Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Correlation Between Firefighting Operation and Fire Area: Analysis of Statistics

Särdqvist, Stefan and Holmstedt, Göran LU (2000) In Fire Technology 36(2). p.109-130
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate whether current statistics can quantify the benefits of fire brigades. A detailed investigation by the London Fire Brigade of most fires in the greater London area has been underway since 1994. The present study concerns 307 fires in non-residential buildings between 1994 and 1997. Times to detection, to arrival of the fire brigade, and to extinguishment of the fire, as well as the process of extinguishing it, are compared to the final property damage caused by the fire. In half of the fires, the final fire area equals the area at detection, and in three-quarters of the fires, the final fire area equals the fire area when the fire brigade arrived. No support was obtained for the hypothesis that the... (More)
The aim of this study is to investigate whether current statistics can quantify the benefits of fire brigades. A detailed investigation by the London Fire Brigade of most fires in the greater London area has been underway since 1994. The present study concerns 307 fires in non-residential buildings between 1994 and 1997. Times to detection, to arrival of the fire brigade, and to extinguishment of the fire, as well as the process of extinguishing it, are compared to the final property damage caused by the fire. In half of the fires, the final fire area equals the area at detection, and in three-quarters of the fires, the final fire area equals the fire area when the fire brigade arrived. No support was obtained for the hypothesis that the period between ignition and the time the fire brigade intervened correlates with fire area. However, the hypothesis is supported for fires still spreading when the brigade arrives. Both water flow rate for extinguishing a fire and water application time are proportional to the square root of the fire area. Total water demand is proportional to the fire area. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Fire Technology
volume
36
issue
2
pages
109 - 130
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:0033763616
ISSN
0015-2684
DOI
10.1023/A:1015450308130
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
31cece2f-c10c-41dc-a73e-c6759f6d74df (old id 4496891)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:55:10
date last changed
2022-03-15 03:54:49
@article{31cece2f-c10c-41dc-a73e-c6759f6d74df,
  abstract     = {{The aim of this study is to investigate whether current statistics can quantify the benefits of fire brigades. A detailed investigation by the London Fire Brigade of most fires in the greater London area has been underway since 1994. The present study concerns 307 fires in non-residential buildings between 1994 and 1997. Times to detection, to arrival of the fire brigade, and to extinguishment of the fire, as well as the process of extinguishing it, are compared to the final property damage caused by the fire. In half of the fires, the final fire area equals the area at detection, and in three-quarters of the fires, the final fire area equals the fire area when the fire brigade arrived. No support was obtained for the hypothesis that the period between ignition and the time the fire brigade intervened correlates with fire area. However, the hypothesis is supported for fires still spreading when the brigade arrives. Both water flow rate for extinguishing a fire and water application time are proportional to the square root of the fire area. Total water demand is proportional to the fire area.}},
  author       = {{Särdqvist, Stefan and Holmstedt, Göran}},
  issn         = {{0015-2684}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{109--130}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Fire Technology}},
  title        = {{Correlation Between Firefighting Operation and Fire Area: Analysis of Statistics}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1015450308130}},
  doi          = {{10.1023/A:1015450308130}},
  volume       = {{36}},
  year         = {{2000}},
}