1134280 (Noyan Ulusarac)

Fire Safety of Tall Buildings
Noyan Ulusarac
1134280
Supervisor: John W. Bull
Individual Dissertation submitted to the Department of Civil Engineering
School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University

1134280 NoyanUlusarac
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ABSTRACT
Day by day population is increasing and therefore necessity of more living areas like houses and working
places increasing. As a result of that civil engineers are trying to increase the height of the structure in
order to achieve more spaces to fulfil the demand of human kind however nowadays even if tall buildings
are efficient enough and highly common, there are some unsolved problems related with emergency
situations like fire. In this report, importance of safety and improvements related with fire cases will be
analysed and future investigations will be achieved for tall buildings.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was supported by Brunel University, Alarko Holding, Koray Holding, Varlıbas Holding
(VARYAP), GAP Holding, Mehmet Ulusarac, Ahmet Serpil, Yüce Demirsesen, Nusrettin Isık, Adem
Parlar, Gökhan Girgin, İsmail Can, Gökhan Özber, Serdar Sipahioğlu and Taner Çakın. The author is
grateful to the companies and people involved for their support and contribution.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page Number
List of Notation............................................................................................................................. 6
Definitions ................................................................................................................................ 6
Terms....................................................................................................................................... 6
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 7
Advantages and Disadvantages of Tall Buildings.......................................................................... 9
Population and Migration....................................................................................................... 9
Effects of Economic Factors...................................................................................................10
Effects of Infrastructure ........................................................................................................11
Environmental Impacts .........................................................................................................11
Effects on Humans................................................................................................................12
Reputation...........................................................................................................................13
Confronted Problems During Tall Building Designs and Construction Periods...............................14
Design..................................................................................................................................14
Wind....................................................................................................................................15
Earthquakes.........................................................................................................................16
Fire......................................................................................................................................18
Literature Review.........................................................................................................................18
Main Reasons of Fire Cases.......................................................................................................18
During Construction Period...................................................................................................19
After Construction Period......................................................................................................19
Fire Regulations........................................................................................................................21
What is a Fire Regulation?.....................................................................................................21
First Modern Fire Regulation.................................................................................................21
Why There is a Need for Fire Regulations? .............................................................................21
What Fire Regulations Include? .............................................................................................22
Precautions..............................................................................................................................26
Inactive Fire Safety Precautions.............................................................................................27
Fire Compartments...........................................................................................................27
Stairways and Evacuation..................................................................................................29
Elevators..........................................................................................................................32

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Electrical Installations.......................................................................................................34
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems..................................................34
Active Fire Safety Precautions ................................................................................................35
Fire Detectors ..................................................................................................................36
Fire Extinguisgher Systems................................................................................................37
Stable Fire Systems-Hose Reels .........................................................................................39
Automatic Sprinklers ........................................................................................................40
Access and Position of Buildings ................................................................................................42
Evacuation Time........................................................................................................................44
Employee Trainingsfor Office Buildings......................................................................................46
Aim of Trainings ....................................................................................................................46
Are Trainings Compulsory?.....................................................................................................46
Why There is a Need for Training?..........................................................................................46
Who Needs to Take Training?.................................................................................................46
Certification..........................................................................................................................47
Index of Trainings..................................................................................................................47
Design.....................................................................................................................................48
DesingApproach...................................................................................................................48
Structure Type.......................................................................................................................48
Fire Compartments................................................................................................................50
Cost & Time ..........................................................................................................................51
Necessary Price List (British Steel (1995) “Plates & Commercial Steels” costing table) ...............51
Materials & Section Properties............................................................................................52
Design 1 ............................................................................................................................52
Decking.............................................................................................................................53
Protected & Unprotected Secondary Beams.....................................................................54
Protected Primary Beam .................................................................................................55
Columns.........................................................................................................................57
Edge Column..................................................................................................................57
Internal Column..............................................................................................................59
Total Cost...........................................................................................................................61
Design 2.............................................................................................................................61

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Decking.............................................................................................................................61
Protected & Unprotected Secondary Beams.....................................................................63
Protected Primary Beam .................................................................................................64
Columns.........................................................................................................................66
Edge Column..................................................................................................................66
Internal Column..............................................................................................................68
Total Cost..........................................................................................................................69
Comparison of Design 1 & Design 2.....................................................................................70
Beams............................................................................................................................70
Primary Beams ...........................................................................................................70
Secondary Beams .......................................................................................................71
Columns.........................................................................................................................71
Cost ...............................................................................................................................71
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................72
Results and Discussion..................................................................................................................73
Awareness of Key Fire Safety Issues in Tall Buildings...................................................................73
Assessment of Tall Buildings......................................................................................................75
Fire Safety Systems...............................................................................................................75
Fire Safety Designs................................................................................................................76
Access and Position of Buildings ............................................................................................78
Convenience of Regulations ..................................................................................................80
Future of Fire Safetyin Tall Buildings..........................................................................................81
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................83
References...................................................................................................................................87
Appendices..................................................................................................................................91

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LIST OF NOTATION
Definitions
– Carbondioxide gas – chemical formulaof the combination of 1 carbon atom and 2 oxygen atoms.
°C – Celsius (Temperature)
KN – Kilo Newton
Mwh – Megawatt hours.
Mw – Moment magnitude scale.
Terms
EN – Eurocode (EuropeanCommittee forStandardisationforthe structural design of construction works
in the European Union)
FD – Fire Door
FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency
HVAC – Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
IBC – International Buildings Code
IFE - Institution of Fire Engineers
LSC - Legal Services Corporation
NFPA – National Fire Protection Association
U.A.E – United Arab Emirates
U.K – United Kingdom
TS – Turkish Standards (Turkish Construction Standards)
VAV – Variable Air Volume

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INTRODUCTION
Milestones of well-known tall buildings (Mir M. Ali & Kheir Al-Kodmany (2012) & Florea Dinu (2014)):
 1870 - Equitable Life Building in New York with a height of 40 meters
 1885 - Home Insurance Building in Chicago with a height of 42 meters
 1890 - Wainwright Building of in St. Louis with a height of 45 meters
 1890 - New York World Building in New York with a height of 94 meters
 1894 - Manhattan Life Insurance Building in New York with a height of 106 meters
 1895 - Milwaukee City Hall in Milwaukee with a height of 108 meters
 1899 - Park Row Building in New York with a height of 119 meters
 1901 - Philadelphia City Hall in Philadelphia with a height of 167 meters
 1908 - Singer Building in New York with a height of 187 meters
 1909 - Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower in New York with a height of 214 meters
 1913 - Woolworth Building in New York with a height of 241 meters
 1930 - Bank of Manhattan Trust Building in New York with a height of 283 meters
 1930 - The Chrysler Building in New York with a height of 320 meters
 1931 - The Empire State Building in New York with a height of 381 meters
 1972 - World Trade Center in New York with a height of 417 meters
 1974 - Sears Tower in New York with a height of 442 meters
 1998 - Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur with a height of 452 meters
 2003 - Taipei 101 in Taipei with a height of 510 meters
 2010 - Burj Khalifa in Dubai with a height of 828 meters
Figure 1: Milestone of tall buildings

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Over the decades, engineers and architects have tried to build taller and taller buildings. First tall
structures were ancient pyramids and religion structures like temples and cathedrals. Then with
changingmaterialsandconstructionmethodsandengineeringskills, engineers and architects managed
to improve their designs to create modern and taller buildings with different structural styles and
purposes.Atthe beginningmostof the tall buildingsweremonuments or places without occupants in it
but thenoverthe year thanks to improvements tall buildings used for accommodation, working places
and evenmedical centres.The usage purposesof the structureswere highly related with the changes in
the demands of human kind and environment.
First tall building; Equitable Life Building in New York, was built in 1870. Building was 40 meters high
however Home Insurance Building in Chicago was built in 1885 and it was considered the first tall
building in the world because of its innovative design. According to Mir M. Ali & Kheir Al-Kodmany
(2012); “The steel-framed structure of the 10-story Home Insurance Building is generally recognized as
the first skyscraper, built in Chicago in 1885.” In addition to that H. Emre Ilgın (2006) stated that “Most
historians agree that the first skyscraper was William Le Baron Jenney’s 10-story high Home Insurance
Building of 1884-1885. The design of this building initiated the innovative use of the structural steel
frame for building multiple stories efficiently and created a model for future tall building designs.”
As listed at the beginning, lots of tall buildings were built between 1880s and 1930s; construction
industryreachedtothe top pointandmanagedto buildThe Chrysler Building in New York with a height
of 320 metersandThe Empire State BuildinginNew York with a height of 381 meters. It was the golden
times of construction industry. However; due to problems between countries, World War 2 started in
1939 and constructionindustrysignificantlystoppedbecause of that. According to the report of Moncef
L. Nehdi (2013); around 1956, Frank Lloyd Wright tried to work on a skyscraper design but technology,
materials and vision of those days were not appropriate for his project. Countries were healing slowly
after World War; therefore, it took a while for industry to gain back its pace. As stated in the Tall
Buildings and Urban Habitat of the 21st Century: A Global Perspective report of Mir M. Ali & Kheir Al-
Kodmany (2012); construction of tall buildings started again in Chicago in the 1960s after World War 2
and industry achieved high developments not only in United States but also all around the world.
Therefore; World War 2 can be assumed to be the beginning of a new era for tall building construction
industry all around the world.
In 1972 World Trade Centre in New York with a height of 417 meters and in 1974 Sears Tower in New
York witha heightof 442 meterswere beingbuilt.Theywere the tallest buildings in the world for more
than 20 years. Those days; tall buildings were iconic symbols of cities or countries; therefore, great
challenge has begun between companies, engineers and architects. Governments, new technologies,
new construction methods and innovations encouraged companies to construct taller and taller
buildings.Inorderto constructtallerbuildingsstrongermaterials, innovative elevation systems, higher
stability designs and durability in terms of lateral loading were achieved. According to H. Emre Ilgın
(2006) “In the late 19th century, the elevator and the modern metal frame construction has improved
and therefore strength of the structures have improved. Moreover; improved mechanical ventilation,
electric lighting, advanced telecommunications and electronics, fire proofing methods and cleaning

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technologies, as well as new footing and foundation systems are achieved.” Thanks to these
improvements tall buildings construction industry has taken to the next level. However; in addition to
the changing technologies, methods designs etc., there were some stuff that never changed over
decades and Mir M. Ali & Kheir Al-Kodmany (2012) mentions that in his report by stating that; even
thoughdecadespassedoverthe constructionof the firsttall buildings,construction purposes and styles
are not changed. Heights of the buildings increased whereas floor areas remained almost stayed at an
average level. Also; money, time, required technology and material and aim of reaching beyond the
limits were the essentials for the companies.
During the 20th
century, engineers and architects started designing and constructing tall building in a
better and sustainable way. Human kind started noticing their environmental impacts on nature
therefore engineers taken precautions to prevent or at least lower this impact by constructing
sustainable tall structures. Moreover; thanks to the race between engineering companies, countries
rather thanUnitedStatesstartedconstructingmore tall buildings.Moncef L. Nehdi (2013) proves that in
hisreportas “In 2012, out of the 20 tallestbuildingsinthe world, 18 are in Asia, with 9 in China, 6 in the
Middle East,and 3 inMalaysia and Taiwan. Currently, among the world’s tallest 100 buildings, 23 are in
the City of Dubai alone.”
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF TALL BUILDINGS
Nowadaysmainusage purposesof tall buildingsare mostlycommercial andresidential butinaddition to
that rivalry between companies and egos may change the design, height and usage purposes. Also;
increases in the land costs, people’s social needs and activities, increasing population, economical
reasonslike wealthypeople’sdemandsetc.are some reasons that influences the increase in the height
and the amountof tall buildings all around the world. In addition to that; in some countries like Dubai,
governmentpayingextramoneyand encouragingengineers to construct higher and higher buildings in
orderto increase theirreputationandgainmore touristsandearnmore money.Thisisalsobeneficialfor
some companiesbecause beinga worldwide well known company increases their reputation and their
incomesintermsof jobopportunities and money. Sometimes companies prefer to buy small land area
and construct tall building because on that area land costs may be expensive and constructing tall
buildingonasmall area can be more cost efficientthanbuildinglow-rise buildingona wide landarea.All
these mentioned reasons will be detailed below individually.
Population and Migration
Population increasing day by day and humankind need more habitat and working areas. In the past;
whenthere were notall buildings,populationwasnotthathigh andhumankindhadenoughhabitatarea
and working space/fields but nowadays both as working opportunities are higher in city centres and
people are fancy living in big cities rather than living in villages or countryside; therefore, population
increasinginbigcitiesevenif there maynooptionto extent the habitat areas in cities. According to Mir
M. Ali &KheirAl-Kodmany(2012) “Currently,almosthalf of the world is urban when 20 years ago it was
only one-third. By 2030, it is expected that about 60% of the world’s population will be urban. In 2050,
over 80% of the world population will live in urban areas when the world’s population is expected to

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reach 9 billion. At that time, all major cities of the world, particularly those in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America,will have enormous populations, probably ranging from 30 million to 50 million, or more.” At
that point;tall buildingsplaysa major role in terms of easing people’s life and creating more living and
workingareaswithoutexpendingcitieshorizontalbutexpendingthemvertical.Therefore;assometimes
it is impossible to widen the cities horizontally, engineers decided to widen structures vertically and
therefore started building tall structures.
Effects of Economic Factors
Construction costs of tall buildings are indisputably higher compare to low-rise buildings as mostly in
order to construct a tall building more detailed and complex designs, technologies, equipment and
calculationsare necessary.Intermsof design;more complex andstrongfoundationhave tobe designed
to provide goodresistance andstrengthtothe wind,seismicmovementsand overloading conditions. In
addition to; more complex and strong foundation, stronger and bigger cores have to be used and
designedfortall buildingsinordertoincrease the durabilityof the buildings. Materials being used have
to be high quality in order to construct stiffer structures. Compare to low-rise buildings; during the
construction period of tall buildings, more materials have to be used and in order to increase the
accessibilityof the buildingmore thanone elevatormaybe necessary. Incase of emergency, evacuation
equipment and areas have to be more than low-rise buildings as it is more difficult to evacuate tall
buildings. In addition to that; according to Mir M. Ali & Kheir Al-Kodmany (2012) “On the low-rise
building’sfloorareas generally80%of the floor area are usable whereas this ratio is around 70% for tall
buildings as remaining 10% is being used for building’s elevator core, stairwells, and columns.” As tall
buildings have more elevators, complex systems etc. users have to pay more electricity bills,
maintenance payments etc. and these are affecting users in a negative way.
Anothernegative effectisthateverythinggettingmore expensivedaybyday,tall buildingsare becoming
a usual thing and companies are aiming to achieve more and more profit; therefore, quality of tall
buildingsare gettinglower and this is disturbing the users. Some companies in undeveloped countries
are constructing tall buildings randomly without obeying to the regulations and they are not using
appropriate high quality materials. In order to construct a tall building, land area where a good
infrastructure isplacedhasto be chosenandmaterialsof the buildinghave to be obtained easily. While
constructing tall buildings; companies shall not avoid spending extra money and use high and
appropriate materialsbecauseitcanbe consideredthattall buildingsare mostlyappropriate forwealthy
companies and they can be used in order to create high quality habitat area.
For the sustainabilityof the structure intermsof moneyandenvironmental effects;inorder to construct
a tall building, land areas where land costs are not low have to be chosen. If not, investigations and
paybacks may not satisfy the owners’ demands. Also, traffic around the site area and livelihood of the
building site has to be investigated carefully in order to lower environmental impacts.
Effects on Infrastructure
As mentioned before; land area for the construction has to be chosen carefully and if necessary
infrastructures of the area have to be renewed because land areas and traffic roads that are organized

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for a low-rise buildings may not be enough for a tall building’s demands and therefore it may overload
the traffic and infrastructures like water pipes, drainage systems etc. and this may affect both tall
building users and neighbour structures. In order to solve this problem, either during the construction
period or during the design period necessary renovations and arrangements of the roads and
infrastructureshastobe done carefully.Roadshave tobe enlargedandreorganized,infrastructureshave
to be changed and well reorganized and also if necessary project design and project plan have to be
changed and arranged according to solve the problems. In addition to that, as tall buildings are
consumingmore energythanlow-risebuildings, electricity systems have to be checked and renewed if
necessary.If mentionedchecks and corrections have not done or wrong/inappropriate land areas have
beenchosenthenthiscancause extraspendingandthismayaffectusers, companies and neighbours in
a negative way.
Environmental Impacts
As tall buildings create more shadow compare to low-rise buildings, surrounding structures and
pedestrians are affected negatively and also buildings nearby may have to use more electricity and
lightingsduringthe daytime because of shadows of tall buildings. In addition to that; tall buildings are
creatingair circulationandwindturbulencearoundthe structure andtherefore mostlyduringthe winter
times it is affecting pedestrians in a negative way. Moreover; as mentioned before, tall buildings are
consumingmore electricity,energy, heat and ventilation compare to low-rise buildings therefore they
are affecting the environment in a negative way. However; thanks to new technologies there are
sustainable systems which are solar panels, wind turbines, photovoltaic cells and green roofs to solve
these problems.If thesesustainablesystemsare used for the design of the tall buildings then buildings
can be called as sustainable buildings in other words environmental friendly and resource efficient
structures.Tall buildingsare more beneficial compare to low-rise buildings in terms of efficiency of the
systemsastheyare closerto the sunand more windcan be obtainedat an highaltitudesthereforemore
energyandheatcan be obtainedinthatway.Obtainedenergycanbe self-sufficientforthe structure and
alsoit can even be used for other buildings. According to Mir M. Ali & Kheir Al-Kodmany (2012) “Green
skyscrapers dubbed “zero energy” buildings have the potential to produce as much energy as they
consume, or can act as “batteries” by producing even more energy than they consume, and are
described as “positive energy” buildings, and can deliver energy to the city’s power grid. The green
skyscraper model is important since the building sector today accounts for 30% to 40% of total energy
use.”However;intermsof transportationof the materials,tall buildings are leading more CO2 emission
due to more material transportations.Butif sustainable systemsare locatedandusedappropriatelythen
positive effects of the building can be more than its negative effects on the environment.
Anotherbenefitof tall buildingsonthe environment is related with green (natural) areas. Constructing
one tall building requires less green area destruction compare to building more than one low-rise
structure.Therefore;greenareascanbe usedforotherpurposeslike playgrounds, public parks etc. and
by savinggreenareas, qualityof ourhealthandlife conditionscanbe increase significantly. According to
Mir M. Ali & KheirAl-Kodmany(2012) “The availabilityof openspace providessignificant environmental
quality and health benefits that include improving air pollution, attenuating noise, controlling wind,
providingerosioncontrol,and moderating temperatures. Open space also protects surface and ground

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water resources by filtering trash, debris, and chemical pollutants before they enter a water system.”
Moreover; green roofs can be placed to the top of the structures to create a green area. To sum up; by
constructing a tall building, footprint can be decrease and building area can be increased.
Effects on Humans
Besidesof the effectsof tall buildingsonthe environment,theyhave some effectonpeople’sactivesand
social life. As people are spending all their days inside tall buildings like working or living in the same
area, they are becoming antisocial and less active. According to Mir M. Ali & Kheir Al-Kodmany (2012)
each new tall building should be assessed and evaluated in terms of its effect on environment and
people.Moreover;peoplewhohave toworkinside the tall buildingsmayhave acrophobiaandtherefore
they may feel uncomfortable while they are working at a high floor levels. In addition to that; some
people have claustrophobia;therefore,whiletheyare usingstairsatlow-rise structures,theyhave touse
elevatorsat tall buildings and sometimes it may take almost a minute to reach to the floor level which
can be uncomfortable for the users who have claustrophobia.
Most of us are familiar to the tall structures as there are lots of them in city centres; however, people
who comes from rural areas may not be familiar with them and tall buildings can be an uncomfortable
issue for them as they may feel like buildings are so high and it may create a fear like structures may
collapse on them. Also; as there are lots of tall and low-rise buildings around, children can hardly find
place to get socialized. Therefore; it is assumed that tall buildings are more appropriate for those who
have no children. According to Mir M. Ali & Kheir Al-Kodmany (2012) tall buildings are leading rat-cage
mentality;inotherwords, claustrophobia on inhabitants. Because when people are living in a low-rise
structure,theycan see the groundlevel easilyorfeel close tothe groundwhereasintall buildingspeople
feel like they are in a box which takes place in the sky. This issue can be related with planes. Some
people cannot sit near windowed seats because when they look outside the view emphasizes the
altitude andthiscan be disturbingtothemas itfeel theyare reallyhigh from the ground and there is no
wayto get out incase of emergency.However;thankstotoday’stechnologiesanddesignsthere are tall
buildings with gardens in it and green roof on the top which makes inhabitants to feel more close to
nature.Figure 2 showsthe image fromSky Garden London which takes place at the top of 20 Fenchurch
Streetwhichisa skyscraperwitha height of 160 meters and fifth tallest building in London. Sky Garden
takesplace at the top 3 floorlevels and each layer has different types of design with variety of plant in
order to create a garden ambience and let visitors feel more close to nature.

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Figure 2: View from Sky Garden London
Reputation
As mentioned before tall buildings are becoming worldwide symbols of cities and attracts tourists
therefore improving economy and political conditions of the countries. One of the recent and well -
known examples of this situation is Dubai. During the 1900s Dubai was a small town and it was only
being used for fishing. However; around 1970s it is discovered that Dubai has a massive petroleum
reservesunderneath.Afterthatlotsof companiesstartedinvestingonDubai andnow itis a well-known,
rich and developing country as shown on figure 3. In Dubai there are lots of massive and astonishing
construction projects and tall buildings like Burj al Arab, The Palm Jerel Ali, the World Island, the Palm
Deira, and The Palm Jumeirah. Burj al Arab is the first 7 star hotel in the world. It was built between
1994 and 1999. Thanksto thisbuildingDubai earnedlotsof moneybecause everyone around the world
was visitingDubai justtosee Burj al Arab and that was spreading the popularity of Dubai all around the
world. After attracting tourist and wealthy companies, investments on Dubai started increasing and
engineerswantedtocreate incredible projects.Thenthe PalmJerel Ali,the WorldIsland,the PalmDeira,
the Palm Jumeirah being built but none of them could be the symbol of Dubai till Burj Khalifa is being
built. It is the world’s tallest building with a height of 828 meters. Sheikh of Dubai encouraged the
engineers of Burj Khalifa and invested money on the project in order to make it the symbol of Dubai.

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Figure 3: Evolution of Dubai
CONFRONTED PROBLEMS DURING TALL BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION PERIODS
Design
Tall buildings have to be designed differently rather compare to low-rise structures because lots of
people liveorwork inside those structures and also when a tall building collapses, it effects more area
then a low-rise structure like as it happened during the terrorist attack on 11/9/2001 to World Trade
Centre. According to CNN’s website (2001) almost 3,000 people died on that day. Moreover; when the
height of the structure increases, due to outside effects like wind, seismic movements, material
strengths,fire conditions,highloadingetc.structure hastobe designedcarefully.Otherwise,mentioned
conditionsmayleadcollapse of the structure andcause casualties.Some of the main outside effects are
detailed below.

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Wind
Tall buildings are affected easily compare to low-rise buildings as wind forces exerted laterally on the
wallsdirectlyproportional tothe heightof the structures. Therefore; tall buildings have to be designed
flexible in terms of wind forces in order to prevent non-structural components’ and partial material’s
fatigue failuresandcollapses.AccordingtoJimingXie (2014);highslenderness, low natural frequencies,
lowinherentdampinglevels and high wind speeds at upper levels are the reasons that affect the sway
mechanismsof the tall buildings.Inadditiontothat;people workingorlivinginsidetall buildings may be
affecteddue toswayof the structuresbecause of the windforcesandthisiscalled sea-sick and this may
affect the comfort of the occupants.
Tall buildingscanbe consideredascantileverbeamsonthe earthsurface.Whenwind force is applied to
the surface, it tends to create shear and bending moments on the structure and therefore pushes it.
There are some importantpointsof the winddesignof tall buildings.Structure shouldnot fail during the
shearingoff and do not strain over the elastic recovery limit. Otherwise; structures will collapse easily
due to partial failures. Moreover; under the wind loading when bending force is exerted to the walls,
walls should not be broken by premature failures. All these conditions have to be taken into account
during the design process of tall buildings.
Accordingto A.P.Jearyetal. (2003) compare to past,new technological tall structures are more flexible
and lightlydampedthankstothe newsystemsandhighstrengthmaterials;therefore,new tall buildings
have higherresistance towind. Nowadays; tall buildings are designed aerodynamically by using scaled
models in laboratories. Engineers are using wind tunnels in order to understand the behaviour of the
structure underwindloadingandthe movementof the wind.There are similar technics for wind design
of structuresbutmostcommon one iswindtunnelswhichhelpsengineers to achieve high aerodynamic
optimizationsandaccordingtoJimingXie (2014) “Considerationsregardingaerodynamicoptimization of
building shapes in early architectural design stage is proved to be the most efficient way to achieve in
wind-resistantdesign.”Inorderto achieve highaerodynamicoptimization,structure hastohave smooth
outlines. However; according to C.M. Chan et al. (2010) in today’s world tall structures have to be
attractive; therefore, irregular shapes are being used for structures and those irregular shapes are
increasingthe effect of the wind on the surface of the structure. Those asymmetric shapes are leading
torsional twistingeffectsandtherefore effective centre point of the structure changing. Also according
to A.P. Jeary et al. (2003) “Field measurement is considered to be the most reliable method for
evaluatingwindeffectson and dynamic properties of buildings and structures. The monitoring of wind
effects on tall buildings can provide important validation of design procedures and assurance of
acceptable behaviour. The measurements from prototype tall buildings are very useful to further the
understanding of wind-resistant design of tall buildings. Meanwhile, the experimental results can be
used to verify the reliability of wind tunnel test techniques and to refine the numerical models for
structural analysis.”
Figure 4 showsthe image of design of Strata London skyscraper. According to the website of council on
tall buildingsandurbanhabitat;structure has a height of 148 meters with 3 wind turbines on the top of
the structure.Structure iswell designedaccordingtoobtainenergyfromthe windturbinesandthanksto

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its form and orientation, it enables wind turbines to use south and south-west wind directions and
produce 50Mwh of electricity per year which is nearly 8% of the total energy consumption of the
structure.
Figure 4: Environmental systems diagram & integrated wind turbine details
Earthquakes
As knownfromthe basicphysicsequationof the moment,momentequalsforce timesdistance; in other
words,longerthe distance higherthe moment applied on the surface. Therefore; for the tall buildings,
higher moments are exerted on the components during the earthquakes and this leads deformations
and fatigues on the structure due to sway of the structure and therefore leads collapses. In order to
solve this problem, engineers have to work on the strength, rigidity and stability of the tall buildings
duringthe designperiods.AccordingtoAlex Y.Tuanet al.(2008) “Under lateral loads,interior forces are
quite variable andincrease rapidlywithincreasesinheight,andlateral deflection may vary as the fourth
power of the height of a building, and structural dynamic behaviour is thus one of the most important
designconsiderationsinthe designof amoderntall building.” However; thanks to today’s technologies
and growing use of high strength materials, tall buildings are safer and taller. There are lots of good
examples of tall buildings which are highly resistant to seismic movements (lateral movements). For
example; in Turkey civil engineers started increasing the importance of the seismic design of the
structures after an earthquake happened on 17 August 1999. It was 7.5 Mw according to Richter scale

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and more than 17.000 people diedand23,000 people have injured.Thiswasa majorcasualtyfor Turkey.
In orderto improve the stabilityof the structures, civil engineers have changed the regulations. One of
the good examplesof highresistant tall buildings project for seismic movements in Turkey is Metropol
Istanbul project. This project includes 3 tall buildings and one of them is one of the tallest buildings in
Europe with a height of 250 meters. It is designed by using high technology as it is located on a windy
place.Moreover; as scientists are predicting an earthquake in Istanbul in less than 10 years; therefore,
civil engineers used high strength materials and high technology during the design of the structures.
Anothergoodexample of atall buildingthathashighseismic resistance is Taipei 101 which is located in
an area where earthquake rate is high. Taipei 101 is famous with its design in terms of earthquake and
any other extraordinary loads. According to the website of Taipei 101 the structure has the world’s
largest passive tuned mass wind damper which is suspended between the 92th and 87the floor levels
and movesonthe opposite side of the movementsof the structure in order to equalize the movements
and lower the sway of the structure.
Figure 5: Taipei 101 website

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Fire
Fire isone of the most important issues for tall buildings as fire weakens the parts of the structure and
this leads partial failures or total collapses of the structures. Nowadays; there are lots of tall buildings
around the world and companies are trying to build higher and higher buildings day by day and this is
challengingengineersintermsof durabilityof the structuresbecause whenstructure’sheight increases,
its demands in terms of construction increases. Mostly steel components are used in tall buildings to
increase the strength of the structures. However, using steel components bring problems. One of the
problems is the behaviour of steel under fire conditions. Even if most of the structures have good fire
resistance materialsandcoatings,they are not totally durable to fire conditions. One of the recent and
goodexamplesforthissituation is World Trading Centre collapse due to terrorist attacks. For this case;
whenaircraftcollapsedtothe building,itcreateddamage onthe core of the buildings but in addition to
that aircraft started fire on the floor level. Due to fuel of the plane, flames started spreading and
deforming the components of the building. Therefore, according to the documentary of Discovery
Chanel that has been shown on television, if structure had been designed more carefully for the fire
cases, building was not going to collapse. Therefore; structures have to be designed and being built
accordingto the mostcritical fire casesinorderto preventcasualtiesandcollapses. Also; during the fire
conditions,asitisdifficulttoevacuate the tall structuresinshorttime,appropriate fire safety materials,
fire compartments,fire extinguishersystemshave tobe used/placedandstructureshave tobe designed
carefully for the safety of the people working or living inside the buildings. All these issues will be
investigatedbyusingnecessaryandappropriate documents onthe literature review part and also while
investigating the systems, technologies and previous cases, future evaluations will be carried for the
topic related chapter of the report.
LITERATURE REVIEW
MAIN REASONS OF FIRE CASES
Even if high fire protection materials and systems have been used or appropriate designs have been
done by using proper regulations, first of all fire cases have to be prevented. According to Muhsin K.
(2003); mainreasonsof fire occurrence inbuildingsare electriccables,electronic devices’ shortcuts and
sabotage.Aselectronicdevices,lightingsandmachinesare usingtoomuchelectricity,little carelessness
can start fire easily. On the other hand; in order to attract attention for a specific reason, people can
sabotage buildings. In most fire cases, as people don’t know what to do or get into rush and panic, fire
couldnot go outeasilyandleadcasualties.Moreover,evenif fire takesplace on the ground floor levels,
warm gas,smoke and flamesaffectedthe upper stairs and therefore most of the people suffocated. As
fire departmentsstairscannotbe affectiveabove 10thfloorlevel,fire onthe restof the floorlevels have
to be controlled by the systems installed to the buildings. In order to do this topics mentioned below
have to be investigated and necessary precautions have to be taken.

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During construction period
During the construction periods, there is a high risk of fire occurrence and main reasons for this can be
both carelessness and work equipment problems.
Workershave to obeyto the rulesof the constructionsites.Duringthe constructionperiod,they have to
be forbidden to smoke on side. They have to be aware of the ‘danger flammable liquid’, ‘no smoking’
and ‘no naked light’ signs.
In additiontosmokingrules,powertoolscancreate sparksthat may lead fire on site. Therefore; cutting
tools have to be used on an isolated area by keeping flammable materials away. There is a good
example forthissituation which is construction site fire happened in Houston Texas Montrose district.
According to Dailymail’s website in 25/03/2014, fire occurred during the construction of Houston
apartmentcomplex.Accordingtothe witnesses,fire startedwhile workers were welding some stuff on
the roof of the construction. Wind was so powerful that fire spread to the other places and website
mentions that ‘Five-alarm fire could be seen from miles away as it destroyed a high-rise building
containing368 apartments’. Asa result,one littlesparkcandestroythe hole project.Moreover, fuels of
power tools may lead explode during the fire. Therefore, fuel barrels have to be stored away from
construction site.
After construction period
Electric systems:
Leakage of electricityisone of the commoncausesof fire inside the buildings. It is mostly confronted in
the buildings which are used as an office. People are using computers, printers, coffee machines etc.
everydayall daylongandmostlyleavingthem on.Sometimes;computercables that have been used for
long time may have deformations and they can create sparks that can cause fire. In order to solve this
problem, everyone has to take care of their computers and while using them if they observe any
problems;theyhave to keep in touch with the authorized person. In addition to that; when they finish
workingoncomputers,theyhave toturn themoff. If they have uncompleted or on-going work on their
Figure 6: Fire occurredin HoustonTexas Montrose district

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computers,theyhave to check everything carefully then they can leave computers on during the night
time.
For the common equipment, they have to be checked in terms of circuit and cable safeties because as
theyare connectedwithmaincut-outswitch,theyhave ahighriskof leading fire and in addition to that
any possible short-circuit can damage any other electronic devices.
For the house holders,electricsystems safety can be more flexible and they are not commonly used as
office buildings and therefore they have less chance of risk to create fire compare to offices. However
nevertheless; electronic devices, their cables and plugs have to be check few times a year.
Use of cookers, ovens and any equipment to cook food:
Cookers, ovens and any equipment to cook food are being used every day more than once a day in
habitat areas. Some of the equipment may not be electronic and foods can be cooked on fire. Any
careless act may lead huge problems. Any ovens or cookers that left on can cause fire and burn
everything around it. During that case, people around have to keep calm and try to extinguish the fire
rather thandoingpanic.Also;inorderto solve thisproblem, ratherthanusingcookersworkingwithfire,
electrical ones can be chosen. While using them, users have to be careful and do not leave them on.
Figure 7: Kitchen fire
Heating systems:
Even if external heaters are safe and turn of when they fall on the floor, when users leave them on
during the night times, heaters may cause fire or electrical leakage when they reach to high

21
temperatures. Therefore; users have to buy good quality and safe external heaters and turn them off
when they leave the area or during the night times.
Water contact of cables:
Electronic devices that take place in kitchens or bathrooms have high risk of touching to water. When
cables or devices contact with water, users can be shocked or devices can cause fire. Therefore,
electronic devices in bathrooms or kitchens have to be isolated from water.
FIRE REGULATIONS
What is a fire regulation?
Fire regulations are the rules and laws that are stated by civil engineering firms, civil engineers,
architects and other engineers and altered according to experiences, experiments, observations and
researches.Main aim is to maximize the security of the people working both inside and outside of the
buildings.Fireregulationscanbe eitherworldwide orspecifictoeachcountry.Companies,engineersand
architectshave to obeythese regulations;otherwise,resultscanbe catastrophicandthose whohave not
obeyed the regulations may confront with law sanctions.
First modern fire regulation
According to Yaman Ü. (2008); during 1666, great fire occurred in London and destroyed 2 out 3 of the
buildings.15,000 buildingand84 churches damagedcriticallyandthatwas notthe first time in London’s
history. Even if 3 different fires occurred before; more than 900 years, no one had taken precautions.
Benefit of the fire occurrence in 1666 was the first steps of the modern fire regulations put into action
firsttime inLondonin1668. Thanks to KingCharlesIIfirstmodernfire regulationwasthe keyfoundation
of the rules that indicated the construction of widen streets, usage of inflammable materials for
constructions and distance restrictions between buildings.
Why there is a need for fire regulations?
Fire regulationsare importantasthere are lotsof people livingor working inside tall buildings and their
life is more important then everything. If people do not obey the regulations, it can cause casualties.
Wrong material usage,wrongdesign or using wrong fire systems can increase the chance of casualties.
As a result of using wrong materials, deformations can occur both at the inside and outside of the
structuresand theycan cause collapse.Asaresult of wrong design and/or fire systems are used for fire
cases, evacuation of the building can be more difficult than normal and this can cause casualties. In
addition to that, useless fire systems may lead important documents loss during fire cases.
Aim of the regulations is to regulate any emergency plan managements; determine the work related
withmakinga planinterms of precautions,protections,evacuations, first aids for emergency cases and
to manage the people responsible with each individual topic.

22
What fire regulations include?
Regulationsinclude structural design criteria, material specifications, fire safety duties for both before
and after of the construction. Regulations mentioned below are based on the regulations of UK
Government’s(Firesafetyinthe workplaceguide) and Turkish Government’s (Emergency management
regulations in the workplaces guide) regulations.
Responsibilities of the employers/owners;
a) Determinationof the emergencycasesthatcanaffectworkersandworkingenvironmentbeforehand
by takingintoaccount the workingarea,materialsbeingused,workingequipmentandenvironment,
b) Taking precautions and limitations to lower the side effects of emergency cases,
c) Plan preparation for emergency cases,
d) By considering the work that company doing, amount of people working and environment,
determinationandassignof the qualifiedpeople for emergency cases including first aid and letting
them be ready all the time for any possible emergency cases,
e) Doing arrangements with external companies for emergency cases especially first aid, medical
intervention, rescue and fire cases,
f) Instructing workers, subcontractor workers, workers of the temporary contracted companies and
other people for emergency cases and the identified risks,
g) Carryingout a fire riskassessmentof the premisesandreviewitregularly.
Responsibilities of workers:
1. Obeying the rules and precautions that are mentioned in the prepared emergency plan;
2. Informinganyauthorizedpersonorclosestsupervisor as soon as possible after seeing any possible
risk that can occur by the machines, equipment etc. that takes place inside the area,
3. Obeyingthe rulesandthe warningsof the external companiesintermsof emergency cases to lower
the possible risks
4. Beware of any possible risky act that can harm co-workers and him or her.
This gives opportunity for the workers to interfere any danger that can be harmful in case of not being
able to call any authorizedpersonalorsupervisor.Therefore;possibleriskscanbe lowered. However; in
terms of workers knowledge and ability, workers that interfere to problems cannot be blamed for any
possible failures.Forexample;duringafire case anyone thathave no idea about how to interfere to the
problem cannot be blamed as he or she couldn’t prevent the damage or casualty because that person
may be not be able to interfere to the problem.
Fire Risk Assessment
Carrying out the fire risk assessment
a) Identify the fire hazards,
b) Identify people at risk,

23
c) Evaluate, remove or reduce the risks,
d) Record the findings, prepare an emergency plan and provide training,
e) Review and update the fire risk assessment regularly.
Things need to be considered:
 Emergency routes and exits,
 Fire detection and warning systems,
 Fire fighting equipment,
 The removal or safe storage of dangerous substances,
 An emergency fire evacuation plan,
 The needs of vulnerable people, like the elderly, young children or those with disabilities,
 Providing information to employees and other people on the premises,
 Staff fire safety training.
Figure 8: Fire safety risk assessment steps of HMGovernment’s Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order
2005

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Emergency plan
Mentioned steps have to be followed respectively;
a) Any possible emergency cases have to be determined,
b) Precautions and limitations have to be taken for any possible emergency cases,
c) Authorized people have to be determined,
d) Intervention procedures have to be prepared,
e) Documentation,
f) Practice for emergency scenarios,
g) Renovation of emergency plan if anything changes.
Determination of emergency cases
Any possible emergency cases have to be determined by taking into account mentioned clauses:
a) Risk assessment results,
b) Fire and explosion chance,
c) Cases that may require evacuation or first aid,
d) Possibilities of the occurrence of natural disasters,
e) Change of sabotage.
Preventative and restrictive precautions
a) Employer takes any precautions in order to limit the possible side effects of defined possible
emergency cases and lower the chance of having worse side effects.
b) While determining the precautions for the emergency cases’ negative effects, any required
measurements and calculations have to be taken.
c) Taken precautions have to be appropriate for the risk protection laws and have to be based on
collective protection.
Emergency evacuation and intervention procedure
a) Employer has to prepare procedures of search and rescue, first aid and fire intervention for
emergency cases.
b) Necessary check including enumeration of the workers have to be done in order to figure out the
workers couldn’t evacuated the building.
c) Employer has to create the evacuation path by mentioning in the emergency case plan for the
emergencycasesinorderto protectworkersfromnegative effects.Inaddition to that employer has
to show and tell to the workers what to do to follow the evacuation path.
d) Precautions have to be taken for the elders, disable and pregnant workers by considering special
policies and other have to help them during the evacuation of the building.

25
e) Duringthe preparationprocessof the emergencyevacuationandinterventionprocedure, necessary
regulations have to be taken into account.
f) During the preparation process of the emergency evacuation and intervention procedure, people
inside the buildingsbesides workers have to be taken into account as they may have no idea about
evacuation process or what to do during emergency cases.
Evacuation plans
Evacuation plan must include:
 a clear passageway to all escape routes,
 clearly marked escape routes that are as short and direct as possible,
 enough exits and routes for all people to escape,
 emergency doors that open easily,
 emergency lighting where needed,
 training for all employees to know and use the escape routes,
 a safe meeting point for staff.
Documentation
1) Documentation has to be prepared by including;
a) Name of the company, address and name of the employer,
b) In case of someone to find it; names, surnames and jobs of the other that prepared the document,
c) Date of the preparation and its expiry date,
d) Determined emergency cases,
e) Precautions and limitation been taken,
f) Emergency evacuation and intervention procedures,
g) Sketch of the elements mentioned below;
i) Place of the emergency equipment,
ii) Place of the first aid equipment,
iii) Evacuationpaths,gatheringareasandevacuationplanwhichincludesemergency warningsystems,
iv) Name, surname, job title, duty areas and communication information of the authorized people.
2) Each page has to be numbered and should include abbreviated signatures of the people who have
prepared the document. Original document has to be saved in the office.
3) Copy of the document has to be placed inside the building to let people see it.
Practice for emergency cases
Each year bothin orderto checkwhetherevacuationplanworkingornot and to understand the process
of the plan,workershave topractice for the emergencycases.This practice has to be checked carefully,
necessarynoteshave tobe takenand goodand bad situationshave tobe photographedto renovate the
evacuation plan and documentations.

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Briefing and instruction for workers
1) Everyone hasto be informedandtrainedintermsof firstaid,emergencycases,natural disaster, fire
cases and evacuation.
2) For new workers, briefings have to be given about safety, precautions and procedures.
Code requirements of some countries for high-rise buildings (Christine D. et al., 2000);
Table 1: Matrix of code requirements
Fire Protection Feature Meansof
Escape
Australia New Zealand USA England & Wales
Fire isolated stairways/corridors X X X X
Signs X X X X
Emergency lighting X X X X
Travel distance X X X X
Active
Smoke detection X X X
Smoke control X X
Alarm X X X
Sprinklers X X X X
Hose reels X X
Extinguishers X X X
Hydrant/riser system X X X X
Voice communication X X X
Emergency power supply X X X
Fire control centre X X X
Passive
Fire resistance construction X X X X
Access and facilities for fire service X X X X
* “X” means required
Necessaryinformationanddetailedinvestigationsabouttopicsmentionedinthissectionwillbe given in
the nextchapters.Moreover;material specificationsandstructural designrequirementswill be assessed
in the next chapters.
PRECAUTIONS
According to the regulations; precautions have to be taken in tall buildings in case of fire situations.
These precautions can vary according to the type and usage of the building. As evacuations of tall
buildingsare more difficult than low-rise buildings, fire systems have to be well organized and placed.
Moreover; maintenance of the systems has to be done regularly in order to prevent failures.

27
Fire detectorsandsprinklersare more appropriate forthe buildings that are used as offices. If there are
any evacuation stairs, fire extinguisher and/or hose reels have to be placed according to the design of
the building. For the buildings that are used as a habitat area, fire detectors and sprinklers have to be
locatedineveryroomand theyhave to be connectedtomaindetector.Forthe common areaslike stairs,
corridorsand elevatorareas;fire extinguisherand/orhose reelscanbe placedaccordingtothe design of
the building.However;inadditiontofire extinguisherandhose reels, fire detectors and sprinklers have
to be placedto the commonareas as compare to officesthere willbe less people around the flat during
the fire case to use fire extinguisher or hose reels. Safety systems can be divided into two groups;
inactive and active safety precautions. All these systems with their maintenance period are explained
below.
Inactive fire safety precautions
Related with the usage of a building architectural design, materials and components are the main
elementsof inactive fire safetyprecautionsof buildings.Materialsandcomponents of buildings need to
have goodresistance andtheyhave to preventthe spreadof fire.Duringthe projectstage,inaddition to
general topics fire precautions and related fire extinguishing factors have to be taken into account.
Moreover; inactive fire safety precautions have to be adaptive to active fire safety methods.
Fire can be the most critical risk for tall buildings that accommodate lots of people in it. Fire fighters’
laddershave a limitedlengththerefore forsome tall buildingstheyare notuseful.Asaresultappropriate
regulations,design and systems have to be used in order to get permission to construct a tall building.
Inactive fire safety precaution will be investigated on next chapters.
Fire Compartments
Fire compartments are so important for high buildings. Fire compartment are mainly used for office
buildings as residential buildings have rooms and room doors which can act like fire compartments. In
orderto obtainfire compartments,floorlevelshave to be divided into sections in order to increase the
securitylevel orthe flatandtherefore loweringthe fire spreadbetween floor levels and areas. By doing
that more people cansurvive andmore materials, documents and important objects can be rescued. In
orderto divide floorlevels into fire compartments, appropriate fire walls, doors, ceilings, coatings and
ventilation areas can be used because according to Christine D. et al. (2000), fire penetration is mostly
occurs at shafts like stairways, lifts and services, and at outer walls of the buildings. Fire resistant
windows can also be used but as Christine D. et al. (2000) mentioned they only required for
unsprinklered buildings. Fire compartments can also increase the change of people to extinguish fires
more easily.Lessflammable componentand material means less fire and easier way of extinguishing a
fire and fire compartments are aiming that.

28
Figure 9: Fire compartments and self-closing fire door of an office area
Figure 9 shown above indicates an office area with self-closing door (FD). During the fire cases, if fire
starts on the lefthandside,thanks to self-closing fire door fire will not spread to the right hand side of
the flatand therefore people onthatside canhave higherchange to evacuate the floorlevel.Self-closing
fire doors; which is shown in figure 10, are connected to electrical system which works with fire
detectors.Whenfire detectordetectsandsmoke orfire case,ittriggersthe holderof the self-closingfire
doorsand letthemclose inorder to create sub-compartments for fire. Sometimes automatic doors can
be a problemforoccupants.AsChristine D.etal.(2000) mentionedone occupantdiedasautomaticdoor
slammed shut behind him when he entered to a smoke filled corridor.
Figure 10: Self-closing fire door

29
Advantagesof fire compartments
 Less fire spread
 More chance for evacuation
 Less casualties
 Less material, documents and important object lost
 Low change of partial or complete floor or structural failure
Disadvantagesof fire compartments
 Extra material usage
 More spending
 Longer construction period
 Floor area limitation (Less free space for users)
 Sometimes they can be left open and lead fire spreads
Evenif fire compartments have disadvantages in terms of money, time and usage of the building, they
have high importance during emergency cases and nothing is more important than human life.
Therefore, fire compartments are must for high buildings and emergency cases.
1.1. Stairways and Evacuation
1.1.1. Evacuation
Quickand properevacuationof highbuildingsduringfire issoimportant because fire and/or smoke can
spreadthroughupperfloorlevels if necessary precautions do not taken carefully. According to Federal
EmergencyManagementAgency(FEMA)’stechnical report(1996),lots of people died during The World
Trade Centre bombingbecause of evacuationproblemrelatedwithstairwaypressurization systems fail.
Risk of fire spread can increase if ventilation and air conditions are located wrong or elevator and
staircases do not designed properly. Evacuation paths for occupants have to be downwards to the
groundlevel.Occupantshave toavoid going higher floor levels as warm air, fire and smoke tends to go
upper levels and therefore they can harm people on upper floor levels easily. According to Federal
EmergencyManagementAgency(FEMA) (1996), for high-rise buildings, if there are sprinklers then fire
floorand twofloorsabove and below can be evacuated or relocated while others remain. According to
Erol Y. (2008), tall buildingshave tobe designforworstscenariosbyconsideringbi fire casesanduseless
fire control methods and systems. "NFPA, Life Safely Code 101" standards can be followed as design
requirements. Moreover; necessary evacuation signs have to be place at each floor level.
1.1.2. Arrangement of Evacuation Paths
There are five types of evacuation scenarios (Society of Fire Protection Engineers, 2012):
1. Simultaneous Evacuation

30
2. Phased Evacuation
3. Progressive Evacuation
4. Full/Total Building Evacuation
5. Hybrid/Combined Strategies
Details of evacuation scenarios mentioned below are referenced from Society of Fire Protection
Engineers (2012);
Simultaneous Evacuation: It is basically evacuation of whole building simultaneously. Occupants try to
evacuate at the same time. This scenario is not appropriate for tall buildings as there are lots of
occupantsinside andif all of themtry to evacuate at the same time it can lead disruption and therefore
increase the evacuationtime.Also,thisscenariorequires wider evacuation staircase as occupants try to
reach downstairs whereas fire fighters try to reach upstairs to extinguish fire.
Phased Evacuation: Phased evacuation is to warn and evacuate only floor level that fire occurs and 2-3
floors above and below. Rest of the floor levels either can be warned or no information can be given
them in order to keep occupant calm and continue their activities normally without doing any panic.
Managers and fire department have to give this decision according to the fire systems and fire
compartmentstakesplace inside the building. This scenario is mostly adoptable for tall buildings and it
can be more useful then simultaneous evacuation.
Progressive Evacuation: Progressive evacuation scenario is similar to phased evacuation scenario but
onlydifference isthatoccupantswill not be evacuated to outside but they will be relocated to another
safe area inside the building. Relocation way can be horizontal and/or vertical. As only few of the tall
buildingsare designedwithvertical skybridge betweentwohigh-buildings, vertical relocation is mostly
preferred.
Full/Total BuildingEvacuation: It is similar to simultaneous evacuation but difference is that occupants
have to act calm and use appropriate evacuation ways that is specified and modified by local fire
authorities like stairways, elevators and any other evacuation ways. In order to do that evacuation
practice has to be done and any possible improvements have to be done in terms of shorten the
evacuation time.
Hybrid/CombinedStrategies:Some of the tall buildingscontainmanyoccupancytypeslikeoffices,hotels
and residences. In other words, there can be disabled, elderly or children. Therefore, in that case it is
possible and better to combine above scenarios in order to find best one.
Areas that host high amount of people have to be connected with hall by using minimum 2 doors.
Evacuationareashave to exitto the wide spaces(assemble point/areas). According to Muhsin K. (2003),
exitdoormusthave a widthof 120 cm. Theyhave to openoutwardsas duringfire cases doors that open
inwardsmayleadaccumulationsandtherefore extentsthe evacuationtime. Also according to H. Selena
K. (2005), doors needs to have systems that people can open them from inside easily and during fire
casestheyhave to resistminimum120 minutesandclose automaticallytokeepfire inside.All exits have

31
to be markedobviously.Signslike shownonfigure 11have to be electrical andconnectedwithgenerator
in order to keep warning people during fire cases and power cuts. Also, directive lightings have to be
placedto stairwaysandconnectedtogenerators.Inadditiontothat,if it fitswiththe designof buildings,
fire resistant shelters can be placed in every 3 or 4 floor levels in order to create protective area for
occupants till fire fighters reach them.
Figure 11: Emergency exit light
1.1.3. Stairways
For tall buildings, In order to prevent fire and smoke spread, atmospheric air pressure has to be higher
than normal inorderto keepfire exitsclearfromsmoke. AccordingtoChristine D. et al. (2000), in order
to provide optimumpressure,specific numbers of doors have to be open and smoke detectors have to
be combined with ventilation systems. When smoke detectors detect and smoke they trigger fans of
ventilation systems and clear the smoke. More information will be provided in air conditioner and
ventilation part.
Firstprecautiontobe takenforfire casesis fire staircasesasbothinorder to increase safety of occupant
during evacuation and provide clear path for fire fighters to reach to fire area. There has to be no
flammable material bothonceilingsandfloor area of the fire exit staircase. In addition to that fire exit
stairways need to resist to fire minimum 120 minutes.
For normal buildings,fire exitstairwayscanbe at the outside of the buildings but for tall buildings they
have to be placedinside the buildingsasthe heightof the stairwaysare not applicable for tall buildings.
According to Erol Y. (2008), for buildings higher than 20 meters or has more than 7 floors, fire exit
stairwayshave to be placed inside the building. Also; exit doors has to have minimum width of 120 cm
and They have to open outwards as during fire cases doors that open inwards may lead accumulations

32
and therefore extents the evacuation time. According to Erol Y. (2008), if there are lots of occupants
inside the buildings,widthof the stairwayscanbe calculatedbymultiplying occupant amount with 1.25.
For example, if there are 300 people working inside the building, width of the stairway have to be 300
times 1.25 which is 3.75 meters. In addition to that if width is larger than 180 cm then 2 separated fire
exit stairways have to be placed in order to prevent congestion.
Figure 12: Fire exit stairways
1.2. Elevators
At the beginning,occupantswerenotusing elevators during fire cases as it is told so and disables were
suffering during evacuations. But nowadays as it is difficult to evacuate tall buildings fast during fire
cases, occupants need to use elevators; therefore, researchers and engineers are working to improve
elevator evacuation ways. Society of Fire Protection Engineers (2012) states that “As tall buildings
continue to be built, and as security concerns drive designers to consider a wider range of emergency
scenarios, the use of elevators for the evacuation of building occupants is likely to become more
prevalent.”
Enrico R. & Daniel N.(2013) mentionsthatthere are several problems related with elevator evacuation
which is related with limited space, elevator shafts, power supplies and emergency communication
systems.
For limited space in elevators, design and/or amount of elevators can be modified in according to
designs of tall buildings and results of fire case practices.
For elevator shafts, according to Muhsin K. (2003), when previous cases assessed, it can be seen that
elevatorsplayarole forfire spreadsandsuffocates. Therefore; in developed countries elevators shafts
have to be isolated properly. In addition to that; while occupants are using elevators to evacuate

33
building, if any problem occurs at the shaft of the elevators then occupants can stuck in there for long
times and die because of flames or suffocate because of smoke. Also, shafts and cables have to be
designedsowell thattheyhave tobe protectedfromfire asfire can breakdownequipment of elevators
of rend the cables which may let elevator to fall down.
Elevators have to be combined with generators in case of power cuts during fire cases. Also,
communication systems have to be place inside the elevators in order to let occupants to contact with
fire department, security or any authorized person that can help to them in case of emergency.
Roles of elevators in a tall building’s fire safety strategy (Society of Fire Protection Engineers, 2012);
 For use by the fire department in their fire-fighting operations. This reduces counter flow
conditions in staircases as fire fighters ascend to the floor of incident without affecting the
physical condition of the attending fire department personnel;
 For use by fire-fighters to shuttle equipment from the Fire Department access level to the
bridgehead on the level of incident;
 For use by the fire department to assist in rescue operations;
 For use by disabled occupants for evacuation, or others unable to use the stairways;
 For use by all of, or a portion of the general building population for evacuation.
Accordingto H. SelenaK.(2005), for the buildingswhichhave more than20 stories,special elevators for
fire fighters have to be designed for fire cases. If elevators are not designed for emergency and fire
cases,humanelevatorsandcargo liftsshouldnotbe located on the evacuation paths. Elevators have to
go to the groundlevel automatically during fire cases and need to open the doors and turn on the light
to help people to evacuate the lift immediately if they are inside during emergency cases. Moreover,
during fire cases, people should avoid using elevators and special signs have to be placed to the walls
near stairways in order to let people aware of danger of elevator usage during fire cases.
Figure 13: “In case of fire, do not use elevators. Use stairways.” warning sign.

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1.3. Electric Installations
According to Muhsin K. (2003) and H. Selena K. (2005), walls, floor areas and ceiling of electric
installationsandrelatedpartsof the buildingslike powerdistributionunitandcontrol centres have to be
designed in order to resist to fire at least 120 minutes. Electric wiring of the stairways and fire
extinguishingsystemshastobe isolatedandseparatedfromotherelectrical systems and wires. Also; in
case of power blackout, there has to be a generator and it has to be automatically on to supply energy
for emergency equipment and systems.
1.4. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems
While designingatall building,airconditioning,ventilationandheatingsystemsof the building has to be
consideredfirstincase of fire and smoke. Those systems have to be designed in order to slow down or
stop fire and smoke spread.
Accordingto MuhsinK.(2003), air conditionsandventilation have to be connected to main equipment.
On eachfloorlevel,smokeblockersandfire isolationmaterialshave tobe placedinorderto block fire or
smoke on the floor level and prevent it to spread to other areas. Nowadays, on modern buildings,
individual units are used for each floor level and according to the size of the floor there can be one or
twosystems.Those systemscanhave separate turbines and therefore can work with different air flow.
Thismethodiscalledsingle injectionaccording to Christine D. et al. (2000). Another method is multiple
injections where airissuppliedfromseveralfloors.Cleanairgoes inside the area; whereas, smoke goes
out of the buildingviaventilation.Federal EmergencyManagementAgency(FEMA) (1996) mentionsthat
“In buildings over 25 stories, the fans are to be placed in every 25 floors.”
In case of fire on a floor level, individual unit stops and starts turbines to remove the smoke from the
area to outside. As individual tube systems take place on each floor level, there is no chance of fire or
smoke spread through upper floor levels via ventilation or air condition tubes.

35
Figure 14: Siemens ventilation systems during fire case
Figure 14 showshowventilationsystemsworkduringfire cases.As mentioned above, during fire cases,
ventilationturbines vacuums the smoke of the area and move it to outside. Therefore; keeps clear the
escape routesandemergency exits. Shown systems are for low-rise buildings; however, systems work
same for highrise structures.Onlydifference isthatindividual ventilation systems can be used for each
floor level on high rise buildings.
In addition to that, according to Judy S. (2007), HVAC systems have to be combined with windows.
During fire cases at least some of the windows have to open automatically when heat sensors or fire
detectors detect any fire inside building in order to let smoke out for floor levels and help people to
evacuate easily. If all of the windoware sealed;mainlymostof themare sealedfor tall buildings, then it
isnot possible toopenwindows and also some of them may tend to break because of heat and broken
pieces may hard occupants.
Active Fire Precautions
Active fire precautions are necessary to limit and extinguish fire by preventing it to spread around, to
ease the processor searchand rescue,toevacuate occupantsfrom fire area. Active fire precautions can
be divided into two sections: Fire detect and warning systems and fire limitation and extinguisher
systems. According to Muhsin K. (2003), in fire regulation there are topics related with active fire
precautions. Those topics vary according to usage of building, its design, amount of occupants in it,
height of the buildings, sensitiveness to fire etc. As known, detection of fire, warning and evacuation
time and process is so important for human life. Fire detection is the first step then warning takes the
second place and evacuation of the area is final step. Warning part is the most critical one as it
determinesthe chance of survival of the occupant. So; time between fire detection and warning has to

36
minimize asmuchas possible. As a result of that automatic fire detect and warning systems have to be
placed to tall buildings in order to lower the risk of casualties.
2.1. Fire Detectors
Accordingto Muhsin K. (2003) and H. Selena K. (2005), fire detector systems can be divided into 3 main
componentswhichare accessdevices,evaluationunitandoutputdevices.Accessdeviceslike smokeand
fire detectors sense physical warnings. Warnings from access devices are directed and collected at the
evaluationunit.Accordingtothe parametersandprogramsinstalledtothe evaluationunit,warnings are
evaluated and necessary actions apply by the output devices. In addition to the audio visual devi ces,
output devices can be connected to the ventilation systems for fire brigades via automatic signal
transmitter.
Figure 15: Inside of fire detector and its circuit’s diagram
Figure 16: Fire detector
Fire detectors are cheap and reliable systems. They can last for longer times and they do not require
often maintenance in a year. However; they have to be checked weekly in order to be sure that all of
themare working properly as fire detectors are the systems that warn people around during fire cases
and if fire occurs, detectors do not work therefore people around do not warned then it can cause
casualties. Inadditiontothataccordingto Christine D.etal. (2000), fire and smoke detectorshave to be

37
placed properly in apartments and they have to be reliable because sometimes fake alarms occur
because of cooking, baking or smoking cigarettes etc. and those fake alarms can disturb occupant and
cause panic/injuries. Also, fake alarms can warn fire department for no reason and affect their work.
Therefore, fire and smoke detectors have to be combined with heat detectors and/or corridor smoke
detectors in order to obtain reliable efficiency.
2.2. Fire Extinguisher Systems
In orderto cope with fire, first types of fire have to be known. There are three types of fire small fires,
normal fires and big fires. Small fires can be extinguished with fire extinguishers or fire blankets. Also
normal firescan be extinguishedwithfire extinguisher directly but sometimes they may not be enough
therefore fire systems might be necessary to put out fire. For big fire cases, fire systems may not be
enough therefore fire-fighters have to cope with fire directly.
Nowadays, varieties of fire extinguisher systems are developed for buildings that have fire risks. Fire
extinguisher systems are mentioned below;
Fire extinguishers
Chemistry refers to reactions that produce enough heat to produce a flame as a combustion reaction.
Combustionreactionrequiresafewthingstohappen;itrequiressome sortof fuel andthatfuel could be
a newspapers, twigs and branches or even gasoline. It also requires oxygen and most of the time that
oxygen comes from the oxygen surrounding us in the air. It also needs some sort of ignition to get the
temperature highenoughforthe reactiontooccur andthat couldbe inthe form of a flame of a match or
a spark.
The first thing needed to start fire is fuel and this fuel has to be in the presence of enough oxygen.
Typically; the oxygen gas is found in the air and it also needs some heat in order to get this reaction
going.Therefore;ithastoget the reactiontemperature highenough to a point that is referred to as the
ignitiontemperature forthiscombustionreactiontoproceedandwhatitdoesis thatit producesoxides.
In thiscase; that fuel is a very simple hydrocarbon. In the event; hydrocarbon fuel is a very simple fuel
calledmethane.Inthe presence of oxygenandenoughheat,itisgoing to produce oxides up carbon and
hydrogen. Carbon dioxide is very common one that is referred to as carbon dioxide and the hydrogen
oxide is also very common one that is referred to as water or dihydrogen monoxide. This is called as a
complete combustion reaction. But there are conditions under which a complete combustion reaction
may notoccur inthe presence of methane andoxygengas.Whichthere isnotenoughheator there is an
insufficient supply of oxygen. What can arise is something it is referred to as incomplete combustion
reactionand there are two other products that are going to come about; carbon monoxide and carbon.
The way that a fire extinguisher works is that it has a compressed gas and sometimes within this
compressedgasthere are some othermaterialsinit.But if the things that a fire needs considered, heat
and oxygenisenough.If supplies can be cut off that as it can lower the heat or cut off the supply of the
oxygen that it can put out the fire and that’s the basic premises by which fire extinguishers work. So;
when user pulls the pin and press the nozzle, he is going to get the gas that has being propelled going

38
from an area of high pressure inside the canister to an area of low pressure outside the canister. In
some cases;there isjustcarbon dioxide init.The carbondioxide gaswhich is heavier than air is going to
go lowto the floorand it’sbasicallygoingtocutoff the oxygensupply. There are alsoinstancesin which
there are propellants and these propellants going to contain in with things like baking soda or sodium
carbonates are varies other compounds that when they heat up in baking soda will decompose at a
relatively low temperature produce carbon dioxide and in this carbon dioxide again is going to reduce
the flame and the amount of the oxygen available in the air; thus, cutting off its supply of oxygen
removing effectively one of its reactors in the combustion reaction and preventing the combustion
reaction from going any further.
Fire extinguishers does not need any maintenance; however, each of them has individual expire date
therefore they have to be changed after the expiry dates.
Moreover;usershave to be aware of the types of the fire extinguishers. They can recognise them from
their label colours. Figure 17 shown below indicates the codes, types and appropriate usage of fire
extinguishers.All typesof fire extinguisherworkinasame wayas mentionedabove.The only difference
is the materials inside the canisters.
Figure 17: Fire extinguisher codes and types

39
2.2.1. Stable Fire Systems-Hose Reels
Figure 18: Fire Class table
For A type fire cases; in order to prevent fire, placed plumbing systems and stable fire systems (Hose
reels).Evenif othertypesof fire extinguishersystemstake place inside the building, stable fire systems
(Hose reels) mightbe complementary. Especially for tall buildings, stable fire systems (Hose reels) are
reliable systems to extinguish fire in short time on high floor levels.
Figure 19: Stable interior fire-hose (right) and fire extinguisher (left)
Classification of stable fire systems (Hose reels) (Muhsin K., 2003):
a) Automatic hose reels: When its valve being turned on, water automatically comes out from
hose.
b) Manual hose reels: User has to turn on the device takes place inside the red cabinet to obtain
water

40
c) Dry hose reels:There is no water on the circuit. These systems are especially for the areas that
has lowtemperatures.Also,thesesystems are especially used at the top levels of tall building.
Water can pass through the hose in a 3 different way:
a. Fire-fighters can provide water.
b. Water can be obtained by turning on the valve by hand.
c. Secondcase can be repeatedbywithoutturningvalvemanuallyitautomatically turn on.
2.2.2. AutomaticSprinklers
Accordingto MuhsinK.(2003), systemsstartwitha pipe similartothe pipe usedinplumbingsystems. In
newconstructions,the pipesare easilyinstalledinwallsorceilingsalongwithotherplumbing.Everyfew
feet a connector is placed in the pipe to allow the water to flow out. The fire sprinkler acts as a plug to
hold the water in until it is needed. In the fire sprinkler is a heat-sensitive trigger, usually a glass tube
filledwithliquidora solderlink.Whenheatfromafire reachesthe fire sprinkler,the glasswill shatter or
the solderwill meltthen release the water. Sprinklers that are not directly affected by the fire will not
activate. 90% of fires are stopped by a single sprinkler.
According to Erol Y. (2008), when fire starts, heat from the fire very quickly builds up around the
concealedfire sprinkler.Whenthe heatishighenough (usually68°C),the sprinkler triggers and puts out
the fire,leavingothersprinklersintact. In addition to that fire sprinklers cannot be triggered by smoke.
As fire sprinklers are connected to alarm system, they are also warning people around by audio visual
alarm. Even if fire sprinklers are highly affective, once they are triggered they have to be changed as
glass tube breaks into pieces. Compare to other systems fire sprinklers are very quick solution for fire
cases.It can be saidthat theyare fasterthan fire brigade.Accordingtothe website of Iklimnetittakes10
to 30 minutes for fire brigade to arrive to the fire area; whereas, fire sprinklers do this in no time.
Moreover;as it is mentioned in the website of Iklimnet “Sprinklers are of especial value in multi-floor
properties,where escape routesmay involve many flights of stairs. This is because the installation will
drastically limit the production of smoke and fumes.”
Figure 20: Fire sprinklers (3 of them) and fire detector (1 in the middle)

41
There are differenttypesof fire sprinkler. Figure 21 shown below indicates some of them. According to
the technical article of Viking group (2010); while installing fire sprinklers, users have to choose
appropriate one accordingtousage of the area. For example;if horizontal sidewalltype sprinkler placed
to the ceiling,watercanonlyreachto a limitedarea and won’t be able to put out the fire. Moreover; in
addition to the change in the type of the sprinklers, liquids being used inside the glass tube may also
change.There are differentrangesof liquidisplacedintothe glasstubesaccording to their resistance to
variety of heat temperatures.
Figure 21: Fire sprinkler types
Functions of fire sprinkler (Erol Y., 2008):
1. Extinguishing fire straight away before waiting it to become stronger,
2. Showing exact area of the fire and warning occupants,
3. Informing closest fire department within no time.
Fire sprinkler are very reliable and inexpensive as they are very simple. According to Erol Y. (2008),
sprinklersystemsplacedtothe tall buildingsinNew York are highly efficient during fire cases according
to the observations. As Erol Y. (2008) mentioned 661 tall building fire cases (39 meters or higher) are
invested and results show that 654 of them were extinguished successfully by sprinklers with and
efficiency of 98.9% and only one sprinkler activated for 70% of the cases. Also; according to Federal

42
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s technical report (1996), “The best way to protect high-rise
building occupants from smoke and fire is to control the fire rapidly, and this is best achieved by a
sprinklersystems”. Therefore;itcan be said that sprinkler systems are good fire protection systems for
tall buildings and they are necessary.
In some countriesfire sprinklersare compulsoryfortall building’sdesign.Accordingtothe laws of those
countries, tall build heights are mentioned below (Erol Y., 2008);
 Australia: 25 metres
 Germany: 22 metres
 Belgium: 25-50 metres (depends on usage)
 France: 50 metres
 Japan: 30 metres
 Holland: 13 metres
 New Zealand: 24 metres
 South Africa: 27 metres
 Britain: 18.2 metres
 Scotland, England and Wales: 24.4-30.5 metres
 USA: 23-30 metres.
ACCESS AND POSITION OF BUILDINGS
Anotherimportanttopicrelatedwithfire safetyof tall buildingsispositionof buildingsandsurroundings
(empty area) while evacuation and access to the buildings. Even if there are fire safety systems,
equipmentand/orsafetydesigns inside buildings, sometimes they can be insufficient and they cannot
helpoccupantto evacuate buildingsorextinguishfireeasily.Therefore;in those cases, external support
can be necessary. That external support is provided by fire brigades but; as mentioned before, for tall
buildingssometimesinterventionwith normal fire extinguishing systems can be difficult or impossible
because of buildings height. Therefore; in that case there is a need for improved/advance fire safety
systems which are developed for tall buildings. Those systems are developed fire brigade trucks and
hoses,longladdersandsometimesitcanbe inflatable safetyaircushionsforoccupantswho might panic
and try to jump from low floor level windows to evacuate buildings quickly. In order to use improved
systems for fire cases, there is a need of plenty of space around buildings otherwise if there is no
enoughspace forfire brigade trucks to pass, evacuation/access letters to be located or place inflatable
safetyaircushionstheninterventionandevacuationcanbe difficult or sometimes it can be impossible.
Therefore;tall buildingshave tobe designed well by considering emergency cases and surroundings of
the structure and if necessaryanypossible practice aboutemergencycaseshave tobe done and designs
have to be changed according to the results. If everything is done carefully and well prepared then
duringfire cases,life of bothoccupantsinside buildingsandpeople aroundbuildingscanbe more secure.
Societyof Fire ProtectionEngineers(2012) statesthat “Several accesspoints may be needed depending
on the configurationof the building.Itwouldinclude sufficientwidthfor local apparatus, turning radius,
clearance height,passinglanesandbe structurallysufficient to support the loads of the equipment and

43
any outriggersupports.The hazardof fallingglassshouldbe evaluatedwithrespecttothe locationof the
fire lanes, fire hydrant placement and entrance/exit points.”
In addition to that in terms of design H. Selena K. (2005) mentions that;
 There has to be sufficient spaces between buildings
 Access from main roads to buildings have to be minimum 10 meters;
 Conveyorsystemshave tobe designedwithcomponents that have minimum 90 minutes of fire
resistance; if building is higher than 90 meters, componentsthathave minimum120 minutes of
fire resistance have to be used.
Notonlyaccess to the area butalso accessto the inside of buildings is also important issue. As some of
buildings have special access for fire brigades, they require special cards or keys for access and those
cards or keyshave to be locatedcarefully that in case of emergency, fire brigades or authorized person
can easilyobtainthatcards or keysandget inside the building. In addition to that fire service elevators
have to be locatedand designedcarefullyinordertoletfire brigadesandfire equipment to reach to the
highfloorlevelseasily. In addition to the fire service elevators, according to the design of buildings; as
shown on figure 22, helicopter pads (helipads) can be constructed on the roof. Helipads can ease the
evacuation of building therefore lower the evacuation time. However, even if helipads have positive
effects,theyalsomayhave negative effects.Forexample;incase of fire, weather conditions can be bad
(wind,rain,stormor snow) anddependingonfloorlevelthatfire takes place, smoke can spread all over
the building and as a result of that helicopters may not land easily to the roof or even because of low
visibility helicopter may crash into the building.
Figure 22: Numerated helipads of Los Angeles skyscrapers
Main aimof fire designs,usedprotectionmaterialsandsystemsare to safe occupants’ life by increasing
evacuation times and keeping fires under control and extinguishing them. As time is so important in
terms of fire safety and evacuation therefore occupants’ life, it will be detailed in the next chapter.

44
EVACUATION TIME
As mentioned before time is one of the most important issues in terms of evacuation of occupants
duringfire cases. For low-rise buildings evacuation times can be adequate to secure occupants life but
for tall buildingstime canbe the most critical problem. Figure 23 shows the components that can affect
the evacuation (escape) of occupants during fire cases and time is one of the components.
Figure 23: Means of Evacuation (Escape) of occupants
Evacuationtime can varyaccording to some parameters.Therefore;there isnospecificevacuationtime
for everytall building.Some of the parametersthatcanaffectevacuationtime are;
 Amountof occupantsinside the building;
 Work placesof occupantsinside the building;
 Occupantsreactions;
 Distance betweenoccupantsandfire evacuationways;
 Emergencyequipment(lightings,signsetc.);
 Evacuationpathsand exitdoors;
 Heightof the buildingsandsize of the floorareas;
 Fire resistance of materialsused;
 Fire compartments;
 Trainingsrelatedwithevacuation;
 Size of the fire and smoke thatspreadthroughbuilding.
There isnothingto doabout amountof occupantsinside the building, occupants’ work places and their
reactions, height of the buildings and size of the floor areas and size of the fire and smoke that spread
through building. But for other topics precautions can be taken carefully as detailed before. High
resistantmaterialscanbe used,appropriate designcan be achieved, useful fire protection systems and
guidance signs can be placed in order to lower the evacuation time of the occupants.

45
Figure 24: Available safe evacuation (escape) time stages
As mentioned before there is no specific time for tall buildings’ evacuation. Evacuation time can be
divided into stages as shown on figure 24. Detection time is related with occupants and fire safety
systems takes place inside the building. Alarm time is the time that is between fire detection and fire
extinguishing time but on figure 24, it ends when occupants are aware of the alarm and danger.
Recognitiontime andresponse time are the time that occupants start responding to fire and alarm and
start evacuation. This stage is called pre-movement time as evacuation action starts just after the
response time.Travel time is the most critical one as it is the longest one. It is basically the evacuation
stage of occupants(Reachingtothe exitfromtheirworkplaces). Margin of safety stage is the stage that
takesplace afterevacuationanditis basicallyassemblyof occupantaroundsafe places.As longest stage
istravel time,thatstage has to be shortenbytakingprecautionsandusingappropriate designcriteria.In
order to lower that time (some of the subtitles are detailed on previous sections);
 Appropriate design can be achieved (fire compartments, evacuation paths, appropriate
elevators, helipads etc.);
 Appropriate fire safety systems can be placed;
 Trainings can be done for fire cases;
 Appropriate fire safety seminars and tests can be applied to occupants;
Fire safety systems and tools, appropriate designs are detailed on the previous sections. Occupants’
trainings will be investigated on the next chapter.

46
EMPLOYEE TRAININGS FOR OFFICE BUILDINGS
Aim of trainings
Accordingto the website of Iris academy, aim of training is to inform trainees and lower the risk of fire
and smoke by not doing any panic and taking precautions both before and during fire cases including
arrangements, inspections and evacuations topics. On time intervention can save life and important
documents and tools.
Are trainings compulsory?
According to Abuyum’s website, trainings are compulsory as mentioned in legislations for company
safeties. If lots of people working inside a building/company then they have to be trained by
professionals otherwise in some cases penalties may be applied to the company. In addition to that,
according to Christine D. et al. (2000), when occupant/employee tries to extinguish the fire and fail,
injuredordiedthenemployercanbe consideredatfaultunderlegislations.Astall buildings are difficult
to evacuate, everyone working inside a tall building has to be trained for fire and emergency cases in
order to increase the chance of survival during emergency cases. In addition to that as mentioned in
legislations,everycompanyhas to have own team(s) for emergency situation and they have to be well
trainedbecause if theydosomethingwrong,thatmayaffecteveryoneinside the building or around the
area.
Why there is a need for training?
Accordingto Mavi academy’swebsite, worst intervention is the one being done unaware. In that case,
conditionscanbecome worse andworse duringinterventionandtherefore canleadcasualtiesand more
material damages. For those who have trained by professionals and get certificate can interfere in
properly and lower the change of casualties and material damages. Federal Emergency Management
Agency(FEMA) (1996) statesintechnical reportthat“During a high-rise fire at the Peachtree building in
Atlanta,governmentemployeesonthe floorabove the fire whowere regularlyrequiredtoparticipate in
evacuation drills successfully evacuated; however, five employees of private firms which did not
regularly participate in regular drills died.”
Who needs to take this training?
Everyone that is working for the company has to take this training whether they are related with
emergencyplanningornot.In that case,during fire cases even if there is no one authorized for the fire
and emergency cases others can solve problems and extinguish the fire.

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