Human Behaviour In Fire Research Articles

A METHOD FOR LINKING SAFETY FACTOR TO THE TARGET PROBABILITY OF FAILURE IN FIRE SAFETY ENGINEERING

Ensuring occupants’ safety in building fires is one of the most important aspects for fire safety engineering. Many uncertainties are inevitably introduced when estimating the occupant safety level, due to the high complexity of fire dynamics and the human behaviour in fires. Safety factor methods are traditionally employed to deal with such uncertainties. This kind of methods is easy to apply but leaves fire safety engineers unsure of the margin by which the design has failed. A method of linking safety factor and probability of failure in fire safety engineering is proposed in this study. An event tree is constructed to analyse potential fire scenarios that arise from the failure of fire protection systems. Considering uncertainties related to fire dynamics and evacuation, the traditional deterministic safety factor is considered as a random variable. Because there is no target probability of failure accepted by the whole fire safety engineering community, the concept of expected risk to life (ERL) is integrated to determine the target probability of failure. This method employs a Monte Carlo Simulation using Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) to calculate the required safety factor. A practical case study is conducted using the method proposed in this study.

Human behaviour in fire: should the fire service stop telling and start listening?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline the work being carried out by Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) to build a comprehensive database of the behaviours and motivations of those experiencing accidental fires occurring in dwellings. It is an approach that is predicated upon the desire to listen to and learn from those who actually experience such fires. Design/methodology/approach – The work started with a qualitative pilot study, comprising ten semi-structured, in-depth interviews with those who experienced injuries in accidental dwelling fires (ADFs). This informed the design of the subsequent post-ADF questionnaire survey. Findings – The paper demonstrated a strong desire among interviewees to tackle the fire themselves. The paper highlights a number of risk factors and also found that decisions to call the fire service were often secondary to other aims and concerns, including issues related to shame and guilt. Research limitations/implications – The small sample size means that the data have no statistical validity. Practical implications – The project offers a variety of benefits to all aspects of the UK fire service. The work's success and national implications have generated a large amount of interest in the sector, resulting KFRS working with other fire and rescue services in South East England to adopt it as a regional project. Originality/value – The work marks, arguably, the first attempt in almost 30 years to develop a comprehensive understanding of human behaviour in dwelling fires.

Guest Editorial: Special Section—Egress and Human Behavior in Fire

Guest Editorial: Special Section—Egress and Human Behavior in Fire

WTC 9/11 twin towers research studies open panel discussion synopsis

ABSTRACTLead researchers of the three major research studies into the evacuation of and occupant evacuation behaviours in the WTC 9/11 Twin Towers in 2001 presented the results of their extensive investigations at the 4th International Symposium on Human Behaviour in Fire in Cambridge, UK, in 2009. Delegates attending the 4th Symposium were afforded, in a full programme session, the opportunity to discuss the results of these three major studies and to raise issues they considered pertinent. The open panel and delegate discussions were, with the knowledge of the participants, audio recorded in order to capture their flavour and essential content. The audio tapes were listened to by the author several times in order to distill what is considered their most useful content. This paper is not a verbatim account of the open ended panel/delegate discussions. It is merely the authors attempt to capture, archive and present as comprehensively as possible the views expressed and issues raised. Readers may wish to ponder if the issues raised have been or are they being addressed at all. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Predicting Human Behavior During Fires

Evacuation models, including engineering hand calculations and computational tools, are used to calculate the time it takes to evacuate a building, which can then be used in an engineering safety analysis. However, there is a lack of available data and theory on occupant behavior for use by evacuation models to estimate evacuation time results and their uncertainty. In lieu of data and theory, evacuation models (and users) make assumptions and simplifications about occupant behavior, which can inappropriately characterize the time it actually takes to evacuate a building. The purpose of this paper is to reevaluate current egress modeling techniques and advocate for the inclusion of a robust, comprehensive, and validated conceptual model of occupant behavior during building fires. This paper begins by describing the current state of evacuation modeling of human behavior in fires and identifying gaps in current behavioral prediction techniques. The second part of the paper outlines a model of occupant decision-making during emergencies, referred to as the protective action decision model (PADM); a theory that can serve as the basis for the development of a conceptual model of occupant decision-making and behavior during the pre-evacuation period of building fires. The PADM provides a framework that describes the decision-making steps that influence protective actions taken in response to natural and technological disasters—including perceiving information, paying attention to the information, comprehending the information, establishing the nature of the threat, personalizing the risk, searching for potential protective actions and choosing one of these, and then performing that action. The paper ends with a discussion of how to adapt and expand the PADM in order to develop a predictive conceptual model of the pre-evacuation period for use by computer evacuation models.

Representing egress data

SUMMARYData are essential to the understanding of human behaviour in fire. Human egress data‐sets are scarce, and those currently available are relatively narrow in scope, from varied sources, inconsistently described and frequently several decades old. This paper describes a framework for the storage and presentation of human egress data. This work has been conducted as part of a project funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and, as a result, a central repository of data will be created that provides tools to facilitate the storage, representation and access to the data needed for researchers and engineers alike. When fully implemented, this framework (in the form of a Data Portal) will better inform the use of the data available and make accessing this data more convenient. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Improving the Collection and Use of Human Egress Data

The analysis of human behavior in fire is a relatively young field, only existing for a matter of decades. For much of this time it was used to support the related engineering process, rather than as a significant pursuit in its own right—to provide support for the assumptions used by engineers, designers and by regulators. Prior to this point, the engineering process excluded the human response from the assessment process altogether. The field originally developed according to two principle objectives, both of which were tied to the practice of fire safety engineering: the ability to establish the importance of human performance and then the provision of key supporting evidence for engineering practice. In both instances, the development of the field was determined by engineering practice, rather than the generation of a comprehensive theory that helped to explain and predict phenomena. This evolution of the field has led to an incomplete, disorganized and disparate understanding of the subject matter: human performance in fire. The lifeblood of any field of study is data—data that bridges the gap between observation, understanding and application. This article, and the project on which it is based, represents an attempt to strengthen the data collection process, the representation of this data, and the dissemination of this data to interested parties; i.e., to strengthen the study of human performance in fire. This will be achieved through the provision of several tools (to aid the collection and presentation of data), that will be combined together in the form of an online data portal. This will benefit the field, allow the development of more refined and more comprehensive theories, and allow for better informed engineering activities.

Exit choice, (pre-)movement time and (pre-)evacuation behaviour in hotel fire evacuation — Behavioural analysis and validation of the use of serious gaming in experimental research

Human behaviour in fires is mainly studied by incident evaluations and real-life experiments, such as unannounced evacuation drills. The possibilities of virtual reality for studying human behaviour in fires are so far hardly adopted by researchers. Nevertheless, the application of a behavioural assessment and research tool (BART) in virtual reality is expected to be a valuable supplement on the existing research methods. The innovative instrument will be validated by comparing the results of experiments in a virtual environment with results of the same experiments in real life. In this paper some results of case studies on evacuation behaviour in a real hotel building, as well as in a virtual hotel building in BART are given. The participants’ route choice, pre-movement time, pre-evacuation behaviour, movement time and evacuation behaviour are part of the analysis in the paper.

Way finding during fire evacuation; an analysis of unannounced fire drills in a hotel at night

Findings in earlier studies on fire evacuation and way finding suggest that building features have influence on evacuation behaviour. For example, way finding is believed to be strongly dependent on the lay-out of the building and seems to be hardly dependent on (escape) route signs. Though some aspects are investigated, it is not discussed at great length. In particular there is little insight in how persons find their escape route, and how this process can be supported with lay-out and design measures has been hardly examined. Thus, there is need for insight in the decision-making processes which evacuees pass through. In this paper are the results presented of 83 evacuation experiments in a hotel building at night. The main focus of the study is on way finding during fire evacuation. In the evacuation experiments we investigated the possible influence of smoke and low placed exit signs on the human fire response performance. The experiments are carried out with a traditional research method, namely the registration and evaluation of unannounced fire drills. The study is conducted as part of the validation of a new research method that makes use of serious gaming. The results of the study suggest that smoke has influence on the route choice: when no smoke is perceptible the majority of the participants escape via the main exit and when smoke blocks the route towards the main exit, the majority of the participants escape via the fire exit. Furthermore, low placed exit signs appear to have a positive influence on the use of the nearest fire exit. The personal feature of prior knowledge of the surroundings (or type of surroundings) is also found to have a positive influence on the use of the nearest fire exit. Self-assessments and interviews after a fire evacuation are found to be a disputable method for research on human behaviour in fire. A real-time observation of the people's behaviour during evacuation is considered to give more reliable results.

Announcement: 4th International Symposium - Human Behaviour in Fire, Cambridge, 13-15 July 2009

Announcement: 4th International Symposium - Human Behaviour in Fire, Cambridge, 13-15 July 2009

Announcement: 4th International Symposium - Human Behaviour in Fire, Cambridge, 13-15 July 2009

Announcement: 4th International Symposium - Human Behaviour in Fire, Cambridge, 13-15 July 2009

Announcement: 4th International Symposium - Human Behaviour in Fire, Cambridge, 13-15 July 2009

Announcement: 4th International Symposium - Human Behaviour in Fire, Cambridge, 13-15 July 2009

An Artificial Neural-network Based Predictive Model for Pre-evacuation Human Response in Domestic Building Fire

The post-1993 WTC attack study (Proulx and Fahy, In: Proceedings of ASIAFLAM’95—An International Conference on Fire Science and Engineering, Hong Kong, 1995, pp 199–210) revealed that occupants took 1–3 h to leave the 110-storey buildings, and the pre-movement reactions could account for over two-thirds of the overall evacuation time. This indicates that a thorough understanding of the pre-evacuation behavioral response of people under fire situations is of prime importance to fire safety design in buildings, especially for complex and ultra high-rise buildings. In view of the stochastic (the positions of the occupants) and fuzzy (uncertainty) nature of human behavior (Fraser-Mitchell, Fire Mater 23:349–355, 1999), conventional linear and polynomial predictive methods may not satisfactorily predict the people’s response. An alternative approach, Adaptive Network based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), is proposed to predict the pre-evacuation behavior of peoples, which is an artificial neural network (ANN) based predictive model and integrates fuzzy logic (if-then rules) and neural network (based on back propagation learning procedures The ANFIS learning architecture can be trained by structured human behavioral data, and different fuzzy human decision rules. The applicability in simulating human behavior in fire is worth exploring.

The fire situation and progress in fire safety science and technology in China

Since the 1950s, the direct property damage due to fire has increased with the development of industrialization and urbanization in China. The number of fire casualties has come down significantly since the 1980s while fire incidents with high casualties has occurred occasionally. Research on fire safety science and technology and its application have advanced, encouraged by Government at all levels, the Fire Service Department of the Ministry of Public Security and all of society. In recent years, the fire situation in China has become relatively stable and an effective strength in fire research has been established, comprising the four Fire Research Institutes of the Ministry of Public Security, the State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, fire enterprises and other fire research institutes. Since the 1990s, research has been carried out on fire detection and alarm, fire suppression techniques, structural fire-resistance, fire prevention techniques, fire modeling, performance-based fire protection design, urban fire protection planning, fire-fighting and rescue, fire protection standardization, fire dynamics and the fundamentals of fire protection. In the next 5 years, research will be focused on the theory of fire dynamics; evaluation techniques for fire risk and fire and rescue services of urban areas; new techniques of fire suppression systems and equipment and their engineering application; modernization of fire department apparatus and equipment; techniques for evaluation and design of structural fire resistance; human behavior in fire; development of a fire database; fire protection engineering economics; and performance-based fire protection design.

Fire Situation And Development Of Fire Safety Science And Technology In China

The fire direct property damage has gone up significantly with the development of industrialization and urbanization since the 1950’s in China. The number of casualties of fire has come down since the 1980’s while the mass casualties fire was significant. China governments at all levels, departments of fire protection, and the whole society have made great efforts to promote fire science research and its applications. The fire situation becomes relative stable in recent years. At present, the strength on fire research in China mainly includes the four fire research institutes of the Ministry of Public Security, the state key laboratory of fire science, fire enterprises and other fire research institutes. The researches have been carried out on fire detecting & alarming and fire suppression, fire resistance performance of constructions and fire prevention technology, fire modeling technology and performance-based fire safety design, fire protection on urban layout and fire fighting & rescue, technology of fire protection standardization, fire dynamics and fundamentals of fire protection since 1990. Emphasis has been put on the technology of fire prevention and fire-fighting rescue for high-rise building, underground building and large space building, and technology of prevention and control of urban fire and severe chemical disaster. In the future 5 years, the fire research work will be developed on theory of fire dynamic and fire risk, evaluation on urban area fire risk and capability of fire protection, techniques of new type fire facilities and engineering application, modernization of fire equipment, techniques of assessment and design on fire resistant of construction configuration, human behavior in fire, establishment and improvement of fire database, economics of fire protection and performance-based fire safety engineering.

Fire Safety Engineering Research and Technology Centre (FireSERT) University of Ulster: Recent Developments

The Institute of Fire Safety Engineering Research and Technology Centre (FireSERT) at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland has been a major provider of higher technical fire safety education, fire related research and services to industry for over 20 years. Its internationally recognised research spans the fields of fire dynamics, structural fire engineering, human behaviour in fire and more recently fire (CFD) modelling. Since 1991, it has offered the only PG Dip/MSc Fire Safety Engineering programme in the United Kingdom. In September 2000 FireSERT was the recipient of a £5.7 m Joint Infrastructure Fund (JIF) Award to build new fire safety engineering laboratories on the University's Jordanstown campus. These new facilities unparallel in the University sector in the UK offer greater scope and depth to the FireSERT's research portfolios. The new facilities will be extensively used in support of FireSERT's suite of MSc Fire Safety Engineering and DPhil programmes. This paper presents a brief history of FireSERT and its achievements, together with an update on the new facility, current research themes, taught programmes, research opportunities and visions for the future.

2nd International Conference on Human Behaviour in Fires

2nd International Conference on Human Behaviour in Fires

Modelling Cue Recognition And Pre-Evacuation Response

In most models of human behaviour in fire, pre-evacuation response receives less attention than the actual process of evacuation. However, delay in responding during this period is strongly associated with injury and fatality. This paper explains the selection, operation and evidence for features of a model of occupant response during the pre-evacuation stage in fires in residential buildings. The goal of the pre-evacuation response model is to determine the proportion of occupants leaving apartments (or rooms in non-apartment buildings) at each time step. The model is designed for a wide range of residential occupancies and, as part of a larger risk model, cannot detail all aspects of response. The model is constrained by lack of data, but operates within the limits of available evidence.

A personal perspective on research, consulting and codes/standards development in fire‐related human behaviour, 1969–1999, with an emphasis on space and time factors

Four phases of work in the fire-related human behaviour field are described. Falling into the first phase was the author's early research into human behaviour in fire (which was most well known for its focus on evacuation); it began several years before the first international meetings were held in the USA and Britain on fires and human behaviour. Later, when research funding in this field was almost eliminated, work was performed in a private-sector consulting capacity in the USA. Here insights were applied from earlier research as well as being drawn from specific fatal fire investigations performed to assist with litigation. Two case studies from such litigation after apartment building fires are described; one in a high-rise building, the other in a low-rise building. A continuing theme in this history of nearly three decades of personal professional interest in fire-related human behaviour is the importance of documenting — at a minimum — the spatial and temporal aspects of human behaviour in fire incidents and related egress activity. Such descriptive information on space and time factors is a key to understanding eventually why certain behaviour occurs and how it can be more safely accommodated in building regulation, management and design, including performance-based design. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Human behaviour in fire: the development and maturity of a scholarly study area

This article presents a selected literature review of the critical studies with an analysis of the development of the study area concerned with the behaviour of the occupants during a fire occurrence. Although, the primary emphasis is on the developments in this study area within the United States from the early 1900s until 1998, the literature cited is of world wide origin. The influence of the performance code concept on tbe human behaviour in fire research with the resulting emphasis on the evacuation models is examined. Cautions are expressed relative to the design, validation and application of the evacuation models. Concerns are expressed relative to the application of the evacuation models to the simulation of the documented behaviour of occupants in fire incidents.