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Aiming at the current research on the escape path of complex building fires with the problem about lack of path prediction correction and multi-person escape, this paper proposes an analytical method of real-time dynamic escape path prediction based on Building Information Model (BIM). The method uses a Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) to simulate the spread of the fire and analyzes the simulated data of BIM model, and dynamically adjusts simulation of the spread of fire according to the real-time situation of fire. This method is designed for path planning for the single and multi-person escapes. The single-person escape path planning uses real-time dynamic methods to locate the evacuee and obtain the fire situation. The Dijkstra algorithm is used to derive the shortest escape route with BIM integration information, and the fire spread simulation data and escape speed are used to predict and correct the path to achieve the best escape path planning in real-time dynamic. The multi-person escape path planning predicts the congestion according to the single-person escape route. When the congestion is predicted, the corresponding evacuation process is carried out to avoid the hazard caused by the fire escape and crowding so as to realize rapid escape at the scene of fire. Through the BIM 3D model, the dynamic fire escape path can be visualized for the evacuees. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by constructing a prototype system for the analysis.

Nowadays, indoor fire accidents are common. This, in turn, makes us think of a smart solution for this modern era. Many methods have been developed and implemented to control fire accidents. However, most of the preventing measures do not focus on how to escape the building during the initial stage of the fire accident. In this paper, a strategy has been developed to help people inside the building to find an efficient and safest route to exit from their current location. This model is developed based on A* algorithm which is a popular AI technique in finding the shortest path between the source and the destination. Temperature sensors have been used to detect the room temperature, and based on the collected data from the sensors, the safest and the shortest path is decided. The Azure Cloud platform is used to process the collected data and to execute the algorithm.

Studying an individual’s emergency escape capability and its influencing factors is of great practical significance for evacuation and escape in subway emergencies. Taking Zhengzhou Zijing Mountain Subway station as the prototype, and using VR technology, a virtual subway fire escape scene was built. Combined with the total escape time, the total contact time with fire, and the total contact time with smoke, it proposed a calculation formula on emergency escape capability. A total of 34 participants with equal gender distribution were recruited to carry out the virtual subway fire escape experiment, and participants’ physiological data (heart rate variability, skin conductance) were real-time recorded by ErgoLAB V3.0 throughout the whole experiment. The emergency escape capability of each participant was evaluated quantitatively, and the related influencing factors were analyzed. The results show that for the age ranges (19–22 years old) in the experiment, the emergency escape capability of women is significantly lower than that of men (p &lt, 0.05), although there is no significance in emergency escape capability in DISC personality types (p &gt, 0.05), the mean emergency escape capability of people with influence personality type is the worst, and that of people with compliance type is the best, during virtual fire escape vs. baseline, Mean_SC and Mean_HR both increased very significantly (all p &lt, 0.01), and participants were under stress during their virtual fire escape. There is a significant negative correlation between emergency escape capability and LF_increase_rate (p &lt, 0.05), and a remarkably significant negative correlation between emergency escape capability and LF/HF_increase_rate (p &lt, 0.01), the greater the increase rate of LF or LF/HF, the smaller the emergency escape capability, with excessive stress probably not being conducive to emergency escape. There is a very significant negative correlation between an individual’s emergency escape capability and the degree of familiarity with the Zijing Mountain subway station (p &lt, 0.01). The findings provide references and suggestions on the emergency management and emergency evacuation for government and subway departments.

Virtual training of metro fire evacuation definitely becomes considerably more efficient and convenient immigration of trainees from the PC desktop to mobile web browsers. However, web browsers face extreme difficulty in sustaining online visualization of large-scale building information modeling (BIM) data on metro, FDS smoking data, crowding passengers, and planning of fire evacuation path simultaneously due to the weak rendering capability and limited networking bandwidth. Herein, a novel lightweight Web3D technology roadmap is proposed to address these problems. First, the lightweight preprocessing of metro BIM data is performed by semantic and geometric retrieval of repetitive entities. Second, crowding passengers are visualized online by reusing several avatars and behavior randomly in terms of textures and scales in a lightweight manner. Third, substantial smoking data are reduced by redundancy elimination and voxel normalization and rendered online with spirit texture particle. Finally, the backbone escape paths are extracted by clustering the virtual evacuation traces that are collected by virtual reality devices, such as HTC VIVE, as initial heuristics, and a lightweight metro fire evacuation planning evacuation based on adaptive ant colony optimization is realized on mobile web browsers. Numerous tests have been conducted online, and experimental results show that the proposed method can be loaded remotely in a few seconds and visualized on mobile web browsers smoothly.

Wearable electronics appear more frequently in the personal protective equipment market (PPE) primarily to assure information and alarm functions for the user. However, despite their advantages, there remain doubts concerning the level of protection that these devices can guarantee and their conformity to requirements laid down in PPE legislation. This paper investigates the factors that need to be assessed to confirm that such devices function correctly under anticipated use conditions. To this end, we considered a case study of an air-purifying fire escape respirator (APER) integrated with a radio-based positioning system and alarming device. In particular, we examined the parameters associated with the operation of the alarm and the information functions (the visibility and audibility of the alarm signals and the radio signal strength of the positioning system). This study provides evidence that the anticipated use conditions and the APER construction have a combined effect on the correct functioning of the embedded electronics. Based on these findings, we identified additional requirements that should be considered by PPE manufacturers at the design stage as well as by health and safety practitioners when evaluating the protection levels of PPE with embedded electronics.

The complicated interior structure of the high-rise buildings brings great difficulties for fire escape routes planning. Existing two-dimensional (2D) emergency evacuation models are utilized to solve the problem of guidance and rescue for fire responders. However, these models are faced with a bottleneck of low security due to limited environmental information and no consideration of trapped personnel behavior features. In this paper, we propose DERP, a dynamic escape route planning method that achieves accurate disaster site avoidance and safety route planning considering fire situation awareness in a smart building. DERP is enabled by two novel designs. First, a three-dimensional (3D) fire information model is constructed by cellular automata considering the overall situation of indoor 3D topological structure, fire situation and crowd distribution. Second, a multiple constraints 3D indoor emergency escape route planning algorithm is designed based on a 3D path safety function. The experimental results show that DERP can plan and adjust the escape route timely and dynamically, thus increasing the escape probability of the trapped people.

This paper proposes a simulation experiment teaching framework for airport fire escape based on virtual reality and artificial intelligence (AI) technology. It uses virtual reality technology and fire science theory to realize the construction of virtual fire scene and management of firefighting facilities, simulates fire dynamics with the help of fire dynamics simulator, and finally evaluates the quality of fire escape based on AI technology. Two example cases demonstrate that the system works well and has promising to become a new teaching mode for fire drill in civil aviation airports.

Timber construction and fire safety are two terms which often lead to discussions, especially if it concerns multi-storey timber buildings. The scientific investigations presented here demonstrate the extent to which the use of a timber facade provides sufficient fire safety for people and the environment. Research work on prefabricated timber frame facade systems is carried out at the Department of Timber Construction at University of Innsbruck. The investigations are performed in three steps. Step 1: Typical fire exposure of buildings, building classes, requirements of high-rise buildings (>22 m fire escape level) and the properties of the materials in question are investigated. Special attention is given to the use of sustainable and ecological materials. Step 2: Performing reaction to fire tests and fire resistance tests with various materials and constructions which are included in classification reports. For this facade system also a connector system and a specific joint design for easy mounting was developed in a PhD thesis. Step 3: This facade element is tested for its suitability for its use in high-rise buildings. In fire tests is shown that the wooden substructure in the facade does not contribute the fire during a certain time. So the ban of inflammable materials in high-rise buildings could be mitigated. The scientific results show that the use of timber in prefabricated facade elements can meet the required criteria.

Eye tracking technology can help to explore user psychology and is widely used in design evaluation, user gaze and behavior analysis. In this paper, we propose a new method to analyze indoor fire escape behavior using head-mounted virtual environment combined with eye tracking. The eyeball tracking module is installed in HTC Vive VR helmet glasses by building indoor fire scene. We collect the three-dimensional position, movement and gaze information of eyes and head simultaneously in the virtual environment. The spatial cognitive process of participants escaping from fire emergency scene is analyzed by the combination of scene walkthrough location information and eye movement information. In order to verify the applicability of the method, we conducted an experiment to collect the movement information of 20 participants. The results show that our method can create qualitative attention maps and quantitative eye movement information, and provide technical support for the evaluation of indoor escape identification system.

The preparation and practice of home-escape plans are important strategies for individuals and families seeking to reduce and/or prevent fire-related injury or death. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of and factors associated with, home-escape plans in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The study used data from two surveys&mdash, a 2016 fire safety attitudes and behaviour survey administered to high-risk individuals (n = 296) and a 2013 NSW health survey covering 13,027 adults aged 16 years and above. It applied multinomial logistic regression analyses to these data to identify factors associated with having a written home-fire escape plan, having an unwritten home-fire escape plan and not having any home-fire escape plan. The prevalence of written home-escape plans was only 4.3% (95% CI: 2.5, 7.5) for the high-risk individuals and 7.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.3, 8.6) for the entire NSW population. The prevalence of unwritten escape plans was 44.6% (95% CI: 38.8, 50.5) for the high-risk individuals and 26.2% (95% CI: 25.1, 27.2) for the NSW population. The prevalence of no-escape plan at all was 51.1% (95% CI: 45.2, 56.9) for the high-risk individuals and 65.9% (95% CI: 64.8, 67.1) for the NSW population. After adjusting for other covariates, the following factors were found to be significantly associated with unwritten-escape plan and no-escape plan prevalence: speaking only the English language at home, practicing home-fire escape plans infrequently, being married, being female and testing smoke alarms less often. Future fire interventions should target people who speak only English at home and people who test their smoke alarms infrequently. These interventions should be accompanied by research aimed at reversing the trend toward use of more flammable materials in homes.

In view of the needs of personnel behavior research in fire scenarios, a virtual experimental platform is set up to conduct research on personnel behavior in fire sites. The fire scenario is divided into two aspects: static and dynamic. In static aspect, the artistry and repeatability of the building are constructed by modeling software. In the aspect of dynamics, the change of building structure is realized by unity3D software, and the influence of structural change on Wayfinding Behavior is shown. It is intended to pave the way for the experimental platform for the study of personnel behavior in the subsequent fire field.

Purpose: The balcony in the apartment is important space not only as a fire escape but also as a buffer for heat and sound insulation. However, with the legalization of balcony expansion for residential apartments in Korea in 2006, many households have eliminated the balcony space altogether to increase the inner space, often without sufficient consideration for the effects on the indoor environment. This study examined the sound insulation performance of exterior-facing windows in enclosed balconies and the changes in the indoor acoustic environment due to expansion to provide a basis for appropriate balcony expansion. The apartments for the field test were chosen where two balcony types can be compared, and the sound insulation performance for the eighteen balcony windows was measured. The windows installed were typical double window with thickness 16 mm or 22 mm. Measurements of the weighted standard sound pressure level difference showed a decrease of about 3 dB in sound insulation performance due to expansion. For common exterior noise levels of 70-85 dB(A), the indoor noise level can exceed 45 dB(A), the limit level regulated in Korea. However, it was found that the sound insulation performance of the window and the quality of the construction have more influence on indoor noise levels than balcony expansion itself.

People’s behavior in the fire circumstances of the high-rise building is a typical study instance of environmental stresses. We replicated this scene in our virtual environment using Unity 3D. The technology creates a virtual environment by combining 3D modeling technology, computer graphics, wide-angle stereo display and a series of hardware and software technologies. The project built a high-rise building fire escape system which providing a highly immersive virtual environment and giving participants a more realistic experience. Virtual reality was used to simulate the fire scene, and data of how people reacted was collected to analyze the credibility and effectiveness of virtual environment on studying environmental stresses.

Background Smoke alarms have been demonstrated to reduce the risk of death in fire. It is recommend that families develop and practice fire escape plans. This study aims to utilise a smartphone app, Safety In Seconds, to deliver a theory-based tailored education to improve fire safety practices of parents in Little Rock, Arkansas and Baltimore, Maryland Methods Parents of children aged 4–7 visiting the paediatric emergency room in the two participating sites (regardless of the reason for the visit) were recruited. With assistance from a research assistant study participants downloaded the Safety In Seconds app onto their smartphone and were randomised to the intervention (fire safety) or control (car seat) group. Both groups completed a 10 min assessment about their safety knowledge and behaviours and received tailored feedback relevant to their study group. The app contained a portal with educational links and sent monthly push notification reminders for parents to interact with the app. Parents completed follow-up assessments at 3 months and 6 months. Results A total of n=1129 parents were enrolled, and 742 (66%) completed the 6 month follow-up survey. At follow-up relative to the CG, parents in the IG were more likely to report having long-life lithium battery smoke alarms (22% vs 16%; p=0.03) and having practiced a fire escape plan (65% vs. 71%; p=0.08). Conclusions Smartphone applications may be a promising tool to improve home safety behaviours.

In view of the high frequency of the fire happened in city housing, and the situation that it is difficult for people to run out from fire due to the outdatedness of low-rise escape system, low-rise escape system was designed for low-rise resident to escape from fire. Based on the load, the transmission time, temperature, etc, the design of this escape system was accomplished. The main components, layouts and working principles of the system are introduced. Then the fixation plate, the circular guide, the main rivet, etc. are selected or designed based on the knowledge of , structural mechanics and material mechanics and so on. Performance test showed that the load range of the low-rise escape system is about 120-150 kilograms per side, the overall capacity is 300-350 kg, escape speed is about 30 seconds per person, it is resistant to high temperature and tear, and all the parameters meet the expected goals.

The way-finding behaviour and response during a fire emergency in a virtual environment (VE) was experimentally investigated. Forty participants, divided into two groups, were required to find the emergency exit as soon as possible in a virtual hotel building because of a fire escape demand under condition 1 (VE without virtual fire, control group) and condition 2 (VE with virtual fire, treatment group). Compared to the control group, the treatment group induced significantly higher skin conductivity and heart rate, experienced more stress, took longer time to notice the evacuation signs, had quicker visual search and had a longer escape time to find the exit. These results indicated that the treatment condition induced higher physiological and psychological stress, and had influenced the escape behaviour compared to the control group. In practice, fire evacuation education and fire evacuation system design should consider the response characteristics in a fire emergency.

For layout space in the limited land resources and improving the utilization efficiency of urban transportation bridge and traffic conditions, in this paper, according to the request of four lanes of roof, two-way urban light rail traffic in the box, considering the requirements of pipeline layout, water supply and drainage, and fire escape, lighting, ventilated at the same time, based on the existing related specification, give full play to the characteristics of the concrete box girder, preliminarily design out of the single box three rooms inclined web box girder for double-deck traffic of urban bridge, in order to provide the reference design.

Facility Management (FM) is well known for its interdisciplinary knowledge and along with the growing number of green buildings and low-carbon buildings, the FM system become increasingly complex. Many practitioners consider Building Information Modeling (BIM) as the most important technology to bring about improvements. The purpose of this paper is to develop a BIM-enabled FM system which integrates FM, BIM and building management system to improve information sharing and monitoring, FM system control, and equipment management. A case study is implemented to validate the feasibility of the BIM-enabled FM system. Four functionalities are demonstrated in detail: Equipment Information Monitoring (EIM), Dynamic Data Display and Warning (D3W), Energy-Saving Analysis (ESA), and Intelligent Fire Escape Route (IFER). The results show that BIM-enabled FM system facilitates the FM more accurate, timely, safe and efficient.

Objective To explore the knowledge and reported thermal injury prevention practices among parents of children aged 0–4 years in disadvantaged areas. Methods Parents of pre-school children in Children9s Centres in four study areas in England (Nottingham, Newcastle, Norwich and Bristol) were interviewed using a structured schedule. Interviews covered smoke alarms, bedtime routines, fire escape plans, other thermal prevention practices and parental knowledge of first aid. Results Of the 200 respondents, most reported ownership of at least one smoke alarm (n=191, 96%), of which 95% were working. Half reported a fire prevention bedtime routine (n=105, 53%) or fire escape plan (n=81, 42%). Most parents had matches or lighters in the home (n=159, 80%), some stored where children under 5 years of age could reach them (n=30, 19%). There was a high prevalence of irons (n=188, 94%) and hair straighteners (n=140, 70%). A third of both devices were used daily. Just 17 (12%) parents reported leaving hair straighteners, when hot but not in use, in a heatproof bag. Knowledge of correct initial first aid for a small burn was good (n=165, 83%), but parents reported other potentially harmful actions, for example, applying ointment (n=44, 22%). Conclusions Most families report at least one working smoke alarm, but many do not have fire escape plans or fire prevention bedtime routines. A number of reported practices could compromise child safety, such as storage of matches or lighters and leaving hair straighteners to cool unprotected. Reappraisal of health promotion messages, in light of new household consumables, is necessary.

Background Although proven measures for reducing injury due to motor vehicle collision and residential fires exist, the number of families properly and consistently using child passenger restraints and smoke alarms remains low. This paper describes the design of the Safety In Seconds (SIS) 2.0 study, which aims to evaluate the impact of a smartphone app on parents9 use of child restraints and smoke alarms. Methods SIS is a multisite randomised controlled trial. Participants are parents of children aged 4–7 years who are visiting the Pediatric Emergency Department or Pediatric Trauma Service. Parents are randomised to receive tailored education about child passenger safety or about fire safety via the SIS smartphone app. A baseline and two follow-up surveys at 3 months and 6 months are conducted. Primary outcomes are: (1) having the correct child restraint for the child9s age and size; (2) restraining the child in the back seat of the car; (3) buckling the child up for every ride; (4) having the restraint inspected by a child passenger safety technician; (5) having a working smoke alarm on every level of the home; (6) having hard-wired or lithium battery smoke alarms; (7) having and (8) practising a fire escape plan. Discussion Finding ways to communicate with parents about child passenger and fire safety continues to be a research priority. This study will contribute to the evidence about how to promote benefits of proper and consistent child restraint and smoke alarm use. Trial registration number NCT02345941; Pre-results.

Currently, elevators are not considered as a proper means of escape in fires and people have been educated and trained to use staircases for fire escape. However, it is difficult for all the occupants to evacuate only by staircases timely and safely in super high-rise buildings, especially for the old and disabled. Considering the fact that super high-rise buildings are constructed in increasing numbers in many Asian cities, it becomes much more necessary to reconsider the use of elevators for emergency escape. Besides a mechanically safe elevator system, people’s cooperation is of critical importance to assure an efficient egress process. To explore people’s attitude to the use of elevators for fire escape in high-rise buildings and the diversity based on demographics, a study was conducted via face-to-face interviews in two different cities of China. Respondents’ demographics and their responses to hypothetical fire scenarios were collected via a set of structured questions. The results showed that most people would consider using elevators for fire escape in super high-rise buildings. The main influencing factors of their attitude were firemen’s instruction and the height of their location in the building. Statistical diversity was found based on demographics. These results indicated that people’s attitude to elevator evacuation was positive and further study should be very important.

Problem statement: The aim of this research is to investigate the fire evacuation problem from the student dormitory by using the Numerical method. The Fire Dynamics Simulator Software was used in the research with the evacuation function (FDS + Evac.). The problem under investigation concerns the building that has the open-air centre. The characteristics of the building are included with 5 floors, 2 open-air fire escape stairs located at 2 sides of the building. In addition, there is a single exit to the outside of the building and the sprinkler system is not installed inside the building. Approach: The simulation was designed to study the problem that has a source of fire occurring at the room closed to the open-air stair. The stairs will be severely affected by the smoke. The experimentation's are composed of 4 cases, which are (1) the first case assumes the true size of the door is 1 m (2) the second case assumes the true size of the door is 1 m and the smoke barrier is installed at the beam located before the stair entrance (3) the third case assumes the true size of the door is 2 m and (4) the fourth case assumes the true size of the door is 2 m and the smoke barrier is installed. Results: The results are shown that the escape time from the building with the 1 m door is 465 sec and the 2 m door is 265 sec. The time differentiation between the 1 m door and the 2 m door is 200 sec. The reason is the waiting occurred at the entrance if the smoke barrier is not installed. In this case, the smoke in the stairs without a smoke barrier installation has more than the smoke in case if the smoke barrier is installed. However, this research collected the data of the gas volume and found that the gas volume is not yet harmful to human life but the gas can be an obstacle to evacuation in the building that has an open-air centre. Conclusion: For safety reasons, the building’s user should improve the door size and install the smoke barrier at 2 sides of the stairs for all floors to increase the evacuation ability.

Increased scrutiny of federally funded programs combined with changes in fire management reflects a demand for new fire program analysis tools. We formulated an integer linear programming (ILP) model for initial attack resource allocation that operates in a performance-based, cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) environment. The model optimizes the deployment of initial attack resources for a user-defined set of fires that a manager would like to be prepared for across alternative budget levels. The model also incorporates fire spread, multiple ignitions, simultaneous ignitions, and monitoring of resources on a landscape. It also evaluates the cost effectiveness of alternate firefighting resources and alternative pre-positioning locations. Fires that escape initial attack are costly during the extended attack phase of fire management. To address this within the scope of initial attack, we constructed and analyzed alternative objective functions that incorporate a proxy for internalizing the cost of fires that escape initial attack. This type of model can provide the basis for a wider scale formulation with the potential to measure an organization's performance and promote a higher level of accountability and efficiency in fire programs. Keywords fire escape, initial attack, integer linear programming, optimal deployment, performance, wildland fire Language: en

In recent years, "high hell" fire events occurred frequently, and there is difficult to find a perfect solution to prevent the burning in buildings from outside to inside. Through a comparative analysis, this article considers that to build an escape tower or an independent high-level bridge can solve this problem in a certain extent. This article also elaborates on the advantages and disadvantages of this design. Hopefully in the future architectural practices there will be more secured high-rise building coming out.

Problem statement: This study investigates the fire evacuation problem of the library building by using the Fire Dynamics Simulator with Evacuation (FDS+Evac.) programming. Approach: The assumption is made that the sprinkler system is installed in the building but the system is malfunction, which is considered as the worst case of the situation. The simulations are divided into 4 cases, which are case 1; the numbers of evacuating persons are 517 persons and the heat release rate is 5 MW, case 2; the numbers of evacuating persons are 517 persons and the heat release rate is 7 MW, case 3; the numbers of evacuating persons are 788 persons and the heat release rate is 5 MW and case 4; the numbers of evacuating persons are 788 persons and the heat release rate is 7 MW. Results: The results are shown that the 1st case and the 2nd case have the evacuation times of 8.63 and 8.81 min, respectively. There is no dead person found from both cases. For the 3rd and the last case, the evacuation times are 18.17 and 18.83 min, respectively. The 3rd case has 1 dead person and the last case has 18 dead persons, respectively. Conclusion: The number of evacuating person and a size of fire have a directly impact on the evacuating person. The reasons are the crowded situation of evacuation and a higher toxicity that is occurred. So, the stairway of the building has to be improved and changed to be the fire escape. This brings to the increasing in the capability of the evacuation.

For the current lack of convenient, reliable and safe lifting of the fire escape equipment, design a device along the rope, using functions with self-locking worm gear structure. Then assess the strength of the contact state and reliability of the structure, use ANSYS to analysis the contact stress and dynamic characteristics. Finally, improve the winch device design to increase the safety factor. The check calculation and experiments showed that the device can be safely hoisting the target.

A differential computer model specifically designed to quantify smoke movement during a fire in a high-rise structure is described. The basic conservation equations are transformed into a computer code which can be used to determine the paths that smoke will take during a fire. The program is a tool for fire protection engineers to design a smoke management plan with the ultimate goal of improving occupant safety in the event of a fire. The computer code is based on a modified and improved differential smoke control model for the conditions in the floor spaces, stairwells and elevator shafts and it considers a complete set of variables that influence the motion of smoke throughout the building. Program output suggests ways to alter the pressure distribution within the building by using air handling equipment, so that occupants will have smoke-free areas on the floors and inside of the fire escape stairwells. Results for several example cases are provided, and the results are used to illustrate how smoke movement can be managed in order to mitigate dangerous conditions within the building.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the uses and exterior design of the balconies in urban housing from the ancient times to the 19th century. In doing so, the paper seeks to investigate the cultural identity of the balcony in urban housing. The results are as follow. First, in the urban housing the balcony space were made for protection from the heat, light and ventilation; gardening; views toward the streets, city, waterside, inner court, domain for men; breathing french air; watching ceremony, festivals and events; simple houseworks like drying, carpet cleaning and hair coloring; lever installation and fire escape. Second, as part of exterior design the typical projecting characteristic of the balconies was emphasized and they became an impotent decorative element. The monotonous facade changed to a lively design with a rhythmical sense. On the facade the effects of horizontal movement, symmetry or asymmetry from the main entrance, and the center-projection (rialto) were created. In the urban housing the balconies were used for cultural activities which supplement and enlarge the function of the interior space, and moreover the rich effects of the facade contributed to the creation of attractive urban landscape.

A study on building occupant characteristics in mass rapid transit (MRT) stations in Singapore is reported in this paper. The characteristics studied include age group and gender distributions, commuters’ response to fire emergency alarms and their awareness of locations of exits, their walking speeds on walkways and stairs. The study took advantage of the fare card system used in Singapore to ascertain the age group spectrum of the commuters. Surveys were conducted among the MRT commuters to establish their intended response to three types of fire alarm systems, namely the fire alarm bell, the live announcement and the pre-recorded message. Commuter walking speeds were measured with the aid of video recording and on-site observation. The distributions of age groups in the MRT commuters were found to be statistically significantly different from that of general public, as there were mainly adults and fewer children and elderly in comparison to the general population. The distributions of gender groups in the MRT commuters were also found to be statistically significantly different from that of general public, as the female/male ratio among the commuters was greater than that in the general population. The survey results indicated that commuters intended more likely to respond to live announcement warning system than to the other two systems. The commuters’ awareness of egress routes was poor. It was also noted that there was no statistically significant difference in the responses by the two gender groups to the three fire alarm warning systems but the study indicated the statistically significant gender difference in the awareness of fire escape routes. A significantly large proportion of commuters was found unaware of or unfamiliar with the current fire escape route provisions in the MRT stations from the survey. The unimpeded walking speed was found to be gender and age dependant and it may not be appropriate to apply one walking speed for all commuters. Weak correlations were found for linear fit of walking speeds over a wide range of pedestrian density on walkways and staircases. Keywords: Commuters; Evacuation

The purpose of this visual inquiry using ethnographic photographic research was to examine fire safety in homes of 42 urban older adults. Photographs were taken to document home fire safety (HFS) practices and grouped according to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Home Safety Checklist categories. Participants had a mean age of 74 years, and were mostly African-American (n=21, 57%), and female (n=32, 78%). Major findings from the photographs demonstrated unsafe electrical, cooking, and heating practices. Other HFS hazards related to installation and maintenance of carbon monoxide (CO) and smoke alarms, smoking safety, and identification and practice of home fire escape plans. The findings will provide future direction for community education and fire prevention advocacy for older adults. Keywords: Home Fire Safety, Older Adults, Visual Inquiry.Seniors in the United States (US) account for approximately 13% of the population, an estimated 40.3 million people; of which nearly 1/3 of non-institutionalized older adults live alone (Leahy et al., 2012; US Department of Commerce, 2011). By 2030, it is expected that seniors will make up roughly 19% of the US population (Leahy et al., 2012; US Department of Commerce, 2011). As many as 85% of older adults, age 65 and older, report having at least one chronic illness (Frosch, Rincon, Ochoa, & Mangione, 2010). Despite this growing demographic, coupled with their healthcare related needs, few studies have been conducted examining fire safety and burn prevention practices among older adults living in the US (e.g., Shields et al., 2013). The majority of fire safety and burn prevention studies have focused on the pediatric population, primarily school-aged children. The few studies that have examined older adults (e.g., Broerse, Zweekhorst, van Rensen, & de Haan, 2009; Taira et al., 2011) have either conducted retrospective studies or focused largely on burn survivors. In this study, we conducted a prospective, ethnographic study examining fire safety practices among older adults.For many years sociologists and anthropologists have been using visual techniques such as photography to examine and understand the social and cultural world around us. Photo-inquiry is a technique in which photographs are systematically presented to participants by the researcher to provide an analysis of a specific area of study. The images in this case documented older adults' home fire safety (HFS) behaviors. The US Fire Administration (USFA) has specific criteria to determine if a home is safe for older adults (US Fire Administration [USFA], ND).Sometimes photographic documentation is elicited from the participant; however, in this ethnographic exemplar we were trying to tell the story in a narrative that introduced a problematic area of safety in older adults living in the community. National and local initiatives are exploring better ways to enable older adults to safely "age in place" avoiding potentially irreversible pain and suffering. Most of those injuries are falls in individuals 65 and older causing further limitations and costly procedures later in life (Frosch, Rincon, Ochoa, & Mangione, 2010). Risk and severity of fire and scald injury increase with age (Peck, 2011). Although the risks for injury and death are well documented (Peck, 2011), little has been done to evaluate the presence of counter measures in the homes of older adults. The goal of this study was to describe, via photographic inquiry, the home fire safety knowledge and behaviors of older urban dwellers.Specific AimsThe primary aim of this project was to describe, using photographs, the HFS hazards found in the homes of urban older adults (over 50 years of age) during a HFS check. Another aim was to take the photographs and analyze them using qualitative research techniques to identify common themes and gain a better understanding of the HFS environment in a group of urban seniors. …

BACKGROUND: Homes in rural areas have a higher fire death rate. Although successful exit from a home fire could greatly reduce fire-related deaths and injuries, little is known about factors associated with behaviors of developing and practicing an escape plan. METHODS: Between July 2003 and June 2004, a baseline survey was administered, in person, to 691 rural households. Information collected included a history of previous home fire, perceived risk of home fire, existing smoke alarms and their working status, and home fire safety practices, as well as home and occupant characteristics. The association of residents' perceived risk of home fire and fire escape plans was assessed. RESULTS: Forty-two percent of rural households reported having a fire escape plan. Of the households with a plan, less than two thirds (56.9%) discussed or practiced the plan. Households with children were more likely to develop and practice a fire escape plan. Households with an elderly or disabled person were less likely to develop or practice the plan. Compared to respondents who perceived low or very low risk of home fire, those who perceived a high or very high risk had 3.5 times greater odds of having a fire escape plan and 5.5 times greater odds of discussion or practicing their plan. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing awareness of the potential risk of home fires may help occupants develop and practice home fire escape plans. In order to reduce fire deaths and injuries, different strategies need to be developed for those households in which the occupants lack the ability to escape.

More needs to be known about the prevalence of risk and protective factors for fires, burns, and carbon monoxide poisoning in U.S. households.A random-digit-dial survey was conducted about home safety with 1003 respondents representing households in the continental United States. Descriptive statistics assess the prevalence of risk and protective factors for fires, burns, and carbon monoxide overall, and by demographic characteristics, household structure, region, and residential tenure. The data were weighted to adjust for nonresponse and to reflect the U.S. population.Although most respondents reported having a smoke alarm (97%), and 80% reported having one on each level of their home,20% reported checking the alarm at least every 3 months. Seventy-one percent reported having a fire extinguisher, 29% had a carbon monoxide detector, and 51% of those living with at least one other person had a fire escape plan. Few could report the temperature of their hot water at the tap (9%), or the setting on the hot water heater (25%). Only 6% had an antiscald device.Results suggest that there is much room for improvement regarding adoption of measures to prevent fires, burns, and carbon monoxide poisoning. Further investigations of the efficacy of carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers, and escape plans, as well as effectiveness studies of fire and burn-prevention efforts are needed.

This study focuses on the life risk investigations in residential building fires. A total of 419 cases in residential building fires during 1998-2000 in some area of Taiwan are examined. Contexts of investigations include possible influencing variables or factors related to the activities of pre-fire as well as during fire and the resulting life casualties. Possible influencing variables or factors are measured by two questionnaires that include both fire departments and the households who owned or lived in the fire-hit residential buildings. The resultant fire life risk (the dependent variable) in this study is a dichotomous variable with two categories, casualties and non-casualties. Factors such as fire-fighting situations, degree of difficulty of fire escape, and disabled people in the building are mostly significant to estimate the life risk. That disabled people exist in the building in case of a fire has the strongest effect on life risk. A statistical interpretation is given of the model-developed estimates in terms of the odds ratio. Given that particular identified characteristics considered in residential buildings exist or not, the changes of the probabilities of causing casualties in case of a fire are predicted. The findings show that logistic regression used in this research provides good meaningful interpretations that can be used for future safety improvements.

Although the likelihood of fire-related death in homes with smoke alarms is about one-half that in homes without alarms, alarm effectiveness is limited by behavior. Only 16% of residents of homes with alarms have developed and practiced plans for escape when the alarm sounds. We reviewed literature to identify behavioral constructs that influence smoke alarm use. We then convened experts in the behavioral aspects of smoke alarms who reviewed the constructs and determined that the appropriate areas for behavioral focus were formulating, practicing, and implementing escape plans should an alarm sound. They subsequently identified important behaviors to be addressed by burn-prevention programs and incorporated the constructs into a behavioral model for use in such programs. Finally, we organized the available literature to support this model and make programmatic recommendations. Many gaps remain in behavioral research to improve fire escape planning and practice. Future research must select the target behavior, apply behavioral theories, and distinguish between initiation and maintenance of behaviors associated with planning, practicing, and implementing home fire escape plans.

Performance-based design on building fire safety provisions as an alternative to prescriptive code design is going to be developed in Hong Kong. But how to do this is not yet clear. In this transition period, alternative approach to design for projects with difficulties in complying with prescriptive codes is allowed. Projects would be considered case by case individually. There are always arguments on the design for means of escape (MoE), as the usable floor area will be affected. In this paper, the prescriptive approach of the MoE code with respect to the local buildings characteristics and occupants characteristics are reviewed. Deficiency and inadequacy of the MoE code, which is not yet updated quick enough for getting an appropriate fire safety solution for some building or occupancy types, are discussed. The possibility of adopting performance-based design approach in this transition period is examined. MoE design in a public transport interchange is taken as an example in this paper. Evacuation for...

The article traces the history of the fire escape - in its classic form, a system of iron balconies and ladders on the outside of a building, which is used for emergency exit - in the United States. It shows how this device was called into being by state and city laws in the latter half of the nineteenth century and how, when its drawbacks as a means of egress from large buildings became clear to lawmakers and property owners, was abandoned and replaced with another system: protected, interior stairs. The fire escape is an example of a publicly-constructed technology, in that its existence, development, and demise were controlled by local government rather than the market.

Currently, limited research on large-fire suppression effectiveness suggests fire managers may over-allocate resources relative to values to be protected. Coupled with observations that weather may be more important than resource abundance to achieve control objectives, resource use may be driven more by risk aversion than efficiency. To explore this potential, we investigated observed percentage of perimeter contained and self-reported containment values, the exposure index, and patterns of resource use during the containment and control phases of fire response. Fireline production capacity of responding resources typically exceeds final fire perimeter, often by an order of magnitude or more. Additionally, on average, 21% of total incident resource productive capacity was observed on the fire during the control phase, that is, after the fires cease to grow. Our results suggest self-reported percentage containment significantly underestimates actual percentage of perimeter contained throughout an incident, with reported values averaging only 70% contained at actual fire cessation. Combined, these results suggest a fire manager’s risk perception influences resource use and may unnecessarily expose responders to fireline hazards. These results suggest a considerable opportunity to improve large-fire management efficiency by balancing the likelihood and consequences of fire escape against the opportunity cost of resource use.

The paper presents a novel framework for 3D autonomous navigation for tracked vehicles. The framework takes care of clustering and segmentation of point clouds, traversability analysis, autonomous 3D path planning, motion planning and flippers control. Results illustrated in an exper- iment section show that the framework is promising to face harsh terrains. Robot performance is proved in three main experiments taken in a training rescue area, on fire escape stairs and in a non-planar testing environment, built ad-hoc to prove 3D path planning functionalities. Performance tests are also presented.

"Fishing for Burn Prevention" is an interactive educational burn and fire safety program designed to stimulate family involvement at health fairs, and it provides an alternative to handing out safety information. The program attracts preschoolers through preteens and is staffed by burn center personnel. The design consists of a small pool, a wooden fishing rod, several cutout fish, and hook-and-loop fasteners. Words that will stimulate interaction between the presenter and the participant are written on the fish; these can include "smoke detector," "cool the burn," "fire escape plan," "matches," "grease fire," and "120 degrees F." Providing an interactive, hands-on activity at health fairs can increase burn and fire safety awareness for the entire family.

Forty-eight workers who had escaped large underground coal-mine fires were interviewed using an open-ended protocol. This information, and the actual experiences of one eight-person mine-section crew who escaped from a fire, were used to construct an 18-frame (page) table-top simulation exercise, which was then field tested with 134 miners. The exercise is a research tool that measures miners' proficiency in the information-gathering and decision-making skills related to escaping from a mine fire. It also helps miners to learn and practice these cognitive skills. The exercise was found to be valid and reliable. All miners reported that the exercise was authentic and would help them to remember important information. The exercise total score, and all but two item scores, significantly discriminated among miners with different levels of training. The two items that did not discriminate dealt with whether or not to abandon a helpless fellow miner. When the exercise total score data were pooled, only 13.6% of the miners achieved a desirable score of 90% mastery or greater. The simulation is important because it teaches and assesses critical judgment and decision-making skills that are rarely addressed in miner training.

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of a community based fire prevention intervention directed only to parents on the fire safety knowledge and behavior in elementary school children. This was a prospective, quasi-randomized controlled study in which third and fourth grade students from two elementary schools in an urban, poor, minority community completed knowledge/behavior surveys at baseline and following completion of the intervention. The intervention group received an in-home visit from fire department personnel who installed free lithium smoke detectors and provided a fire escape plan. After accounting for a small difference in baseline summary scores of knowledge and behavior between the control and intervention groups, this study found a modest improvement in fire safety behavior among children whose families received a fire prevention intervention reflecting a change in household fire safety practices. However, there was no significant change in fire safety knowledge.

With the rapid development of space technology, space remote sensing activities get a full extension and application. Remote sensing information has become an essential part of geographic information data source. As a very important kind of geographic information in remote sensing information, road information has a wide range of applications in the field of traffic navigation, urban planning, and military reconnaissance. To acquire road information accurately and rapidly is the only way to meet the needs of practical application. But due to the high complexity of remote sensing information of the road, and the modern computer automation has not yet reached the level of the corresponding demand, so far there is still not a mature and reliable automatic road extraction method, so the automatic road extraction technology has become a research hotspot in remote sensing information processing. This paper presents an automatic algorithm based on fuzzy connectedness which can extract road information from the remote sensing images. The algorithm detects the edge of the image with Canny operator and connected domain elimination. Then extend the road with the fuzzy connectedness to form a road image. After using fuzzy connectedness expansion algorithm, the automatic identification of the road can be achieved. In many trials of treating remote sensing images as objects, the performance of this extraction algorithm has high accuracy and greater versatility. The results of the experiment are in line with basic human identification results. Road information is critical to the public when disaster comes, having a full knowledge of the road information may help reducing the casualties. As a result, road extraction is vital to the safety of our citizens as well as our government's emergency warning, preparedness and planning. Road extraction has great significance in the earthquake relief and forest fire escape, thus plays an important role in emergency rescue and relief work.

It discusses the status quo of escape system under the trend of the increasingly high building fire nowadays, and researches its feasibility and operation advantages and disadvantages with TRIZ theory. It makes relevant investigation and research in combination with a part of urban high buildings and the latest escape facilities. Besides, it makes certain preconceptions and prospects on the development of the future high building fire escape system.

To fetch up the deficiency of fire escape education and exercise in our country, a virtual simulation system of fire escape was designed and implemented in this study. From the practical application, according to the characters of the constructed virtual environment, use modeling technology based on graphics and image to make up a approximately real fire scene. The simulation results showed that the system has more interactivity, and its ability to participate in experience makes the simulation training system become an innovative disaster prevention and relief methods.

I was recently sent a PhD thesis to mark. As well as the smartly bound thesis, the parcel included an eight page glossy leaflet entitled “Safety—everyone's responsibility.” On my forthcoming visit to viva the candidate, I was informed, I should take reasonable measures to stay out of danger and not to harm others. I should place my used batteries only in bins labelled “toxic waste” and avoid blocking fire escape routes. On the basis of my …

The United States leads all nations in the incidence of deaths due to fire. In the past two decades significant technologic advances have resulted in the development of inexpensive and reliable smoke detectors. These detectors can provide early warning to allow sleeping residents easy exit when a fire occurs in the home. Currently, there are three major types of early warning devices: heat detectors, photoelectric smoke detectors, and ionization smoke detectors. Heat detectors sound an alarm in response to rapid increases in temperature and/ or ambient temperatures above 135 F. Photoelectric smoke detectors are particularly effective for smoldering fires, because they are less influenced by the smaller particles of combustion emitted during household cooking or from automobile exhaust than are ionization smoke detectors. The ionization smoke detectors respond more quickly than photoelectric smoke detectors to fast burning fires and have been proved effective in sounding an early alarm in the vast majority of home fires. For best all-around fire protection, a home should have more than one type of detector. Detectors should be located on the ceiling or high on the ceiling of every level of the house close to each bedroom. Properly installed and maintained smoke detectors can reduce the tragic consequences of home fires, but even greater gains can be made by combining these early warning systems with a reduction in home fire hazards and in practicing a well planned fire escape route.

Many causes for the increased cost of living have been assigned. No doubt many have combined to produce the result which we are considering today. Perhaps sufficient attention has not been paid to one of these, that is, the increased cost of production. I had the good fortune once to examine Mr. Thomas A. Edison as an expert in a case relating to the ownership of his quadruplex patents. In the course of his testimony he uttered this profound truth: "The simplest things are always the best and the last to be found out." As I have studied the increase in the cost of living it seems to me that this statement of Mr. Edison's is most applicable. The simple explanation of the increased cost of living is that the cost of production has increased. Let me call your attention to two subjects in which this is particularly true: the increase in house rent and in the price of meat. First, in the matter of rent, let us deal especially with the rent of apartments in tenements in the cities. In 1860, a workingman could get as comfortable rooms in New York City for $8 a month as he now can for $16. The reason for this is mainly that the cost of building has greatly increased. This increase in the cost of building is due to two causes: The increased governmental requirements in reference to the character of the buildings. Take for example the tenement house act of the state of New York which became a law April 12, 1901. The second chapter of this relates to protection from fire. Every tenement house is required to have a fireproof fire escape. In the construction of five story tenement houses the first floor above the cellar must be constructed fireproof with iron or steel beams and fireproof flooring. Many other requirements provide for the safety of the occupants