Overpopulated High-Rise Housing Fires - Coursework Example

Community Safety Overpopulated High-Rise Housing Fires 1. Introduction Fires in overpopulated high-rise temporary housing spread more rapidly than a detached single-family unit. According to previous reports, the majority of fires in residential buildings originate from cooking appliances followed by smoker’s materials and electrical overloading. However, although these agents may be the immediate cause of fire, occupant’s carelessness or neglect allow them to happen. Cooking are being done near combustible materials, rubbish is allowed to accumulate, and electrical appliances are misused. Fire incidents and fire deaths continue to happen because the public is not aware of fire safety. However, their ignorance is not entirely from their lack of concern but mostly due to the absence of effective fire prevention programmes. Ignorance and carelessness are the causes of most fires and much loss of life and therefore fire safety education is necessary. Our report will use the SARA methodology to analyse and determine the causes of fires, identify the proper response, and measure our responses. It will cover the hazard of overcrowding, cooking, tampering electrical supplies, fire regulations, fire safety education, and the importance of media in disseminating information on fire prevention. 2. SARA Methodology John Eck and William Spelman in 1987 introduced the SARA methodology to a huge audience of police officers looking for a way to have an impact on crime problems in their communities, and the SARA approach of Scan, Analyse, Respond, and Assess, has become one of the best-known acronyms in modern policing (Ratcliffe 2008, p.30). Similarly, ‘problem-oriented partnership’ is concerned with identifying public and community issues and realizing efficient ways of managing them. SARA and PAT or Problem Analysis Triangle is generally used in POP. In Britain, in appreciation of the significance of partnership in crime prevention, the term problem-oriented partnership is often substituted for problem-oriented policing (Tilley 2005, p.766). In our report, SARA will be use to scan, analyse, respond, and assess fire-related community safety issues particularly in overpopulated temporary high-rise housing. 3. Scanning Fire is a large high-rise is likely to propagate more rapidly and affect more households than a fire in an isolated, single-family unit (Pozdena 1988, p.53). Majority of all fires in residential buildings originate from cooking accidents and this is very likely to take place in a congested temporary high-rise housing. This is because occupants of an overpopulated housing building tend to use spaces not intended for cooking because of limited space in the kitchen and ignorance of fire safety. Ignition source have a significant impact on the nature of a particular fire. In dwelling fires, cooking appliances are the main source of ignition followed by accidental fires caused by smoker’s materials including matches (Communities and Local Government 2008, p.106). Yearly, there are roughly 15,000 fatalities from fires in buildings, of which nearly 450 are serious. The mainstream of both fatal and non-fatal casualties occurs in dwellings. In 2004, there are about 97,300 fires annually in inhabited buildings and about 59,700 fires happen in dwellings. In 2004 and 2005, study shows that the clear majority or 53% of dwelling fires were caused by accidents while cooking. An additional 11% were set off by electrical equipment or wiring. The most prevalent cause is attributed to the grill pan catching fire and the second most common cause was because of a pan of fat oil catching fire, while occupants putting highly combustible materials exceedingly near to the cooker made up 22% of the fires started by cooking accidents (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister 2006, p.12). In overpopulated high-rise fires, many occupants were killed and injured by rapidly spreading fire. There were also reported deaths and severe injury to fire fighters. The problems with high-rise fires to some extent are due to building owners and employers who have little or no concern on fire safety. However, the majority of the problem arises from neglect and lack of concern of occupants for fire safety. Occupants of overcrowded high-rise temporary housing tend to disregard the danger of cooking in the proximity of highly combustible materials as furniture, clothing, etc. because they obviously do not have sufficient space. Another is tampering or overloading the building’s electrical systems causing short circuits and other electrical-related fires. The local authorities are also to be blame for lack of effective fire prevention programmes and allowing such overcrowding housing arrangement to happen. 4. Analysis Residences are vulnerable to fire from furnaces and stoves, electrical appliances, smoking, matches, and lightning. While these means may be the direct causes of fire, often only carelessness permits them to do so, and it is estimated that more than half of the fires in American cities are the result of neglect. Smokers are careless with cigarettes and matches, fire places are unscreened, gas jets are placed in the proximity of combustible substance, oily clothes are stacked so as to ignite by spontaneous combustion, litter is allowed to build up, electrical appliances are misused, and buildings are constructed with little regard for fire risk. “Control of this moral hazard would be the largest single advance to be made in fire prevention” (Upson 1974, p.228). An overload is a condition where the current flowing is more than the circuit and connected equipment is designed to bear safely. A brief overload however is safe but an incessant overload condition will cause the conductors and equipment to overheat that could become a potential source of fire. Similarly, a short circuit is a condition when two or more conductors encounter one another, resulting in a current flow that bypasses the connected load. A short circuit might be two ‘hot’ conductors uniting, or it might be a ‘hot’ conductor and ‘grounded’ conductor uniting. In either case, the current flows outside of the ‘intended path’. The only resistance is that of the conductors, the source, and the arc. This low resistance results in high levels of short circuit current. “The heat generated at the point of the arc can result in a fire” (Mullin 2001, p.530). Short circuit frequently produces sparks and in a household situation, this occurrence can produce considerable, but brief, phase of heating. Normally, this type of circuit malfunction is stopped by a circuit breaker, but if the safety measures fail the discharging of sparks and heat can persist (Carvel and Beard 2005, p.71). There is a great danger in altering electrical supplies because if insulation is damaged there is always the danger of a short circuit leading to electric shock, or fire, or both. In modern circuits and appliances, the common insulators are plastics where the working temperature is low. In addition, the whole appliance may become ‘live’ and capable of carrying current thus touching the casing of the appliance could then result in a short circuit through the body to earth and electric shock (Wenham 2004, p.197). Regardless of a continuing descending trend, fire incidents and fire deaths continue to take place to a certain extent because of the lack of satisfactory public fire education. These fire prevention knowledge adequacies stems partly from a lack of confidence that public fire education really works. Regrettably, local government and many fire chiefs are among the disbelievers who question public fire education’s usefulness (Leonard 1998, p.517). “Ignorance and carelessness are the causes of most fires and of much loss of life” (Fischer and Green 2004, p.225). Fire prevention has a distinctive role within the community. On the one hand, the community wants the fire department to provide good services to the community, while on the other hand; many members of the community are rather conservative and embraced the belief that government regulatory actions should be limited (Cote 2004, p.248). 5. Response The primary methods for preventing casualties are to diminish the incidence of fires and to make certain that sufficient means of escape is available should a fire take place. The probability of fire occurring can be decreased by the control of contents and probable ignition sources, restraining the spread, alongside public education. The escape of occupants from fire is accomplished by a combination of building design to guarantee the availability of protected escape routes and containment of fire and smoke, means of detection to ensure that occupants are notified and fire control measures commenced, and enough signing and information to guide escapes (Community and Local Government 2008, p.104). The purposes of public fire safety education are to help people know how to prevent fires from happening and to educate them how to take action in the right manner if a fire happen. Making people conscious of common fire risks and hazards and providing information about reducing or eradicating those hazards can avoid many fires. Public education teaches techniques to reduce the risks of death or injury in the event of a fire. In several cases, the fire code does not apply to the interior of a private dwelling, and the fire department cannot force an occupant to submit to an inspection once a certificate of occupancy is issued. However, occupants can ask for a voluntary inspection to identify hazardous conditions, and many fire departments offer this service. Such voluntary inspection is called a home fire safety survey, and the legal requirements of the fire code are applied when it is conducted. Voluntary inspections of private dwellings are one way that fire department can educate citizens about the risks of fire in their homes. This type of inspections are noteworthy community service offered by the fire department, and the diplomacy and professionalism of fire fighters conducting home safety survey cannot be undervalued in expanding the mission of the fire department (International Association of Fire Chiefs 2008, p.919). Even though education has long been a feature of fire prevention programs, it was often downgraded a second best position within the fire prevention agencies that appears to centre more on inspection and code enforcement. However, during the 1980s, public fire education appeared to receive more importance with a broader focus on the job of fire prevention agencies. Where education was considered a first step in an advanced inspection program, it meant, “educating the business owner to understand why he or she should comply with the fire code” (Cote 2004, p.248). Fire safety education can include topics such as fire facts on fuel, how fire grows or spreads, and how is it managed and controlled. It can also include information about the hazards of smoke inhalation, importance of fire safety awareness, safe distance, identifying fire safety hazards in the home, and information regarding the causes and consequences of fire in the community. More importantly, occupants should be educated to the positive impact of smoke detectors, home fire escape plan and strategies (Martin et. al. 2007, p.491). Educating residents about fire protection, and evacuation procedures should be constant since a continuing fire-safety program will update all occupants and help keep them conscious of the omnipresent and real danger of fire (Fischer and Green 2004, p.225). The fire department must maintain a keen balance in getting the job done within the community while keeping the respect and support of its individual businesses and citizens. Working with the community on non-enforcement fire prevention activities often develops community confidence. Another positive result of this ostensibly negative situation is it can provide the motivation for the department to evaluate its method of code enforcement, which can also set up some intense debate within the department regarding its fire prevention goals and objectives. This debate can be very helpful and healthy and can enhance organizational understanding of the mission of fire prevention and its value to the community (Cote 2004, p.249). The media provides considerable amounts of information to the public concerning all from quality of life matters to safety. Using the media as channel for fire safety education in both news reporting and information propagation has the potential for reaching the biggest audience that extends across all levels of society (Diamantes 2004, p.176). The media can play two separate roles in aid of local fire safety education. They can essentially deliver public fire safety education messages, and they can offer publicity to keep the fire department’s mission in the public eye. The media touch audiences of all ages and in all situations with articles by journalists and editors that provide publicity and with public education messages that they might publish as a public service or for minimal fees. Local daily and weekly publications and local radio and TV stations offer various opportunities to spread fire and life safety messages broadly (Carter and Rausch 2006, p.190). However, timing is central for programs as well as for media publicity. A fire and life safety educational message is best received when it refers to a well-known latest fire event and when it is right for the target audience. All large fire presents an opportunity to make known the significance of fire prevention, particularly when it concerns loss of life, serious injury, or large property loss. In this situation, both the press and the public are more sympathetic to ways to decrease the risk of fire. Individuals are then more likely to take actions to protect themselves (Carter and Rausch 2006, p.190). In order to set up for acceptable performance or to take action to bring a facility up to an acceptable level of loss-control effectiveness, an assessment of the situation is necessary (Fischer and Green 2004, p.230). Effective programs should be well planned and supported in order to achieve a desired result. The program should have some means of measuring the effectiveness since measurement promotes improvement (Barr and Eversole 2003, p.1064). 6. Assessment “Education could change people’s behaviour toward a safer direction and could train people to spot faulty equipment and unsafe acts” (Carter and Rausch 2006, p.177). It is essentially vital to measure the effectiveness of fire safety education programmes. This measurement provides the incentive for further programme financing, development, and alteration where necessary. In the U.S., the Public Education Division of the NFPA has coordinated the ‘Learn Not to Burn’ programme, which is aimed at educating the young people in the country on the dangers of fire. Monitoring and analysis in 1990 identified 194 lives saved because of proper life safety actions learned in fire safety education programmes. Some 30% of these lives saved can be directly attributed to the ‘Learn Not to Burn’ programme. The introduction of residential smoke detectors and fire safety education programmes in this country have also been suggested as the primary reasons for the reduction in home fire deaths from 6,015 in 1978 to 4,050 in 1990 (Stellman 1998, p.41). In the UK, the Fire Kills campaign was established decades ago with the objective of reducing the number casualties in dwelling fires by educating the public of different safety issues. Since then fatalities of fire reached its lowest level because of the increase of smoke alarms use. Apparently, fire safety education had a real and positive effect on people and fire safety prevention in the home. For instance, chip pan fire injuries in the home decrease by 23% or a fall of 12%, for all cause of fire related injures in the home (Communities and Local Government 2008, p.106). 7. Bibliography Barr Robert and Eversole John. 2003. The Fire Chief's Handbook. PennWell Books, U.S. Carter Harry R. and Rausch Erwin. 2006. Management in the Fire Service. National Fire Protection Association. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, U.S. Carvel Richard and Beard Alan N. 2005. The Handbook of Tunnel Fire Safety. Thomas Telford, U.K. Communities and Local Government, 2008. Information Report BD 2518: Review of Health and Safety Drivers, Communities and Local Government Publications, U.K. Cote Arthur E. 2004. Fundamentals of Fire Protection. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, U.S. Diamantes David. 2004. Principles of Fire Prevention. Cengage Learning, U.S. Fischer Robert J. and, Green Gion. 2004. Introduction to Security. Butterworth-Heinemann, U.S. International Association of Fire Chiefs.2008. Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills. National Fire Protection Association. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, U.S Leonard Barry. 1998. Fire Safety Education Resource Directory. DIANE Publishing, U.S. Martin Andrés, Volkmar Fred R., Lewis Melvin. 2007. Lewis's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: A Comprehensive Textbook. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, U.S. Mullin Ray C. 2001. Electrical Wiring Residential: Residential/With Blueprints. Cengage Learning, U.S. Nick Tilley.2005. Handbook of Crime Prevention and Community Safety. Willan Publishing, U.S. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.2006. Fires in the Home: findings from the 2004/05 Survey of English Housing. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, U.K. Pozdena Randall Johnston. 1988. The Modern Economics of Housing: A Guide to Theory and Policy for Finance and Real Estate Professionals. Greenwood Publishing Group, U.S. Ratcliffe Jerry. 2008. Intelligence-Led Policing. Willan Publishing, U.S. Stellman Jeanne Mager. 1998. Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety. International Labour Organization, U.S. Upson Lent Dayton. 1974. Practice of Municipal Administration. Ayer Publishing, U.S. Wenham Martin. 2004. Understanding Primary Science: Ideas, Concepts and Explanations. SAGE, U.K. Read More