How could the fire fatalities have been prevented? An analysis of 144 cases during 2011-2014 in Sweden : An analysis
Runefors, Marcus LU
; Johansson, Nils
LU
and Van Hees, Patrick
LU
(2016)
In Journal of Fire Sciences
34(6).
p.515-527
- Abstract
Approximately 80%-90% of all fire-related fatalities take place in residential occupancies. The risk groups are well known, but the effectiveness of different measures has been less investigated. In this article, fire investigations from 144 unintentional fatal residential fires have been systematically analyzed and technical measures that would have been effective in preventing each fatality have been identified. The result shows that, generally, a thermally activated suppression system (e.g. sprinkler) has the highest potential effectiveness (68%) followed by a detector-activated system in bedroom and living room (59%) or smoke alarm (37%). For smokers with home care, however, the potential effectiveness of a thermally activated... (More)
Approximately 80%-90% of all fire-related fatalities take place in residential occupancies. The risk groups are well known, but the effectiveness of different measures has been less investigated. In this article, fire investigations from 144 unintentional fatal residential fires have been systematically analyzed and technical measures that would have been effective in preventing each fatality have been identified. The result shows that, generally, a thermally activated suppression system (e.g. sprinkler) has the highest potential effectiveness (68%) followed by a detector-activated system in bedroom and living room (59%) or smoke alarm (37%). For smokers with home care, however, the potential effectiveness of a thermally activated suppression system and home smoke alarm was significantly lower (31% and 14%, respectively). This indicates that different measures are effective for different groups. In one-fifth of the cases, the victim could have evacuated but chose not to do so, primarily to attempt to extinguish the fire.
(Less)
- author
- Runefors, Marcus
LU
; Johansson, Nils
LU
and Van Hees, Patrick
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2016-11-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Fatal fires, fire investigation, fire prevention, residential fires, smoke alarm, sprinklers
- in
- Journal of Fire Sciences
- volume
- 34
- issue
- 6
- pages
- 13 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84994166853
- wos:000387316700004
- ISSN
- 0734-9041
- DOI
- 10.1177/0734904116667962
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1361241c-b70f-4b01-9933-cf726b5986f4
- date added to LUP
- 2016-11-21 09:21:50
- date last changed
- 2024-03-22 11:55:42
@article{1361241c-b70f-4b01-9933-cf726b5986f4,
abstract = {{<p>Approximately 80%-90% of all fire-related fatalities take place in residential occupancies. The risk groups are well known, but the effectiveness of different measures has been less investigated. In this article, fire investigations from 144 unintentional fatal residential fires have been systematically analyzed and technical measures that would have been effective in preventing each fatality have been identified. The result shows that, generally, a thermally activated suppression system (e.g. sprinkler) has the highest potential effectiveness (68%) followed by a detector-activated system in bedroom and living room (59%) or smoke alarm (37%). For smokers with home care, however, the potential effectiveness of a thermally activated suppression system and home smoke alarm was significantly lower (31% and 14%, respectively). This indicates that different measures are effective for different groups. In one-fifth of the cases, the victim could have evacuated but chose not to do so, primarily to attempt to extinguish the fire.</p>}},
author = {{Runefors, Marcus and Johansson, Nils and Van Hees, Patrick}},
issn = {{0734-9041}},
keywords = {{Fatal fires; fire investigation; fire prevention; residential fires; smoke alarm; sprinklers}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
number = {{6}},
pages = {{515--527}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Journal of Fire Sciences}},
title = {{How could the fire fatalities have been prevented? An analysis of 144 cases during 2011-2014 in Sweden : An analysis}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0734904116667962}},
doi = {{10.1177/0734904116667962}},
volume = {{34}},
year = {{2016}},
}