Human Behavior - Impact on the Cause and Outcome of a Fire - Coursework Example

Running Head: Human Behavior: Impact on the Cause and Outcome of a Fire Background Human behavior is critical to the understanding of the onset, development and outcomes of fires hence form an imperative consideration in relation to fire related operations, yet thousands of people have died in fires. Human perception and interaction with their environment is vital to determining how well they will act in preventing and responding to fires, (Gao, 2008). Human behavioral studies provide information that aid in the development of strategies that may limit the number of casualties that occur during fires. Interest in the study of human’s responses to fire is relatively contemporary becoming more intense in the past 40 years. Basic research indicates that preventing ignition fire control process and the separation of individuals from the harmful effects of fire by means of distance, time or shielding forms the three basic directions to ensure life safety, (CUNNY, 2009). Time as a factor in fire situation leads to the building up of smoke and heat thereby creating a hazardous environment and its effect may not be concretely predicted owing to multiple environmental and human variables, (Coleman, 1997). Three sets of conditions define time related effects on a fire situation inclusive of; toxic conditions, elevated environmental temperatures and current or pre-existing psycho-physiological attributes of the premises occupants. It is also imperative to note that the time interval between fire discovery and preventive action by the occupants is critical to the resulting effects. Evacuation of occupants and/or Fire extinguishment and confinement forms are fundamental actions that follow fire detection, (Coleman, 1997). Individual Related Factors The cause and outcome of a fire is greatly impacted by individual characteristics of those involved as people tend to react differently to similar emergency situations. People’s reaction during fires is affected by individual actions and therefore individual threat perception. Age forms a fundamental individual characteristic that adequately affect reaction to individual conditions as for example, the elderly or very young individuals may be less able to cope with the effects of fire, (CUNNY, 2009). Therefore, comparative to their counterparts of middle ages who are of normal physique, the fatality rate of these two age groups remains grater during fires, (USFA, 2009). Respiratory capacity of individuals may also affect the rate of fatalities in cases of fire hazards. Since majority of fires result into smoke inhalation, individuals with poor respiratory capacity may be unable to survive in such cases furthermore other chronic respiratory related diseases such as pneumonia, flu, asthma or emphysema will certainly reduce this ability, (CUNNY, 2009). Personal preferences such as cigarette smoking may also raise body carbon monoxide level thereby reducing the capacity hence smokers are at a greater risk of dying of smoke inhalation comparative to non smokers, (CUNNY, 2009). Individual size is also of critical considerations as bigger people have a better capacity of tolerating larger quantities of toxic materials that result from fire situations. Counterproductively, persons of very large body sizes may develop respiratory problems quickly in cases of fire situations. Individual pre-existing physical condition may also affect human capacity to survive within fire situations, (CUNNY, 2009). Cardiac stability, mobility and aerobic condition are fundamental individual physical conditions that will determine how people survive in specific fire situations, (CUNNY, 2009). CUNNY (2009) also affirms that medication, drugs and alcohol are a critical determinant of human reaction ability to fire related dangerous situations. Alcohol and drug intake (inclusive of prescriptive drugs) often serve to impair individual abilities to react to hazardous situation thereby leading to increased facilities. Based recent calculates, an estimated 10% of all residential fatalities were individuals impaired by either alcohol or drugs, (CUNNY, 2009). It is also imperative to note that the factor is highly correlated to the age factors with individuals between the age group of 20 and 64 being twice as likely to be impaired comparative to their other normal age groups, (CUNNY, 2009). Considering relative genders, it is also evident that men are more likely to be affected by drugs and alcohol than women. Irrespective of the geographical location or residency, specific individual responses are apparent. In both the United States and the United Kingdom, behavior such as evacuation, re-entry, fire fighting, moving through smoke and turning back were evident, (CUNNY, 2009). Group Effect Group reaction to specific fire conditions also to a great extent determines the resultant outcomes of fires. It is through collective effort that all members are made aware of fire threat. Outlined by CUNNY (2009) include; the voice quality, pitch, volume and message content which will carry the message on the perceived threat within a given building, (CUNNY, 2009). Occupants such as family members may serve to offer personal notifications to other individuals such as persons occupying the top most floors if the fire begins with the lower floors. Analysis by CUNNY, (2009) evidences varying effects of different means of awareness within specific fire incidents. Evaluating the experiences of 569 respondents involved in different fire incidents, 148 of them smelled smoke, 121 were notified0 by others, while 106 were notified by family members. Additionally 106 heard noises, 52 saw smoke while 4, 4, 4 and 2 felt heat, saw/heard fire department, were alerted when electricity went off and were alerted by pet respectively. Predicting group response may also be based on relative genders for example the males were more likely to notify others and search for fire (15.3 and 14.9%) comparative to the female (13.8 and 6.3%) while females were more likely to call the fire department 911.4 versus 6.1. Females were also likely to leave the building compared to males 10.4 to 4.2 % while males were both more likely to go for family and get fire extinguishers (3.4 and 5.8%),(CUNNY, 2009). On Behaviors such as waking up, doing northing, calling the fire department and removing personal property, both males and females exhibited similar properties. Evaluation of panic behavior is indicative of the similarity in panic patterns where all involved experience sudden and excessive feelings of fear, (CUNNY, 2009). Documenting the 1982 article by John Keating CUNNY (2009) notes that fire situations leads to fear induced ‘non-rational, non-adaptive and nonsocial behavior’ making group coordination nearly impossible hence limiting the chance of group escape. Physical Setting The nature of buildings affects human behavior towards emergency fire situation with building design either necessitating or limiting occupant’s ability to escape. Individual behavior towards fire danger is rather complex, complexity that is dependent upon the immediate physical stetting. Building design will certainly determine the travel distances individuals are to reach a place of safety thereby affecting evacuation time, (Furness & Muckett, 2007 and AWWA, 1998). Critical characteristics of a building that may affect individuals’ ability to evacuate in time in cases of fire emergency are inclusive of; use of the building and its dimensions such as the number of floors. The building layout inclusive of individual’s movement times as variables of open plan setting and the building services such as detection methods, fire warning provisions and fire safety management options are also critical physical settings affecting outcome in cases of fire emergency, (Furness & Muckett, 2007). As defined by the British Standards published document (PD7974 Part 6, 2004), every building must be designed taking into consideration proper calculation of flow rates for exit routes in cases of fire emergency, (Furness & Muckett, 2007). To reduce fatalities, every building should have an elaborate evacuation management system that will work in collaboration with occupant risk perception to initiate response following an onset of fire, (Guanquan, 2008). Fire Characteristics Fire characteristics also form a critical determinant of how individuals react to specific fire environments. Fundamental fire conditions outlined by CUNNY (2009) are; Temperature, Smoke, Oxygen Depletion and Heat. It is noteworthy to state that hazardous fire conditions leads to oxygen depletion from the normal 21% to lower percentages. There are observable symptoms that directly correlated with oxygen % in air; at 21% the conditions are normal with no observable problems yet as the conditions reduce to 17% an individual may feel some forms of impairment of muscular coordination and increase their respiratory rate. At 12%, individuals may feel dizziness accompanied by headache and rapid fatigue while at 9% the person remains unconscious. 6% may lead to death within minutes hence oxygen depletion if of critical importance to specific fire situations, (CUNNY, 2009). Temperature conditions often vary with individuals’ length of exposure and fundamentally affect humidity and breathability. ADASD notes that at temperature conditions may be incapacitating at conditions as low as 122oF and above 150o while temperatures above 212oF will lead to death, (CUNNY, 2009). Varying temperatures presented different physiological effects to involved individual with temperatures as high as 140oF presenting the possibilities of a heatstroke while at 180o individuals are only able to tolerate temperatures for 49 minutes. At 212o, 240o and 260 o individuals are subjected to very rapid skin burns, ability to tolerate temperature for only 20 minutes and difficulty in breathing through the nose respectively, (CUNNY, 2009). At 300oF victims are unable to breath through the mouth while their tolerance drops down to less than 4 minutes at temperatures of 390o F with the respiratory threshold standing at 390 oF, (CUNNY, 2009). High temperature may also lead to smoke obstruction leading to a number of adverse negative effects such as reduced visibility, increased toxicity and irritation, (CUNNY, 2009). This may in turn work in harmony to cause intense fear within the individual thereby reducing the person’s ability to escape. Fires also expose individual to fire gases the most common one of which includes Carbon Monoxide (CO). According to ADFAD, CO accounts for in excess of half of all fire related death as it has a higher affinity to red blood cells within the human body, (CUNNY, 2009). Although at 0.01% of CO concentration in the air presents no adverse symptoms in human subjects, at 1.26% in air, human experience immediate unconsciousness with the possibility of death ranging between 1 and three minutes, (CUNNY, 2009). The Case of Royal Madsen Hospital Analysis into the recent Royal Marsden Hospital fire incident evidences how human behavior affects the outcome of a fire. Since majority of occupants were patients, quick alert and responses from the staff and emergency services ensured that no one was killed or injured. However, the building condition ensured that the conditions surrounding the incident remained chaotic since uncoordinated group action with a number of individuals striving to get out in a hurry made the evacuation difficult, (BBC, 2009). Fast responses by the firemen ensured that the fire was put under control. Although the cause of fire has never been determined, the fact that it started in the fourth plant room is indicative of the potential cause being that of human error. Conclusion Imperatively, an increased understanding of human behavior and psychology would aid in fire protection and better prediction of how variant fire related situations may be adequately contained, (Lundin, 2003). Although human reaction to different fire conditions were varied, responses were relatively similar with the most frequent items done during emergency being evacuation of buildings, fire control, alert of occupants and other individuals and alert of the fire departments, (CUNNY, 2009). Evident also is the gender variability with significant variations between male and female reactions to specific fire conditions, reactions that have cultural backgrounds. Recognition, definition, validation, evaluation, reassessment and commitment forms the six basic techniques used by people during emergency situations while avoidance, commitment affiliation and role are other key factors that affects people’s reaction to fire. References AWWA, (1998) Distribution System Requirement for Fire Protection. New York: Technology & Engineering. BBC, (2008) Fire Forces Hospital’s Evacuation. Retrieved, November, 28th, 2009 from; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7168206.stm Coleman, J. F. (1997) Incident Management For The Street-Smart Fire Officer. CUNNY, ( 2009) Fire & People: Human Behavior and Fire. Retrieved, November, 28th, 2009 from; http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~tflan/documents/101docs/FIS101HumanBehavior-Fire.pdf Furness, A. & Muckett, M. (2007) Introduction to Fire Safety Management: The Handbook for Students on NEBOSH and Other Fire Safety Courses. New York: Butterworth-Heinemann Gao, B. (2008) Wildland Fires and Fire Management. Nova Science Publishers Guanquan, C. (2008) “Quantitative Assessment of Building Fire Risk to Life Safety.” Risk Analysis 28(3) 15-27 Hall, J. R., & Sekizawa, A. (2005) “Fire Risk Analysis: General Conceptual Framework for Describing Models” Fire Technology, 27(1), 33-53. Lundin, J. (2003) “A Risk-Based Approach To Verification Of Fire Safety Design Solutions” Fire Science and Technology 22(1) 43-48 NFPA (2008), Guide For Fire & Explosion Investigations, Chapter 10, National Fire Protection Association. USFA, (2009) Fire Safety Checklist for Older Adults, Retrieved, November, 28th, 2009 from; http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa-285.pdf Read More