Effects of Sprinklers on Society - Essay Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : xxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2013 Effects of Sprinklers on society The losses associated with fire catastrophes vary in nature. The destruction of manufacturing industries results to loss of jobs and capital to the entrepreneurs which greatly affects the economy. But the installation of sprinklers in these industries limits the damage done by fires to a bare minimum therefore saving countless jobs and revenue that could have been otherwise lost. In June 2007 Denmark’s two largest pork processing industries were destroyed by fire. These lead to the suspension of working activities through the duration of demolition, reconstruction and repairs. The effect on the economy was severe as well. The raw material and service supplying companies lost revenue. Had the company installed fire sprinklers, there would have been minimal losses to the plant equipment and infrastructure (MacGrath, 2008) Sprinklers are therefore important components that save society jobs and money that would otherwise be lost to fire. Loss of life due to fire is a common occurrence in buildings not fitted with sprinkler systems. Installation of this important system prevents loss of life as it is immediately activated in case of a fire. Its activation also acts as a warning to the inhabitants hence their evacuation. Therefore, it can be correctly stated that sprinklers have had a large impact on society by reducing the number of deaths that occur due to fire. Sprinklers work efficiently by attacking fires at ignition hence keeping the fire to manageable levels that the responding fire fighters can deal with easily. In the absence of sprinklers, the only way to deal with fire is to employ defensive tactics. This is done by setting up a perimeter that prevents the spread of fire to adjacent properties. This does not impact positively on the building that fire originated from as most times they are completed gutted by the fire. When a fire was started in spare part storage in France sprinklers promptly swung into action and limited the damage to a single bay and all the workers safely left the building. The fire brigade had only a small sized fire to contain. It is only safe to say that lack of sprinklers would have catastrophic .sprinklers therefore reduce the amount of effort and resources like water that go into firefighting efforts. The environmental impact of fire includes air pollution (carbon emissions) and contaminated water from the fire fighting. This is because in normal cases huge fire emits heat and smoke to the atmosphere and large amounts of water are used in putting them out. A case in point is the Torre Windsor building fire in Madrid Spain that had 6 million liters of water in the effort to fight the fire. This waste water became an eyesore and a health hazard on surface and ground water. Sprinklers on the other hand attack a fire early on hence reducing its chances of spreading and hence reducing the amount of water that could be eventually used in the fire fighting. Fire sprinklers also reduce the amount of heat released from a peak value of 13200kW to a lesser value, 300kW.Sprinklers therefore play an important role in environmental protection. Positive and Negative impacts of fire on society Apart from normal uses of fire for cooking and providing heat during cold seasons, fire has a lot of other uses that positively impact society. Fire has been used since the Old Stone Age period. Its positive impacts on society are diverse. Fire can be employed to convert brush, forest and fields to agricultural purposes. These beneficial uses of fire have been done since man started farming. This is a form of land management that helps in getting rid of unwanted vegetation and gets the land ready for ploughing. The fire burns up dangerous bacteria, fungus and pests that are harmful to the success of future crops. It is also used in cattle ranches to improve feed on these grasslands. Fire is also a big help in environmental conservation and management. Small, well managed fires are important in reducing the amount of combustible materials that make up the fuel load in natural forests. This is known as prescribed burning. This reduced the chances of an occurrence of large destructive fires. This saves society from the destructive power of larger uncontrollable fires (FAO, 2006). Fire is also important in the maintenance and preservation of grasslands essential for livestock keeping, land clearing for resettlement and the mining of non wood/timber plant products like resin, latex, insecticide, fibre, syrup and flavouring products. It is also used in hunting by traditional communities and as a defence mechanism against wildlife. Even though the positive impacts of fire on society are plentiful, it has also potentially destructive impacts. Fire is one of the sources of air pollution therefore having a detrimental effect on society. Fire produces particulate smoke, carbon dioxide and water which are major air pollutants. Condensations in clouds occur around particles like Soot and ash causing a mirror effect where by sunlight is reflected back causing global dimming. Uncontrolled fires in forests or savannah grasslands are major catastrophes. These fires are normally hot and destroy large areas of wildlife. It therefore leads to the death of flora and fauna that are invaluable to society. These wild fires sometimes spread and cause massive economic destruction in form of resources destroyed and the incurred cost of suppression. In 1995, Canada lost about 6.8 million hectares of natural forest due to wildfire while The United states of America lost large forest cover to fire between 2000 and 2012. The National Climatic Data Centre (NCDC) averaged about 6.2 million hectares burned between the year 2001 and 2010. The 2012 Idaho wildfire negatively affected air quality and burned building at a mine. It impeded logging processes and livestock rearing. The fire also consumed a bridge and burned two fire fighters who had to be admitted into hospital. (NCDC, 2012) Fire causes the death of useful bacteria found in the soil hence causing soil degradation. Fires burn up the soil top layer and also destroy the vegetation. When it rains, the bare soil is directly assaulted by the rain and wind washing away the top soil. This areas that experience soil erosion are also highly susceptible to mudslides. Therefore the combined effects of erosion and mudslides, which are directly caused by fire, have potential to negatively affect resources to the detriment of society. Importance of fire statistics and the changing trends in fire deaths from 2000-2010. The need to properly manage fire to prevent its destruction of property and life has lead to the formation of organisations and institutions to keep fire statistics. It is reported that fire breaks out after every 3 seconds somewhere. There is therefore reason for better fire protection facilities, strict construction and building systems, resources and victim insurance, better safety standards and an improved planning system for urban centres and the environment. Statistics are important in the assessment of places that are at risk of experiencing fire break outs. It is important for emergency services like fire brigades and local governments to have this information for making of policy for their operations and to increase public awareness on the dangers that fire poses. Construction engineers also need fire statistics in order to use materials that are suitable for the given region. For performance designs of different qualities, fire statistics are necessary. All these information is necessary in order to prevent fatalities, injuries and property damage caused by fire. Construction engineers and fire brigades are normally concerned with the frequency at which fire occurs in the region and the causes of this fire. Different financial institutions also benefit from these statistics. Insurance companies need this statistics in implementation of their sale policies and risk analysis. Areas prone to fires are most likely to have destruction by fire clause in the contract. Insurance companies will therefore know to include fire among the damage insurance to avoid liability. Just like construction companies and fire brigades, insurance companies are also concerned with the frequency of fire breakout and the causes. Governments, scientists and public administrations are also interested in fire statistics. These statistics include calculations of costs of fire in form of resources that are destroyed and the cost of fire suppression. They are important in that they influence the allocation of fire stations in the region and the sizes of fire engines for the different stations. The frequency of fires and their sizes also influence local authority policy in the number of fire fighters to be employed. In regions where fire incidences are few, there is little need of employing many fire fighters but areas with high statistics of fire occurrence need a suitable number of trained personnel. Fire statistics are also important for manufacturing industries of fire equipment. These manufactures are more likely to place their production and sales divisions in areas of high demand, i.e. those areas with documented cases of fire at a high frequency. The types and sizes of fires are an important part of the statistics as they influence the type of equipment manufactured. There has been a decline in the number of deaths caused by fire from 2000 to 2010 in Great Britain. This is attributed to the better emergency response systems and increased public awareness on fire and its dangers. Reports from monitors of fire statistics show that deaths from dwelling fire, which are the main cause of death, dropped by 40 percent over this period. In 2001-2002, 144 people died because of dwelling fires that had been caused by smokers’ material like cigarettes. The decline in deaths by fire is attributed to tough regulatory laws and activities that deal with fire safety (Flame retardants, 2013). References Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2006, Fire management: review of international cooperation. Fire management working paper 18. Available at < www.fao.org/forestry/site/firemanageme nt/en> National climatic data canter (NCDC), 2012, State of the climate, wildfires. Available at MacGrath, 2008, The societal impact of fire sprinklers. Available at Flame retardants, 2013, fire statistics in Great Britain: number of fire victims has been declining due to strict fire regulations. Available on Read More