Introduction
Fire is due to the quick oxidation of a flammable substance giving out light, heat, and different products of the reaction, for example, water and carbon dioxide. Depending on its hotness, the gases are able to ionize and generate plasma. The flame’s color and the strength of the fire are determined by the material burning and the presence of outside impurities. The normal type of fire has the potential of resulting in a conflagration that is capable of inflicting adverse physical harm to the body through burning. In as much as attempts to lessen damages and losses from fires continue to yield in long-term development, fires in buildings have not receded in causing costly consequences all over the world. In this paper, I am going to analyze fire case studies from four different countries to illustrate my analytical skills applied to fire-related disasters in the built environment.
Windsor Castle fire in England
Fire is no respecter of magnificent buildings. This fire incident took place on Friday, November 20, 1992, in Windsor Castle, England. The castle is one of the official residential places of the British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, and the largest occupied castle on the globe. The castle experienced serious damages from the fire that demolished some of its most historic places and destroyed almost one-fifth of the castle. This fire destroyed priceless heritage materials that were in the castle. The fire created a hazardous situation for the individuals who were living, performing duties, or paying a visit to this historic castle. More so, the rich building’s fabric and content experienced serious damages.
The protection of the castle from future harm from fire damage is a vital endeavor. During its building, no serious thoughts were placed on fire safety issues. Safety issues such as the construction of firewalls and fire stops may not have formed part of the building and many of its parts, before reconstruction, used wood as the key component of framing. Therefore, the rate of spread of the fire was very first during this incident. Little attention was also paid to installing automatic fire detection devices or fire extinguishing equipment. Installation of the fire protection facilities compromises between retaining the rich cultural context of the building and preventing the building from future damage.
The types of building construction methods related to fire safety are categorized into active and passive protection strategies. Active fire protection strategies that were incorporated into the castle after the fire incident included items and systems that needed action and response to perform effectively. Manual fire suppression equipment includes the use of fire extinguishers. Automatic fire suppression devices include the installation of sprinkler systems that were hitherto absent from the building. Sprinklers lower the intensification of fire, thus improving life safety and reducing the damage to the building’s design. Fire detection devices raise the alarm when a fire is present in the building. The construction and maintenance of the building correspond to the laid down regulations for heritage buildings’ fire safety standards. Passive fire protection strategies that were incorporated in the castle were meant to contain the spread of fires. They included compartmentalization of the whole building by use of fire-resistant walls, doors, floors, and many other parts of the building. Dividing the building into smaller fire compartments reduces the growth of the fire, reduces structural damage, and gives ample time for the occupants of the building to evacuate easily. Fire prevention strategies have also been employed in the building. These include reduction of the possible sources of ignition and education of the castle occupants on the operation of the firefighting equipment and on emergency procedures in case of occurrence of fire. The castle has architectural and historical significance hence its damage by fire caused massive losses.
Several lessons were learned for this misfortune. The major one was to be prepared at any time to curb this catastrophe. Installation of fire suppression and fire resistance systems is the main way of achieving this. Another lesson is to ensure that the castle conforms to the current regulation of structural buildings concerning fire safety. This will need the physical upgrading of aspects of the castle to meet the fire safety standards. The fire-resistant materials that were used to construct the castle were by far below the current set standards. Adequate attempts should be made to ensure that the castle is fully protected from fire incidences as the past negligence to this important aspect of its construction bore worse fruits. On the other hand, the historical features of the building should be maintained without damaging or transforming the aspects of this old building.
The nightclub building fire in Glasgow
This incident took place on 27 November 2004 in Glasgow at two neighboring nightclubs (“Nightclub building could be saved” para.1). The fire started from the basement of the buildings and quickly grew damaging the interior of the building. The fire spread out and affected the neighboring buildings. The residents had to be evacuated and traffic flow at the nearby road was highly disrupted. Although the blaze caused massive damage to the building structure, it did not require demolition, only some of its parts required refurbishment. Fire safety engineering design for this building was based on conformance with a set of guiding principles. This building had fire-fighting strategies that ensured the flexibility of the design and realization of the best value at the same time achieving the desired level of safety considerations. The building had efficient ways of evacuating its occupants. The allowable traveling distance was carefully determined by having a convenient number of staircases and proper structural escape strategies to benefit the users of the buildings. The building adhered to aspects of structural fire engineering principles to optimize its structural fire safety. This was ensured through the production of the most efficient passive fire prevention methods and the realization of the optimal structural design of the building.
During this fire incident at the nightclubs, the firefighters were able to arrive at the scene in time to help quell the blaze. The excellent design of the building ensured that there was a minimized boundary distance to this commercial building. Surmounting the inadequacies of a building’s fire safety considerations requires the use of toughened concrete and steel with fire-resistant fortification as the conventional construction of structures (Allam para. 8). This aspect lowers the susceptibility of a building collapsing in the event of a fire. In the case of the Glasgow nightclub fire, a flashover occurred first then a hot smoke having highly concentrated in carbon monoxide gas spread quickly throughout the structure, and ascended majorly to the upper floors. This is the crucial inadequacy in high-rise buildings, occurring due to attempts to achieve maximum occupancy of lands in the cities. The expansion of smoke through heat convection takes place quicker as compared to heat transfer, and the inhabitants of the high-rise buildings simply lose the possibility of evacuating. Hence, methods of controlling smoke in this type of buildings are a major concern to structural engineers.
One of the approved ways of controlling the smoke from spreading to other parts of the building is by confining it in compartments that prevent the blaze from spreading. Sometimes it is hard to contain the smoke by shutting openings like doors since the dwellers often strive to walk without restraint between the compartments and detest closing the openings. The flame spread can be controlled by having combustible materials at some strategic places in the building. A fire safety structural engineer often has a difficult task to manage the movement of smoke in the staircase where the buoyancy of the influence of smoke is much felt. Smoke control is important in buildings because it ensures that the occupants of the building are unharmed. To achieve this is not to eat bread and butter. Of necessity are evaluation ways to foresee the intensity of the blaze, the rate of movement of smoke, and the escape of the occupants in terms of their character.
Vital lessons are derived from the nightclub building fire in Glasgow that can minimize the repetition of the same mistakes. Improper evaluation of the intensity of the flame, and what consequently happens to the structure is often hazardous as was evident in this case.
Hotel fire in Rhyl, Wales
This fire incident took place on 19 March 2008 at the Grange Hotel, Rhyl. The blaze was extensive as it took four hours to bring under complete control and it left one man critically hurt after the inferno. Immediate establishment of any other person involved in the fire was not possible due to the high intensity of the fire and the building’s insecure situation. Afterward, the three-storey building was declared by the fire service as “structurally not safe”, since it had undergone massive destruction due to the fire (“Man critical after blaze at the hotel”). The building materials from which this premise was constructed facilitated the speedy flow of fire that adversely affected the evacuated openings that survivors might have used to avoid extensive damage to them. The building had been out of use for a year and there are possibilities that highly combustible materials were used in its construction that propelled the flow of fire inside the building. In situations where non-combustible material is used and the interior is constructed from fire-resistant materials, the inferno is usually contained for a more prolonged duration that allows for ample time for evacuation of the occupants.
This incident brought to the light some underlining issues that hitherto had been swept under the carpet. The necessity of every structure to possess a fire prevention strategy was sparked. The strategy should ensure that the design is flexible enough and able to provide the optimal value within the desired level of safety. The importance of all buildings having life safety requirements as required by the legislation, insurance, and business-related regulations was brought to the table after this incident occurring. Attention was brought to the need of inspecting the design and construction of a building. This Rhyl building had been uninhabited for about a year and an outside poster indicated that it was about to be sold. No one knows the repercussions of this incident could have occurred when the building could have been fully inhabited. The once forsaken guidelines to ensure an effective fire prevention strategy were also bought to focus on.
Major renovation programs should be done on the building to ensure it meets the fire safety standards. These include the construction of fire protection structures at the perimeter steel edges by the use of a boarding mechanism. The interior steel beams can also be improved to fire safety standards by employing spray protection devices. A sprinkler system can also be installed at this building to slow down the rate of spread of fire. Installation of an innovative aluminum cladding structure will go a long way in improving the safety of this commercial building.
College fire in South Belfast, Northern Ireland
This incident took place on 14 November 2009 at the Union Theological College in South Belfast. Evacuation to safety to a nearby accommodation facility was undertaken for twenty-six college students. The firefighters who were inside the building were led to safety because of the unsafe condition of the roof of the building. The damages caused by the inferno were very massive as it caused devastation to the lives of the people whose lives directly depended on this institution (“Firefighters injured at college”).
The structural design of this building ensured that the risk of harm from fire-related incidences are reduced. The susceptibility of being killed or injured in a fire accident cannot be completely purged out. The building methods and materials used in the design and construction of all the elements that relate to fire safety engineering principles of the building can be maintained at all times. The reconstruction of the building should ensure that adequate means of escape are provided, compartmentalization of the building’s interior, and smoke management practices are adhered to during its construction.
This college fire incident created awareness on how to deal with fire-related issues in the future. The management decision-making that appertains to planning for high investment without adequate knowledge of the main causes of fires in buildings was questioned. Knowing this is important in terms of making priorities in appropriate investment portfolios. The state of the building was in dire need of repair but no attempts were made to address this as was evident from the fragile condition of the roof when the building was under fire. This raised the concern of the authority of the laws that were set to govern the standards of all institutional buildings.
The following recommendations are essential in the prevention of fire incidences in the future. The construction of high-rise buildings that go over the standard height of 18m should be avoided. This criterion was set forth as a passive fire control strategy and the continued adherence to it is vital in preventing massive loss of property and even life. Fire sprinklers systems should be installed in every building as an option to passive fire control strategies. Efforts should be made to ensure that the walls and the floors of buildings are built from fire-resistant materials. Preventing building fires is protecting life and property from damage.
Works cited
Allam, Ahmed. “Fire Safety engineering: Getting it right.” Fire middle east. 2009. Web.
“Firefighters injured at college”. BBC News. 2009. Web.
“Man critical after blaze at hotel.” BBC News. 2008. Web.
“Nightclub building could be saved.” BBC News. 2004. Web.