must be carried out as early as possible and prepared facilities or infrastructure for fire safety. The Green House display building is an exhibition building of living plants from various mountains in Indonesia including the mountains of Java, the mountains of Sumatra, the mountains of Kalimantan, and the mountains of Papua. This building is the only building in Indonesia, which presents the atmosphere of the mountains exactly the same as the original mountains, both plants, soil and air temperature, but is in a closed room. Plants and soil are taken directly from the associated location. This building is allegedly very prone to fire because there are so many flammable materials such as leaves, wood and others. As well as forests in Indonesia, especially in Kalimantan and Sumatra where fires often occur. Therefore, the application of Building Fire Safety Management in this building must be applied as well as possible. Fire safety management in question includes: completeness of facilities and infrastructure, active protection systems and passive protection systems. Active protection systems such as fire detection devices for this building cannot use ordinary systems, because in this building, the atmosphere is like mountains with many big trees. To ensure that the building can be declared reliable in terms of building safety, especially fire safety, it is necessary to check the reliability of the building. The inspection can be carried out by several methods, including analyzing based on applicable standards and analyzing based on the assessment of the reliability of the building safety system referring to the Settlement Research and Development Center, Research and Development Agency PU, Department of Public Works in 2005 (Pd-T-11-2005-C).

Using local co-location quotient and niche-based model to assess fire risk in urban environments: A case study of Beijing, China

Accurate knowledge and identification of the spatial distribution of fire incidents are vital for effective urban fire safety management. While the complexity of the physical environment poses challenges in obtaining precise fire risk distribution. To address this, we propose a novel approach that leverages the species distribution prediction model, focus on examining the spatial association between fires and physical environment, as well as the application of niche-based model for fire risk prediction. By utilizing the local co-localization quotient (LCLQ), we found that 8 out of 9 types of point of interest (POI) in Beijing, China, exhibit a spatial association with fire incident locations. Based on this relationship, we incorporate the impactful POI and fire data into MaxEnt, a species distribution prediction model, to predict the distribution of fire hazards. Additionally, we perform a comprehensive fire risk assessment by incorporating diurnal population data. Our experimental results demonstrate that the MaxEnt model achieved a maximum AUC value of 0.78 when employing a POI density search radius of 500 m. Furthermore, the high-resolution results show good integration with other geographical data. The utilization of LCLQ and niche-based model improves the efficiency and resolution of fire risk assessment, enhancing fire risk assessment practices and management.

Research on Intelligent Monitoring of Fire Safety and Fire Rescue Plan for Tunnel Operation under Quasi-Unattended Background

Tunnel structures account for la large proportion of the structures in mountain highway transportation systems. Most tunnels are located in remote areas in which the geological conditions are complex and harsh and in which the layout of the management facilities along the way is complex. Thus, the management and maintenance costs of various facilities are expensive, the cost of fire safety operations and management is high, and disaster prevention and rescue have a difficult time meeting the objective requirements. Therefore, it is urgent to carry out research on quasi-unmanned operations and intelligent remote monitoring. This study firstly proposes a fire safety intelligent monitoring framework for quasi-unattended tunnels. By making full use of various intelligent sensor monitoring data in the tunnel, the tunnel operation status can be grasped in real time. Then, a fire safety evaluation model can be established through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and, based on the monitoring data, the AHP model parameters can be evaluated to realize the real-time evaluation and management of tunnel fire safety. Finally, on the basis of the fire safety intelligent monitoring system and the fire safety evaluation system, an adaptive fire rescue plan formulation scheme is proposed for the quasi-unattended tunnels so as to provide guaranteed support for the rapid automatic response of tunnel fire protection and to provide technical data support for the design and realization of intelligent and efficient tunnel management

Investigating the impact of oxygen concentration on fire dynamics using numerical simulation with FDS

The world is experiencing an increase in demand for medical facilities due to the worsening of environmental and political conditions leading to emergencies that could suddenly increase the patients count in hospitals. The extensive use and storage of oxygen in hospitals and violation of the fire safety management practices lead to the occurrence and worsening of fire accidents. Though many researchers documented the influence of O2 enrichment on fire dynamics, there are only limited studies present. This article attempts to investigate the effects of varying oxygen concentrations - 21% (v/v), 22% (v/v), and 23% (v/v) - on fire dynamics in a hospital environment using Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS). The changes in Mass Loss Rate (MLR), Heat Release Rate (HRR), temperature profile, flash over occurrence and thermal intensity were reported and compared with varying oxygen concentration. The results show a significant increase in MLR and HRR with the increase in O2 concentration, which directly contributed to the earlier occurrence of flashover. For oxygen concentrations of 21% (v/v), 22% (v/v), and 23% (v/v), the highest temperatures achieved were 1395 °C, 1421 °C, and 1494 °C and the thermal intensity values were found to be 966 kW.m-2, 1027 kW.m-2, and 1074 kW.m-2, respectively. The variation in peak temperature and thermal intensity at 21% (v/v) and 23% (v/v) O2 concentration, is found to be 7.1% and 11%, respectively. The findings provide a valuable insight that the oxygen concentration in a fire can impact the fire dynamics. This study can aid in the development of effective fire safety management systems for hospital environments. In addition, the process industries have a key role to play in supporting hospitals to adopt proper approaches, drawing on lessons learned from managing flammable and explosive atmospheres in chemical processes. These simulation results will give better understanding to adopt relevant safety codes for the hospitals.

An improved fire detection approach based on YOLO-v8 for smart cities

Fires in smart cities can have devastating consequences, causing damage to property, and endangering the lives of citizens. Traditional fire detection methods have limitations in terms of accuracy and speed, making it challenging to detect fires in real time. This paper proposes an improved fire detection approach for smart cities based on the YOLOv8 algorithm, called the smart fire detection system (SFDS), which leverages the strengths of deep learning to detect fire-specific features in real time. The SFDS approach has the potential to improve the accuracy of fire detection, reduce false alarms, and be cost-effective compared to traditional fire detection methods. It can also be extended to detect other objects of interest in smart cities, such as gas leaks or flooding. The proposed framework for a smart city consists of four primary layers: (i) Application layer, (ii) Fog layer, (iii) Cloud layer, and (iv) IoT layer. The proposed algorithm utilizes Fog and Cloud computing, along with the IoT layer, to collect and process data in real time, enabling faster response times and reducing the risk of damage to property and human life. The SFDS achieved state-of-the-art performance in terms of both precision and recall, with a high precision rate of 97.1% for all classes. The proposed approach has several potential applications, including fire safety management in public areas, forest fire monitoring, and intelligent security systems.

Underground Evacuation and Smoke Flow Simulation in Guangzhou International Financial City during Fire

The underground space in the Starting Area in the Guangzhou International Financial City is being developed to save resources and improve land benefits. However, high-density development has increased the likelihood of fires. Therefore, PyroSim and Pathfinder were used in this study to investigate the fire smoke flow and personnel evacuation in the underground space in the Starting Area. Firstly, the 2D temperature cloud map and the temperature and visibility recorded by sensor A over time of Zone I in the Starting Area were analyzed. Then, the 3D smoke diffusion, the 3D temperature diffusion map, and the value of thermocouple and smoke obscuration recorded by sensors of Zone II were analyzed. Next, smoke flow of Zones III to V in the Starting Area under different fire source positions was simulated. Finally, the personnel evacuation model was established to simulate the personnel flow rate and density. The simulation results show that the available safe evacuation time for people is 530 s when all the firefighting facilities fail and fire breaks out in Zone I. For large public spaces, the overall spread speed of fire is fast, which requires the use of the fire control system in time to control the spread of fire. Fortunately, the space of evacuation time is relatively sufficient; it only takes 143 s to evacuate personnel safely in Zone II, which is sufficient compared to the time for the fire to completely spread. Suggestions were made for fire safety management, such as evacuating personnel to the safety exits of other adjacent areas during a fire and installing linkage fire alarm systems in large public space s.