How the Person Perceives Indicators that Signal a Fire Threat - Term Paper Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Fire Investigation Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2009 Fire Investigation Introduction People react or respond differently when confronted by fire incidences in buildings. Several factors which include individual decision process, nature of the building and the hazards caused by the fire determine the way different people behave in fire incidences. Most people will either flee the building or fight the fire when confronted by such situations. Other factors that affect human behavior in fire incidences include age of the person, the size of the group involved and pre-existing physical condition such as cardiac stability and aerobic condition. Individual decision process The manner in which individuals react in case of a fire incident is dependent on a complex pattern of human behavior. This complex pattern of behavior is comprehensively referred to as Decision Process of the individuals. In cases of emergencies people apply six basic techniques to decide on the action to take. The six techniques are: recognition, validation, definition, evaluation, reassessment and commitment. Recognition technique occurs when the person perceives indications that signal a fire threat. Although these indications may at times be ambiguous and poor indicators of the intensity of the fire or the fire threat, they establish in the individual a feeling of suspicion. The threat is usually not identified until flame, heat or smoke is visible. The validation process involves an effort by a person to establish the seriousness of the threat indicators. The person at this point may wonder on whether to leave the building or wait for real signals of the threat. The definition process involves an effort by the individual to link the information involving the threat to a particular variable. Such a variable could be the qualitative aspect of the threat, the magnitude of removal of the threat or the issue of time (Six steps to decision making process, 21). The individual will make a decision based on the level of the indicators such as smoke or heat. The evaluation process is the combination of cognitive and psychological activities needed by people to react to threat. The person’s ability to minimize stress and anxiety intensities becomes a crucial psychological factor. The decision on whether to free of fight the fire is dependent on the magnitude of the threat at this point. This process is usually fast due to the intensity of the growing fire (Incorporating rescue and safety, 3). Another process is commitment in which involves the mechanisms a person utilizes to initiate the response activities needed to execute the defense strategy that has been formulated in the evaluation process. The person is more frustrated by consisted failures in the fire control process. At this stage the chances of injury and risk intensifies with increase in activities and with decreased likelihood of success. The decision mad at this point is relatively less rational (Six steps to decision making process, 23). Other factors affecting people’s reaction to the fire There are a number of other factors that affect the manner in which people react to fire accidents. One of the factors is avoidance. An individual may feel protected from any risky situation from a psychological point of view. This is not only a form of denial but also a cause of poor response by individuals to fire incidences. Commitment is another factor that affects individual’s behavior. Due to the commitment people accord their daily duties, they will definitely respond slowly to fire alarms after they are through with whatever they were doing before the alarm. In other cases, people may enter a building to carry out their duties ignoring fire alarms that may be on (Yatim, 7). Due to affiliation, the response rate to fire incidences is minimized. People are generally social and will tend to perform their actions in groups whether they are familiar to each other or not. In cases of fire incidences or any other emergencies, the people will leave in groups making the evacuation process slow as it will be based on the speed of the slowest person. Affiliation explains the reason as to why parents will only leave with their children while workers will leave with their colleagues or even strangers (Hirst, 21). In strange situations, individuals will turn back to find their colleagues even after successfully evacuating the building. Role is another factor that greatly determines and affects individual’s behavior. The role or status of a person will affect their reaction or response to fire incidences. A person who is new or unfamiliar to a building will definitely react differently with a person who works in the building or familiar with the building. Individuals will seek directives or ideas from supervisors or people they are familiar with in case of incidences (Yatim, 12). There are a number of other factors that affect the manner in which people react to fire accidents. One of the factors is avoidance. An individual may feel protected from any risky situation from a psychological point of view. This is not only a form of denial but also a cause of poor response by individuals to fire incidences. Commitment is another factor that affects individual’s behavior. Due to the commitment people accord their daily duties, they will definitely respond slowly to fire alarms after they are through with whatever they were doing before the alarm. In other cases, people may enter a building to carry out their duties ignoring fire alarms that may be on. Due to affiliation, the response rate to fire incidences is minimized (Hirst, 9). People are generally social and will tend to perform their actions in groups whether they are familiar to each other or not. In cases of fire incidences or any other emergencies, the people will leave in groups making the evacuation process slow as it will be based on the speed of the slowest person. Affiliation explains the reason as to why parents will only leave with their children while workers will leave with their colleagues or even strangers. In strange situations, individuals will turn back to find their colleagues even after successfully evacuating the building. Role is another factor that greatly determines and affects individual’s behavior. The role or status of a person will affect their reaction or response to fire incidences. A person who is new or unfamiliar to a building will definitely react differently with a person who works in the building or familiar with the building. Individuals will seek directives or ideas from supervisors or people they are familiar with in case of incidences (Incorporating rescue and safety 14). During fire threat, there are other relevant factors to groups and additional dimensions which come into exposure when workers or family members are assembled together. These factors include avoidance, commitment, affiliation and role. A person will tend to deny the fact that there is threat of fire. When they see smoke, they may think, it is just food in the kitchen burning or when they feel heat, they think it is just getting hot outside or even when there is an alarm, they think it is false alarm. The more they delay the worse fire it becomes and it becomes too late for them to react. Another action is that when an alarm strikes or when people are asked to evacuate many people may choose to complete what they were doing first because they don’t want to leave what they are doing, only to find out later there wasn’t anything serious. This situation is very dangerous in that when there is an explosion these people are easy target and can be injured easily or even dye in the fire especially if all the escape routes are closed. Still some people run to the scene of fire. While others are being evacuated from the building, they run inside the building just to see for themselves what is happening. This increases injury from the fire. Affiliation is another action that affects people’s reaction to the fire. Since people are interactive with one another, they tend to flee from fire in a group or according to their relations. They may not leave a disabled person or a very old person behind or a mother may not leave her child just because he is too slow. All these slows down reaction time to fire threat in that if taken too long, people get injured. Some people after evacuating the building and realizing their colleagues are left behind in the building, they try to go back to get them. They end up burnt in the building or getting severe. Physical Setting The nature of the building affects the manner in which people behave in fire incidences. The manner in which people will respond to a fire incident in a simple building is different from how they would react in a supper tall building. In the UK, it used to be a maxim that it was difficult or rather impossible to fight fires in structures over 35 meters tall. Studies have been done on the procedures in course of high-rise building fire. It has been suggested that stay-in-place is suitable, hotel and residential building on the basis of evaluation of evacuation behavior in high-rise apartments (Yatim, 2). Stay-in places are suitable if the structure is constructed of non-combustible substance, fitted with self-closers on all main exits with central alarm system to signal to the occupants and voice communication systems to alert the occupants of the development of the incident and the precautions that should be taken. The study of occupants’ behavior and the evacuation behavior in fire incidences suggest that the respondents’ start of leaving the building is not motivated by the fire alarms but rather by other factors. In regard to exit choices, there is a high likelihood of the victims to use the lifts to escape from the building depending on the level of the building and the time of the incident as opposed to the age of the occupants. The occupants are also likely to select the escape route they are familiar with and think that it is easier and safer to use. In high-rise apartment structures, horizontal escape routes for evacuation are available in many buildings but not every occupant has experience of ever using them (Yatim, 2). Fires in such buildings are caused by the following: Electrical faults, hot works, cooking, smoking, rubbish burning or overheating devices. Particular risky sections of super tall buildings are: slip forming equipment, storage of building materials, temporary buildings within the building and diesel and petrol powered generators (Incorporating rescue and safety, 2009). The following devices should be fitted in super tall buildings to ease human behavior in tall buildings: permanent fire escape stairs, fire compartments, secured structural steelwork, firefighting shafts, wet/dry risers and lighting conductors. Other important devices include automatic fire detectors and sprinklers. The amount of material stored in buildings under construction or already constructed buildings impede movements and may cause panic in case of fire incidences. Temporally structures within a building under construction or even a completed building will also impede movements and hinder rescue efforts (Clark 88). Fire Hazards The manner in which individuals respond to fire incidences is also affected by the hazards emerging from the fire. Some of the factors of consideration in this case are: temperature, heat, and smoke and oxygen depletion. The temperature is dependent on the length of exposure or the distance from the fire. Humidity and breathability also have an impact on the manner in which people react. Huge discomfort can arise in temperatures as low as 120 degrees F while temperatures above 150 degrees F are regarded as incapacitating. Temperatures above 212 degree F will result to death. The intensity of the heat available to be transferred to human skin or nearby skin is measured by heat flux or burn injuries. The upper limit is usually 2.5kW per meter square without critical pain. This is the same as holding a hand a few inches above a light bulb of 100 watt for three or so minutes. The higher the magnitude of the temperature, the faster the injury will take place (Clark 8). Smoke obscuration affects individual’s behavior in that smoke minimizes visibility and intensifies irritation of the eyes. When inhaled, it can be toxic and usually results to fear. This minimizes the person’s ability to evacuate the scene. Oxygen depletion also affects a person’s behavior. The normal oxygen in the environment is 21%. A reduction in this amount results to significant physiological effects (Willis 40). Fire will definitely consume the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere leading to a reduction. Exposure to fire gases will also affect manner in which people respond to fire incidences. There are several fire gases present in a fire incident. The largest of all is the carbon monoxide (Hirst 14). Carbon monoxide accounts for the largest portion of all fire relate deaths. Carbon monoxide combines easily with hemoglobin in the red blood cells which transports blood in the body. This reduces the ability of the cells to transport blood in the body. Carbon monoxide is dangerous even in small amounts since it can accumulative aspect. This implies that several exposures to carbon dioxide over long durations of time can allow the gas to accumulate or build up in the body and eventually lead to death (Clark 8). Case Study Lic Building Fire, Chennai This building which housed the zonal and Madras Division headquarters of LIC consisted of 13 storeys, a basement and subbasement. The structure was completed in 1959 and was of RCC framework. Since it was designed for central air-conditioning, it is enclosed with glass facings at the back and the front. The air conditioning plant was located at the subbasement. Linked to this were two huge vertical shafts located at the edge of the building. The side walls, over which the glass facings were fitted, had many openings on the window sill, through grills which linked with the side ducts in the floor below (Major fire incidences, 32). At first the occupants ignored the fire alarm and their poor behavior in fire incidents was evidenced by the manner in which they acted. This was largely contributed to their poor training on evacuation behavior and their unfamiliarity with building. This is a proof that the physical setting of a building affects the behavior of the affected persons during a fire incident. The fire was first observed by a person outside at about 8 PM. The state fire service division responded to the distress call and began fire fighting operations upon arrival. At first thy were able to control the fire although they were later overwhelmed and the fire spread quickly from floor to floor which called for deployment of the whole fire fighting department of the city. The fire fighting operations proceeded throughout the night until 6 PM of the following day. At the preliminary stages of the fire fighting operations were adversely affected by falling pieces of glass, burning fragments and molten metal resulting from the aluminum metal frames. Some members of the fire fighting team sustained injuries while others had a very exacting experience. All the floors starting from the second floor were severely destroyed by the fire. As the walls and the ceiling collapsed, people got trapped and most of them panicked. The upper floors were completely destroyed (Major fire incidences, 67). Conclusion Fire fighting is a technical operation that calls for fast decision making before the fire becomes uncontrollable. Tall buildings that is, those over 200 meters tall and super tall buildings that is, those over 400 meters tall should be fitted with the appropriate fire safety devices as they pose the greatest risk incase of fire incidences. People should also be trained on the appropriate manner to behave when faced by fire incidences. Bibliography Clark, W.E. 2001. Firefighting Principles & Practice PennWell Books London. Drury, J. Crowd behavior in CBRN incidents. Retrieved on January 6, 2010 from Hirst,B.A. exam prep: fire fighter 1&11. New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. < http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=zZP2OcdRQT4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false> Incorporating rescue and safety. Retrieved on December 31 2009 from Klaene, B. 2007. Structural Firefighting: Strategies and Tactics. New York: Jones and Bartlett Publishers Major fire incidences. Lic building fire, Chennai. Retrieved on December 31 2009 from Thomson Delmar Learning, 2004, The Firefighter's Handbook: Essentials of Fire Fighting and Emergency Response. Second Edition. Clifton Park, New York: Delmar Publishers. Willis, C., 2002, Fire fighters: Stories of Survival from the Front Lines of Firefighting. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press Yatim, Y.M., 2009, Fire safety in high-rise residential building. Malaysia: University technology. Six steps to decision making process. Retrieved on January 6, 2010 from Read More

Due to affiliation, the response rate to fire incidences is minimized. People are generally social and will tend to perform their actions in groups whether they are familiar to each other or not. In cases of fire incidences or any other emergencies, the people will leave in groups making the evacuation process slow as it will be based on the speed of the slowest person. Affiliation explains the reason as to why parents will only leave with their children while workers will leave with their colleagues or even strangers (Hirst, 21).

In strange situations, individuals will turn back to find their colleagues even after successfully evacuating the building. Role is another factor that greatly determines and affects individual’s behavior. The role or status of a person will affect their reaction or response to fire incidences. A person who is new or unfamiliar to a building will definitely react differently with a person who works in the building or familiar with the building. Individuals will seek directives or ideas from supervisors or people they are familiar with in case of incidences (Yatim, 12).

There are a number of other factors that affect the manner in which people react to fire accidents. One of the factors is avoidance. An individual may feel protected from any risky situation from a psychological point of view. This is not only a form of denial but also a cause of poor response by individuals to fire incidences. Commitment is another factor that affects individual’s behavior. Due to the commitment people accord their daily duties, they will definitely respond slowly to fire alarms after they are through with whatever they were doing before the alarm.

In other cases, people may enter a building to carry out their duties ignoring fire alarms that may be on. Due to affiliation, the response rate to fire incidences is minimized (Hirst, 9). People are generally social and will tend to perform their actions in groups whether they are familiar to each other or not. In cases of fire incidences or any other emergencies, the people will leave in groups making the evacuation process slow as it will be based on the speed of the slowest person. Affiliation explains the reason as to why parents will only leave with their children while workers will leave with their colleagues or even strangers.

In strange situations, individuals will turn back to find their colleagues even after successfully evacuating the building. Role is another factor that greatly determines and affects individual’s behavior. The role or status of a person will affect their reaction or response to fire incidences. A person who is new or unfamiliar to a building will definitely react differently with a person who works in the building or familiar with the building. Individuals will seek directives or ideas from supervisors or people they are familiar with in case of incidences (Incorporating rescue and safety 14).

During fire threat, there are other relevant factors to groups and additional dimensions which come into exposure when workers or family members are assembled together. These factors include avoidance, commitment, affiliation and role. A person will tend to deny the fact that there is threat of fire. When they see smoke, they may think, it is just food in the kitchen burning or when they feel heat, they think it is just getting hot outside or even when there is an alarm, they think it is false alarm.

The more they delay the worse fire it becomes and it becomes too late for them to react. Another action is that when an alarm strikes or when people are asked to evacuate many people may choose to complete what they were doing first because they don’t want to leave what they are doing, only to find out later there wasn’t anything serious. This situation is very dangerous in that when there is an explosion these people are easy target and can be injured easily or even dye in the fire especially if all the escape routes are closed.

Still some people run to the scene of fire.

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