Building fires with case studies

1. WELCOME

2. INTRODUCTION
• Buildings need to be designed to offer an acceptable level of fire safety and
minimise the risks from heat and smoke. The primary objective is to reduce to
within acceptable limits the potential for death or injury to the occupants of a
building and others who may become involved, such as the fire and rescue
service, as well as to protect contents and ensure that as much as possible of a
building can continue to function after a fireand that it can be repaired. The risk to
adjoining properties also needs to be considered, as well as possible
environmentalpollution.
• Fire occurs as a result of a series of very rapid chemical reactions between
a fuel and oxygen that releases heat and light. For combustion to occur, oxygen,
heat and a fuel source must all be present; this is the ‘fire triangle’. Flames are
the visible manifestation of combustion.
BUILDING FIRES

3. INTRODUCTION
Building fire is a fire involving the structural
components of various types of residential,
commercial or industrial buildings.

4. FIRE GROWTH
The moment of ignition at which all
combustible materials are ignited .
• A critical stage occurs when the flames
reach the ceiling. The radiant heat
transferred back to the surface of the fuel is
ignited.
• The remaining combustible materials will
then rapidly reach their fire points and
ignite within 3-4 seconds.

5. If there is inadequate ventilation during the
growth period, a fire may fail to flashover.
 It may die out or continue to smoulder This
can be extremely hazardous as a new
supply of oxygen may be ‘supplied’ .

6. CAUSES:
1. Cooking Fires
 29.3% of nonresidential fires from 2013 were cooking related. In fact, 1 in 4 office
building fires were related to cooking equipment. These fires tend to account for less
damage, but are easily preventable with fire protection systems such as alarms and
fire extinguishers.
2. Intentional
 The second most common cause of nonresidential fires were intentionally started.
This accounts for almost 10% of fires, and tends to cause the most damage.
Intentional fires also result in more civilian injuries and deaths. Unlike cooking and
heating fires, it's most common for intentional fires to be started between 3pm and
midnight.

7. Careless Acts and Human Error
9.2% of commercial fires were
unintentional results of careless acts. This
is somewhat of an 'other' category. A few
examples of careless acts that result in
fires.
HEATING FIRES
Heating fires account for 9% of all non
residential buildings fires.Central heating
units, water heaters and other heating
appliances and systems should be regularly
inspected to prevent fires.

8. EFFECTS OF HEAT:
• Ventilation is affected by the size and shape of a building’s windows
and other openings.
• Steel will have lost two-thirds of its strength by the time it has been
heated to 600°C.

9. Timber burns at a constant
rate - members can be
oversized to provide fire
resistant, as they tend to
char on their surface, but
then burn relatively slowly.
Concrete fairly resistant to
fire, but reinforced
concrete must have
sufficient insulation to
protect the steel
reinforcement.
Bricks are one of the most
fire resistant materials.

10. SMOKE
Smoke is the general term for the solid and
gaseous products of combustion in the rising
plume of heated air .
Smoke may contain both burnt and unburned
parts of the fuel, as well as any gases given
off by the chemical degradation of the fuel.
 The majority of deaths in fire are due to
smoke either by the inhalation of toxic gases
or carbon monoxide.

11. SAFETY MEASURES:
The main design options to ensure fire safety
are:
Prevention: Controlling ignition and fuel
sources so that fires do not start.
Communication: If ignition occurs, ensuring
occupants are informed and any active fire
systems are triggered.

12. Containment: Fire should be
contained to the smallest possible
area, limiting the amount of
property likely to be damaged and
the threat to life safety.
Extinguishment: Ensuring that fire
can be extinguished quickly and
with minimum consequential
damage.

13. An escape route as ‘that part of
the means of escape from any
point in a building to a final exit’
where a final exit is ‘The
termination of an escape
route from a building giving direct
access to a street, passageway,
walkway or open space and sited
to ensure the rapid dispersal of
persons from the vicinity of a
building so that they are no longer
in danger from fire and smoke.’

16. Building fire in DUBAI

17. THANK
YOU.....