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Statistical analysis of firefighting and damage caused by fire in mid-rise timber-framed residential buildings compared to other construction types

Berg, Thomas LU (2021) VBRM10 20182
Division of Fire Safety Engineering
Abstract
The contribution of greenhouse gas emissions in the production of construction materials has
sparked a new interest and recent changes in building regulations regarding the use of
renewables like wood as the main component in load-bearing elements. Recent regulation
changes focus on allowing taller timber structures which bides the question of how to
adequately maintain an acceptable level of fire protection considering the characteristically
flammable properties of wood-based products. This thesis analysis data on recorded incidents of
fires in residential buildings of at least three floors in two countries, Canada and Finland, to try
to estimate the impact of building characteristics and firefighting operations in relation to... (More)
The contribution of greenhouse gas emissions in the production of construction materials has
sparked a new interest and recent changes in building regulations regarding the use of
renewables like wood as the main component in load-bearing elements. Recent regulation
changes focus on allowing taller timber structures which bides the question of how to
adequately maintain an acceptable level of fire protection considering the characteristically
flammable properties of wood-based products. This thesis analysis data on recorded incidents of
fires in residential buildings of at least three floors in two countries, Canada and Finland, to try
to estimate the impact of building characteristics and firefighting operations in relation to
damage caused by fire. Databases used are PRONTO (Finland) and NFID (Canada), the data is
analysed using common statistical tools including summary statistics and linear regression.
Preluding the statistical analysis is a comparison of building regulations in the two countries, a
comparison of general fire statistics and a review of two previous studies on the same subject
that utilizes the same databases. The results of the statistical analysis were consistent with what
the two studies previously had shown; no clear (positive or negative) correlation between
timber-framed buildings and recorded damage seem to be statistically significant, however,
timber-framed buildings accounted for more large losses when compared to buildings with non-
combustible framing. The linear regression models used predicted simple correlations that were
easy to guess intuitively which gives the models some credibility. The results of the comparison
were probably skewed by the building height restriction which gave rise to an unfair
comparison due to differences in the populations compared. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Berg, Thomas LU
supervisor
organization
course
VBRM10 20182
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Statistical analysis, timber-framed, residential, firefighting, damage caused by fire, PRONTO, NFID, linear regression, summary statistics
report number
5620
ISBN
LUTVDG/TVBB--5620--SE
language
English
id
9041395
date added to LUP
2021-03-08 11:07:19
date last changed
2021-03-08 11:07:19
@misc{9041395,
  abstract     = {{The contribution of greenhouse gas emissions in the production of construction materials has 
sparked a new interest and recent changes in building regulations regarding the use of
renewables like wood as the main component in load-bearing elements. Recent regulation 
changes focus on allowing taller timber structures which bides the question of how to 
adequately maintain an acceptable level of fire protection considering the characteristically
flammable properties of wood-based products. This thesis analysis data on recorded incidents of 
fires in residential buildings of at least three floors in two countries, Canada and Finland, to try 
to estimate the impact of building characteristics and firefighting operations in relation to 
damage caused by fire. Databases used are PRONTO (Finland) and NFID (Canada), the data is 
analysed using common statistical tools including summary statistics and linear regression. 
Preluding the statistical analysis is a comparison of building regulations in the two countries, a 
comparison of general fire statistics and a review of two previous studies on the same subject 
that utilizes the same databases. The results of the statistical analysis were consistent with what 
the two studies previously had shown; no clear (positive or negative) correlation between 
timber-framed buildings and recorded damage seem to be statistically significant, however, 
timber-framed buildings accounted for more large losses when compared to buildings with non-
combustible framing. The linear regression models used predicted simple correlations that were 
easy to guess intuitively which gives the models some credibility. The results of the comparison 
were probably skewed by the building height restriction which gave rise to an unfair 
comparison due to differences in the populations compared.}},
  author       = {{Berg, Thomas}},
  isbn         = {{LUTVDG/TVBB--5620--SE}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Statistical analysis of firefighting and damage caused by fire in mid-rise timber-framed residential buildings compared to other construction types}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}