Freakonomics Podcast Death by Fire - Assignment Example

1. a. The original source of the fire was a shower of sparks that were up near the stage. b. The fuel source of the original fire was the walls and the ceiling surrounding the stage.c. The oxidizer of the fire was flammable sound insulation foam on the in the ceiling and walls surrounding the stage.2. The contributing factors that led to such a large loss of life were the quick spread of the fire due to the flammable sound insulation foam on the ceiling and walls, and people started pushing and stampeding towards one of the exits of the building and ended up stacked on each other.

Those who died were not able to escape since the stampede led to people being stacked at the exit therefore blocking the whole exit to the building. 3. According to Stephen Dubner, 85% of fires occur at home. This is the case due to fires caused by electronic charges by electronic equipment, people forgetting and leaving their gas on, and the availability of materials that could easily catch fire around the home such as furniture.4. According to Madrzykowski, a solution to reducing the installation of residential sprinklers into peoples’ homes.5. There is a resistance in installing residential sprinklers in peoples’ homes due to the cost of acquiring installing and maintenance of the sprinklers.6. The discussion about creating safer cigarettes is due to the fact that cigarettes cause a lot of the home fires due to smokers leaving their cigarettes extinguishing them after smoking and placing them either knowingly or unknowingly on an ignitable surface.

Cigarettes that have not been extinguished if placed on surfaces such as beds or sofas, could easily burn the mattress or sofa as even when it is not being smoked it continues to burn. An ignition safe cigarette has been proposed as the cigarette once placed down will automatically extinguish itself.7. The technology that is taking place with cooking equipment is the installation of temperature regulators that prevent cookers from getting to their auto ignition temperature and installation of motion sensors in the cooker so that if the cooker is left unattended for too long it would shut itself off.8. Prior to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the focus of the fire protection was that the building was made of steel and masonry. 9. a.

The fuel source was a pile of clothing straps.b. The ignition source was assumed to be a burning match or a cigarette.c. The oxidizer of the fire was the piles of fabric10. So many people died despite the claim that the building was fire proof since the fire escapes had collapsed and the exits were not enough for the workers, a stampede ensued which led to the workers falling on each other on the way down the stairs, The exit door to the building was locked, and the lack of fire alarms led to the workers on the nineth floor not knowing early enough that a fire had ensued meaning they did not have enough time to exit the building.