The Combustion Process in the Situation of a Fire - Assignment Example

Report Assignment Name Date Course Question 1 The design of the 7 storey hotel in Preston has to consider the issues of fire safety as well as the environmental issues. The low carbon emission objective has to be achieved during the design process. The risk of fire is a product of consequences and probability of occurrence. The 7 storey building has to ensure that all the features reduce the risk while at the same time it is a low carbon emission building. The design process for the hotel will consider the materials that can be used for the purposes of controlling the combustion process in case of a fire. Non combustible materials will be used for the construction of the hotel. The noncombustible materials will be used both in the interior and exterior of the building. All the materials used for the construction of the building also need to be environmentally friendly. The noncombustible materials play an important role in preventing the spread of fire in case of a fire outbreak at the building (Purkiss & Li, 2013). Achieving the goal reducing the emission of carbon dioxide starts with the nature of the building materials used. A high level of environmental pollution may also occur in case of a fire if the building materials are not environmentally friendly. The international standards like the BS will also be used during the selection of the materials for the purposes of ensuring that the building meets the international standards. The fire safety design of the building will also rely on the BS standards in relating to the fire standards. The finishing materials for the building have to be well selected. This is considering that most of the finishing materials are often ignited early in case of a fire incident. The floor coverings for the building will have the materials with the lowest flame spreading rates. The design of the construction features will also ensure that the building is safe and environmentally friendly. The structural elements of the building have to be fire resistant. This is for the purposes of avoiding the collapse of the building in the event of a fire. A structural element that is resistant to fire is also important in terms of ensuring that the occupants can be evacuated and the fire fighters can move easily while fighting the fire (Coward, et al, 2013). All the structural members of the building will be made of concrete reinforced with steel. The collapse of a building during a fire incident could be an indication of weak structural members that are not fire resistant. Fire containment structures will also be considered during the design. The fire containment features play an essential role in terms of ensuring that the rate of spread of the fire is slowed down and hence allowing the occupants to escape. The automatic sprinklers should be put in place in order to ensure that the fire is contained. The fire escape will be of adequate space so as to allow a high number of people to move out of the building with ease. All the doors to the fire escape will be made of materials that cannot make it difficult for the occupants to move out. Fire alarms for the building will be installed in accordance with the BS standards. This is for the purposes of ensuring that everyone in the building is alerted incase of a fire outbreak. During the design, the means of evacuation for the people who are disabled will also be considered. The disabled may have a lot of difficulties from moving out of the building as lifts cannot be used in the event of a fire (Van Coile, et al, 2014). The safety of the occupants together with the sustainability issues will be of main concern during the design of the building in order to promote safety. In conclusion, the design will mainly be focused on sustainability and fire safety. In the United Kingdom, the issues of sustainability are increasingly becoming important during the design of buildings. The concepts of BREEAM are increasingly becoming useful during the design of buildings. It is recommended that sustainable design and construction issues should be considered at the earliest stage of the design. Decentralization of the energy supply has to be carried out in order to ensure that the building is sustainable (Purkiss & Li, 2013). This is considering that the high cost of energy has negative impacts on the sustainability of the building. Driving change to the supply chain is also important for the purposes of ensuring that the material cost is reduced. On the other hand, it is also recommended that the materials that should be used in the construction of the building should promote sustainability. This is also important in terms of ensuring that the building is safe in case of a fire outbreak. The choice of material is useful in terms of ensuring that the building is able to meet the requirements while at the same time sustainable. It is recommended that the regulations that promote sustainability should also be put in place. Question 2 UK: Paddington hotel fire Paddington hotel is one of the prominent hotels in London and it was involved in a fire incident in November 2008. The fire was reported at 2222 hours and it was contained at 2357 hours. The fire was first reported at the fourth floor of the building and it took the efforts of 30 firefighters and six fire engines to put out the fire. No fatalities were reported but there were minor injuries during the fire. A total of fifty people were evacuated from the building during the fire. Five people had to be evacuated by the fire fighters while wearing breathing apparatus due to the effects o the huge smoke. One woman was rescued by the fire fighters from the fourth floor through a turntable ladder (London Fire Brigade, 2008). The fire was huge and most parts of the fourth floor were completely destroyed by the fire. The building has a functioning fire alarm which was useful in enabling the occupants to be aware of the fire. On the other hand, the building had personnel who were experienced in fire fighting. However the design of the building did not have adequate features to contain the fire. The hotel also had a fire escape to enable the occupants to exit the building in the incident of a fire. However, the fire escape of the building was narrow and could have limited the rate at which the occupants were leaving the building. A well designed fire escape has to ensure that the occupants can leave the building within a short period of time (Van Coile, et al, 2014). However there were no doors towards the fire exit and this is important in ensuring that the occupants can easily exit the building. The materials that have been used in the construction of the exterior of the building are fire resistance. The structural members of the building are made of concrete which is also fire resistant and it prevented the building from collapse during the fire. However, the interior of the building had materials that support combustion and this contributed to the fast spread of fire in the interior of the building. The ability of the building to contain the fire was however not good enough as the fourth floor was destroyed within an hour. In conclusion, the fire at Paddington hotel led to the destruction of the fourth of the building as the building did not have adequate mechanisms to contain the fire. The lesson learnt from the fire is that the features within the building may contribute to the fasts spread of the fire. Fire resistant features are however important in avoiding extensive damage to the building. It is recommended that hotel buildings should ensure that the materials used for the interior decorations have low fire spread rates. The hotels should also have automatic sprinklers that may be used for the purposes of trying to slow down the spread of the fire before the arrival of the fire fighters (Purkiss & Li, 2013). Brazil In 2013, a building that housed a nightclub and other businesses caught fire in Brazil. The club was Kiss nightclub and it occupied the upper floor of the building. The nightclub had about 2,000 occupants and 242 people died while about 630 were injured (Dal Ponte, 2014). The fire started on stage which has combustible materials and it spread to the other parts which also had combustible materials. The fire extinguishers in the club were not functioning at the time. A stampede ensured when the people started panicking and running towards the exit. The guards at the exit tried to block the people from leaving causing more panic. A huge smoke that ensure blocked the vision of most of the occupants who could not find the exits as most of the dead were found in the bathroom area. The building did not have a fire exit and as it only had one door which served as the entrance and the exit. The building also lacked the exit signs. The exterior of the building was build of materials that were fire resistant. However, the structural members were weak and the roof collapsed as the fire intensified. The materials for the roof were also combustible which increased the intensity of the fire. The facility did not have personnel who were trained on handling a fire incident before the arrival of the firefighters. The design of the building was done poorly as it did not consider the fire safety. A building that can handle more that 2000 people at a go should have a fire escape as opposed to only one entrance as was in the case of the building. The materials that were used for the purposes of constructing the interior of the building were not fire resistant. The concepts of stack effect were not considered during the design of the building. This is considering that the smoke was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of the occupant. A good design should ensure that the occupants are not adversely affected by smoke which blocks the vision and it also causes suffocation (Cowlard, et al, 2013). The fire safety standards were not followed during the design and construction of the building. The spread of the fire within the building was quite high and it was difficult for it to be contained. In conclusion, it is evident that poor fire safety measures were to blame for the loss of life and destruction of the building. The main lesion learned is that fire safety measures is a must for any building. It is recommended that buildings should be installed with working fire equipment and the design should consider the fires safety. It is a must for a building to have a fire escape as it may save lives. A building with a large number of occupants should have more than one emergency exit (Van Coile, et al, 2014). The construction materials for the interior of the building should not encourage rapid spread of fire. Sprinklers should also be installed for the purposes of preventing the fire. The fire safety equipment and structures can save lives in the e vent of a fire. Question 3 Halons and Freon have been used over a long period of time for the purpose of putting out fires. Their use has been associated with effectiveness in putting out different classes of fires. However, Halon and Freon has negative impacts on the environment when exposed during the fire fighting process. In terms of nomenclature, when Freon is derived from ethane and methane, its formulae become CClmF4-m and C2ClmF6-m with the m being nonzero. When Halons are derived from ethane and methane, its formulae becomes CClmFnH4-m-n and C2ClxFyH6-x-y with m, n, x and y being nonzero (Dmowski, 2012). The halos and Freon system impacts negatively on the environment and it is known for the depletion of the ozone layer. Halons and Freons are active reducers of the ozone layr4s and hence its negative effects when used during the fire fighting. The Halon and Freon systems are also considered as green house gases which affect the environment. The green house gases contribute to global warming and adverse effects on the environment. Global warming is closely related to the climate change. Although the amount that may be used during the fire fighting process may be minimal, it still has huge impacts on the environment as an active reducer of the ozone layer. A concept known as super green house effect is also created when Freon and Halons are used which has negative effects on the environment. The Montreal protocol led to the agreement that a total ban on Freon and Halons should be carried out by the end of the twentieth century during the fire fighting process. This was later implemented and it is no longer used in the European Union for the purposes of fire fighting. The reasons that were given for the ban was the negative environmental effects. The active reduction of the ozone layer and global warming were considered as the dangers that are posed by the use of Halons and Freon. The environmental concerns that were raised with regards to Halon and Freon were genuine and it justifies its ban during the prices of fire fighting. The depletion of the ozone layer poses a risk to life on earth. The ozone layer plays an essential role in terms of preventing the strong radiation from the sun reaching the earth surface (Ahmad, 2011). The strong radiation can cause cancer and other diseases making it impossible for the people to survive on earth. The environment can be exposed to the strong radiation through the depletion of the ozone layer over a period of time. The replacement of Halon was therefore a right choice due to the benefits that it has on the environment. This is despite Halon being effective in the fire fighting process when it comes to different classes of fires. Question 4 Fahrenheit is a temperature scale where the freezing point of water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the boiling point is 21 degrees. The boiling and freezing pint of water is 180 degrees apart in the Fahrenheit scale. In terms of the Celsius/Kelvin temperature scale, absolute zero is defined as the point in which the nothing could be colder and no heat energy can remain in the substance. This point is referred to as 0 Kelvin and the triple point of water is -273.15 degrees Celsius (Halder, 2014). When using the Celsius scale, the difference3 between the freezing pint and boiling point of water is 100 degrees Celsius. This means that a degree Fahrenheit is 5/9 of a degree Celsius. When using the Fahrenheit scale, -40 degrees Fahrenheit coincides with -40 degrees Celsius. This means that one has observe high levels of accuracy when using the two temperature scale. Conversions have to be carried out accurately in order to avoid any errors. The Celsius/Kelvin temperature scale is commonly used for scientific purposes while the Fahrenheit temperature scale is mainly used for non-scientific purposes. This indicates that the use of the Celsius temperature scale is more common as compared to the use of the Fahrenheit scale. Most of the countries are no longer using the Fahrenheit temperature scale but the Celsius/Kelvin scale is commonly used in most of the countries. Although they serve the same purposes, the Celsius/Kelvin scale is easy to use and it is more accurate. The high level of accuracy makes it suitable for scientific use including the issues that are related to fire. It has however been cited by some of the scientists that the Fahrenheit scale is user friendly and it also has the ability to measure small changes in temperatures accurately (Halder, 2014). This can also explain why it is still in use in some of the countries and for some of the experiments. The temperature scales play an essential role when dealing with the fire incidences. This is because the temperature determines the extent of the damage that the fire can have on the building. On the other hand, it is important to note that the concepts of the temperature scale are useful in determining the mechanism that can be used during the process of dealing with the fire. Conversions can be carried out for the purposes of converting the different values that have been obtained while using the two different temperature scales. The same values can be arrived at incase of an accurate conversion. List of References Purkiss, J, A, & Li, L, Y, 2013, Fire safety engineering design of structures, CRC Press. Cowlard, A, et al, 2013, Fire safety design for tall buildings, Procedia Engineering, 62, 169-181. Van Coile, R, et al, 2014, Reliability-based evaluation of the inherent safety presumptions in common fire safety design, Engineering Structures, 77, 181-192. Dal Ponte, S, 2014, Mass-casualty response to the Kiss Nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil, Prehospital and disaster medicine, 1-4. London Fire Brigade, 2008, Paddington Hotel Fire, Retrieved on March 5, 2015, from, Dmowski, W, 2012, 1, 2-Dibromotetrafluoroethane (Freon 114B2) as a building block for fluorine compounds, Journal of Fluorine Chemistry, 142, 6-13. Ahmad, Z, 2011, Assess Environmental Damage Caused by Energy Activities, Advances in Environmental Biology, 5(11), 3573-3578. Halder, G, 2014, Introduction to chemical engineering thermodynamics, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Read More