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Fire disasters in tall buildings can cause considerable damage to property, injuries to people and death. An effective way to reduce injuries or death during a fire is to improve human evacuation behavior. Many studies have demonstrated that behavioral skills training can effectively help people of different ages to acquire safety skills for emergencies. Based on virtual reality (VR), serious games (SGs) and behavioral skills training (BST), this study proposes a theoretical model of "VR-SG-BST" as a fire safety training method. Older adults in care facilities were selected to evaluate the proposed model because their lack of knowledge on fire safety and the associated potential health problems increase the likelihood that they will become victims of a fire. It is expected that engagement and immersion in the SG can improve the elderly's learning performance of fire evacuation skills and enhance their interest and sense of fun experienced during fire safety training. The SG could effectively improve the skills of evacuation in an emergency. Hence, this study involved two parallel investigations: 1) comparing fire safety behavior of the elderly between an experimental and a control group, and 2) determining the effects of BST for fire safety by comparing only the experimental group in pre- and post-BST phases. The study adopts in situ training (IST) to evaluate the acquisition of knowledge and skills during the experimental stage. It is concluded that the proposed VR-SG-BST model has potential to serve as an alternate approach to improve the elderly's behavioral skills during a fire. Moreover, previous computer game experience enhances the elderly's learning performance and fire safety behavior. The outcomes of the study provide suggestions and guidelines for VR-SG design in the practice of BST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic assessment of highly incinerated and/or degraded human skeletal material is a persistent challenge in forensic DNA analysis, including identifying victims of mass disasters. Few studies have investigated the impact of thermal degradation on whole‐genome single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) quality and quantity using next‐generation sequencing (NGS). We present whole‐genome SNP data obtained from the bones and teeth of 27 fire victims using two DNA extraction techniques. Extracts were converted to double‐stranded DNA libraries then enriched for whole‐genome SNPs using unpublished biotinylated RNA baits and sequenced on an Illumina NextSeq 550 platform. Raw reads were processed using the EAGER (Efficient Ancient Genome Reconstruction) pipeline, and the SNPs filtered and called using FreeBayes and GATK (v. 3.8). Mixed‐effects modeling of the data suggest that SNP variability and preservation is predominantly determined by skeletal element and burn category, and not by extraction type. Whole‐genome SNP data suggest that selecting long bones, hand and foot bones, and teeth subjected to temperatures <350°C are the most likely sources for higher genomic DNA yields. Furthermore, we observed an inverse correlation between the number of captured SNPs and the extent to which samples were burned, as well as a significant decrease in the total number of SNPs measured for samples subjected to temperatures >350°C. Our data complement previous analyses of burned human remains that compare extraction methods for downstream forensic applications and support the idea of adopting a modified Dabney extraction technique when traditional forensic methods fail to produce DNA yields sufficient for genetic identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent stabilization work at the Ludlow Massacre Site National Historic Landmark revealed new insights into memorialization activities over time. The site commemorates a battle between striking miners and the Colorado National Guard which culminated in the destruction of a striking miners 'tent colony by fire causing the deaths of two women and eleven children in a cellar. The United Mine Workers of America erected a monument and preserved that cellar in cement sometime after 1918. Unexpected finds encountered during preservation work on the cellar raise issues related to collective memory, memorialization, and scale. These finds offer new understandings of changes made at the site by the strikers and the UMWA since the massacre in 1914. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Wildland Fire Science is the property of Journal of Wildland Fire Science Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background. Homicide by burning is rare, involving victims exposed to direct flames, often with accelerants. This demonstrates excessive force by the assaulter. A thorough investigation is vital as fire can conceal pathological findings. This study presents two emblematic cases of intentional burning. Case report. Two cases of homicide by fire are detailed. The first involves a male found dead in a fire-damaged apartment, doused with flammable liquid and set on fire by his partner. The autopsy showed heat hematoma and soot in the trachea and large bronchi. The second case involves a female set on fire with gasoline by an acquaintance, sustaining burns over 90% of her body and dying from hypovolemic shock. The autopsy revealed effusions in pleural and peritoneal cavities and a hyperaemic trachea. Conclusions. Intentional burnings are sporadic and difficult to classify without testimonial evidence. The difference between homicide and accidental burns relies on circumstantial evidence and antemortem injuries. Vital reactions to thermal lesions include red-base blisters, dilated capillaries, leukocyte infiltration, coagulative necrosis, heat hematoma, and soot in the airways. High carboxyhemoglobin levels indicate vitality. The first case showed heat hematoma and tracheal soot, while the second exhibited severe burns leading to hypovolemic shock. Testimonial evidence and crime scene examination were crucial in determining the homicidal nature. Forensic investigation of charred corpses requires a comprehensive evaluation of all available data. Crime scene analysis, combined with autopsy, toxicological tests, and post-mortem CT scans, helps establish the cause of death and differentiate between ante- and postmortem injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Every year, people in Canada are evacuated due to wildland fires to avoid death, injury, and illness from fire and smoke events. Aims: In this paper, we provide an overview of evacuations recorded in the Canadian Wildland Fire Evacuation Database between 1980 and 2021. Methods: Our analysis covers evacuations in Canada from 1980 to 2021. We provide summary statistics including number of evacuations and evacuees, evacuation duration, seasonality, evacuation causes, community types, structure losses, and fatalities. We also investigate temporal and spatial patterns. Key results: Between 1980 and 2021, there were 1393 wildland fire evacuation events with 576,747 people evacuated. During this period, there was an overall increase in frequency of evacuations, number of evacuees, and duration of events. Structure loss occurred during 194 evacuation events, with 4105 homes burned. We estimate wildland fire evacuations cost at least CAD3.7 billion (excluding structural losses), jumping to CAD4.6 billion if we include productivity losses. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately impacted in wildfire evacuations compared to the general Canadian population. Conclusions: Wildland fire evacuations continue to occur across Canada and are increasing. Implications: The findings from this study give us a better understanding of the characteristics of wildland fire evacuations, which can help guide emergency management. This paper summarises data on wildland fire evacuations in Canada between 1980 and 2021. There were 1393 wildland fire evacuation events with 576,747 people evacuated, costing approximately CAD4.6 billion CDN including productivity losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China, one of the most populous countries in the world, has suffered the highest number of natural disaster-related deaths from fire. On local scales, the main causes of urban fires are anthropogenic in nature. Yet, on regional to national scales, little is known about the indicators of large-scale co-varying urban fire activity in China. Here, we present the China Fire History Atlas (CFHA), which is based on 19   947 documentary records and represents fires in urban areas of China over the twentieth century (1901–1994). We found that temperature variability is a key indicator of urban fire activity in China, with warmer temperatures being correlated with more urban fires, and that this fire–temperature relationship is seasonally and regionally explicit. In the early twentieth century, however, the fire–temperature relationship was overruled by war-related fires in large urban areas. We further used the fire–temperature relationship and multiple emissions scenarios to project fire activity across China into the twenty-first century. Our projections show a distinct increase in future urban fire activity and fire-related economic loss. Our findings provide insights into fire–climate relationships in China for densely-populated areas and on policy-relevant time scales and they contribute spatial coverage to efforts to improve global fire models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, fire-related deaths are common, particularly within dense informal housing settlements. Published data on deaths from fire incidents in Cape Town is sparse. Additionally, little emphasis has been placed on the role of toxicological investigations in these deaths, despite the known risk of alcohol and drug impairment to burn injury. A retrospective, descriptive analysis of post-mortem case reports from Salt River Mortuary was conducted to investigate all deaths in which fires were involved in the west metropole of Cape Town, between 2006 to 2018. Demographic, circumstantial, and toxicological data were analyzed using R software. In total 1370 fire deaths occurred over 13 years, with a mean of 106 (SD ± 18) cases per annum (≈3% of the annual caseload and a mortality rate of 5.5 per 100,000). Males (70.4%), adults (mean=30.7 years), and toddlers (1–4 years old) were notably at risk. Deaths typically occurred in the early morning (00h00 – 06h00) (45.7%), during winter (32.1%), and in lower socioeconomic areas with highly dense informal settlements (65.6%), with 29% of deaths occurring in multi-fatality incidents. Ethanol was detected (≥0.01 g/100 mL) in 55.1% of cases submitted for analysis (71.5%), with a mean of 0.18 g/100 mL, and with 93.8% of positive cases > 0.05 g/100 mL. Carboxyhaemoglobin (COHb) analysis was requested in 76.4% of cases, with 57% of cases having a %COHb of ≥ 20%. Toxicology results (for drugs other than ethanol) from the national laboratory were outstanding in 34.4% of the cases at the conclusion of the study. BAC and %COHb were significantly higher in deaths from burns and smoke inhalation (usually accidents) than deaths from combined trauma and burns (typically homicides). Fire deaths with high COHb levels were more likely to display cherry-red discoloration (OR=3.1) and soot in the airways (OR=2.7) at autopsy. This article provides an updated description of fire deaths in the west metropole of Cape Town. The importance of BAC and COHb testing in these cases was noted, and the authors call for an investigation of the role of drug impairment (specifically frequently misused drugs methamphetamine and methaqualone) as a risk factor in these deaths. Areas of high-density informal settlements, where open flames are used to heat, light, and cook, were noted as high risk. • On average, just over 100 fire deaths occur in the west metropole of Cape Town, annually. • Males, toddlers, and younger adults living in dense informal settlements were at risk. • Ethanol (alcohol) was present in over half of the investigated fatalities. • Accidental residential deaths and homicidal burnings related to community assault remain concerning. • High %COHb deaths were more likely to display cherry-red discoloration and soot in the airways at autopsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper summarizes the structure and water-absorbing mechanism, classification, and preparation method of polymer fire extinguishing gel, and prospects for its application in aerial firefighting, forest ground fire extinguishing, opening of firebreaks, and mitigating human casualties in forest fire extinguishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drier and hotter conditions linked with anthropogenic climate change can increase wildfire frequency and severity, influencing terrestrial and aquatic carbon cycles at broad spatial and temporal scales. The impacts of wildfire are complex and dependent on several factors that may increase terrestrial deposition and the influx of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from plants into nearby aquatic systems, resulting in the darkening of water color. We tested the effects of plant biomass quantity and its interaction with fire (burned vs. unburned plant biomass) on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and degradation (biological vs. photochemical) and DOM composition in 400 L freshwater ponds using a gradient experimental design. DOC concentration increased nonlinearly with plant biomass loading in both treatments, with overall higher concentrations (>56 mg/L) in the unburned treatment shortly after plant addition. We also observed nonlinear trends in fluorescence and UV‐visible absorbance spectroscopic indices as a function of fire treatment and plant biomass, such as greater humification and specific UV absorbance at 254 nm (a proxy for aromatic DOM) over time. DOM humification occurred gradually over time with less humification in the burned treatment compared to the unburned treatment. Both burned and unburned biomass released noncolored, low molecular weight carbon compounds that were rapidly consumed by microbes. DOC decomposition exhibited a unimodal relationship with plant biomass, with microbes contributing more to DOC loss than photodegradation at intermediate biomass levels (100–300 g). Our findings demonstrate that the quantity of plant biomass leads to nonlinear responses in the dynamics and composition of DOM in experimental ponds that are altered by fire, indicating how disturbances interactively affect DOM processing and its role in aquatic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoor sports clubs, gymnasiums, and sports blocks and complexes have the potential for causing significant casualties in the event of a fire. As a result, there is a significant amount of research being done on fire safety. The impact of sales stands on fire safety is a vital aspect that needs to be considered to ensure comprehensive safety measures. This study seeks to assess the effect of sales stands on the time it takes to evacuate indoor sports blocks in the event of a fire. A fire and evacuation simulation programme were utilised to analyse the characteristics of fire and evacuation. The findings indicated that the sales stand had an impact on the time it took for sports athletes and physical workers to complete the evacuation, particularly when the corridor width was wide. However, there was no significant effect observed when the hallway width was narrow. Instead, they expanded the congested area in the hallway, resulting in a longer resolution time. It is evident that sales stand in indoor sports blocks and sports centres or complexes could potentially jeopardise evacuation safety. This study can serve as a basis for implementing safety measures. It examines how obstacles in corridors, such as those found in schools and hotels, impact the evacuation behaviour of individuals. These findings are particularly relevant for indoor sports facilities, which share similar spatial characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-combustion alopecia presents a complex medical challenge with implications spanning dermatological and psychiatric disorders. The use of hair transplantation has proven to be a significant improvement for this condition. However, the current management involves various techniques, each with advantages and disadvantages. Progressive skin expansions, surgical scar reduction, and skin grafts containing hair follicles yield unsatisfactory aesthetic outcomes and have limited applicability as a first-line treatment for fire victims. So far, follicular unit extraction (FUE) has proven to be one of the most versatile procedures in such cases, having the potential to restore a natural anatomical profile closely resembling the pre-traumatic appearance that led to the traumatic alopecia. Additionally, it contributes to the improvement of associated psychiatric comorbidities, facilitating proper social reintegration and enhancing overall quality of life. This report focuses on a case of post-combustion alopecia and severe facial distortion due to third-degree burns resulting in severe psychiatric comorbidities, which benefited from a proper social reintegration and improvement of the quality of life after three consecutive sessions of FUE for scalp and eyebrow hair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Grenfell fire catapulted North Kensington into the spotlight, an area both synonymous with immigration and social policy innovation for over a century. However, it remains under examined how this extraordinary event re‐defined the discursive landscape around British Muslims and how they have been situated in the national landscape. To do this it analyses the twitter activity in the 96 hours after the fire and also the victim profiles published in the Guardian Newspaper. It finds that the narratives that emerge blur British Muslim social boundaries through narratives both around the exceptional and banal narratives which emerged during and after the fire. This constructs British Muslims as both saviours during Grenfell, and also as a super‐diverse population that resists topologizing as pre‐dominantly South Asain. This article also raises broader questions about the not only the role that social media has in the creation of vernacular memory, and also that in this case twitter was importantly not a conduit for the fake news and hate speech created against British Muslims during Grenfell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building fires are one of the most common fire types and tend to cause heavy casualties. During the evacuation, the shortest path makes the escapees leave the accident scene faster. Meanwhile, the safety of escapees in the evacuation process cannot be ignored. Optimal path should both ensure evacuation efficiency and maximize the safety of escapees. A bi-objective path planning model, which considers both path risk and path length, is presented. Path risk is based on five risk factors that are likely to cause casualties in a fire: carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), temperature, visibility, and crowding. The linear weighted sum method is used to convert the risk-objective model and the length-objective model into a dynamic bi-objective path planning model. The Dijkstra algorithm is modified to solve the model. The modified algorithm outperforms the traditional Dijkstra algorithm in terms of both efficiency and adjustment ability. The simulation analysis of a building fire shows that the bi-objective model and algorithm can plan a combined optimal evacuation path for escapees considering risk and path length, which avoids the area with high risk level and optimizes the evacuation path length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fire scene data is imperative in the analysis of injury to the fatal fire victim. • Tongue protrusion is not a sign of vitality during the fire. • Tongue protrusion is potentially higher in fire victims than previously considered. • Post burn cranial damage associated with prior trauma or contact with fire debris. Fire deaths are not unusual in forensic investigative practice but due to the destructive nature of fire they are often very difficult to investigate. With the need to identify the deceased and the events surrounding the manner and cause of death, knowledge of thermally induced alteration to the human body is important. Within the fire investigation community, a number of misconceptions have been present for years regarding the protrusion of the tongue as an indicator of life during the fire, and fractured skulls as the result of brains boiling and skulls exploding. This work presents qualitative analysis on the experimental burning of 42 unembalmed human donated cadavers by the San Luis Obispo Strike Team (SLOFIST) on their annual Forensic Fire Death Investigation Course (FFDIC) between 2017 and 2019. Prior to burning, the position of the tongue within the dental arch was confirmed and sharp, blunt, surgical and gunshot trauma to the cranium documented. Temperature was recorded from ignition through to suppression with thermocouples present both within the scene and the body. Post burn analysis on the position of the tongue, observation of cranial fractures and presence of brain tissue were recorded and analysed in conjunction with thermocouple data, fire scene dynamics and body demographics. The results provide a more comprehensive understanding of the thermal environmental factors involved in producing the phenomena that facilitate these misconceptions, identifying that a more thorough understanding of individual fire scenes and their development is essential when interpreting alteration and injury to the body of the fatal fire victim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to QYResearch, a global market research firm, the global market size of secondary batteries is growing at an average annual rate of 8.1%, but fires and casualties continue to occur due to the lack of quality and reliability of secondary batteries. Therefore, improving the quality of secondary batteries is a major factor in determining a company's competitive advantage. In particular, lead taps, which electrically connect the negative and positive electrodes of secondary batteries, are a key factor in determining the stability of the battery. Currently, the quality inspection of secondary battery lead tab manufacturers mostly consists of visual inspection after vision inspection with a rule-based algorithm, which has limitations on the types of defects that can be detected, and the inspection time is increasing due to overlapping inspections, which is directly related to productivity. Therefore, this study aims to automate the quality inspection of lead tabs of secondary batteries by applying deep-learning-based algorithms to improve inspection accuracy, improve reliability, and improve productivity. We selected the YOLOv5 model, which, among deep-learning algorithms, has a benefit for object detection, and used the YOLOv5_CBAM model, which replaces the bottleneck part in the C3 layer of YOLOv5 with the Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) based on the attention mechanism, to improve the accuracy and speed of the model. As a result of applying the YOLOv5_CBAM model, we found that the parameter was reduced by more than 50% and the performance was improved by 2%. In addition, image processing was applied to help segment the defective area to apply the SPEC value for each defective object after detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the extinction of Southern California's megafauna 13,000 years ago. Topics discussed include the correlation between increased wildfires and megafauna disappearance, the role of human activity, and the relevance of this historical scenario for understanding modern ecosystems and fire-prone regions.

The increasing quantity of air pollutants generated by automobiles can cause significant harm in relatively enclosed indoor environments. Studying the distribution of pollutants under different conditions in underground parking garages is of great significance for improving indoor air quality and reducing casualties in the event of a fire. This article presents a geometric model of an underground parking garage based on PHOENICS modeling. The related results of CO concentration distribution and fire temperature distribution under ventilation and fire conditions are obtained. Based on the CO concentration and velocity distribution as well as the temperature distribution during a fire, reasonable suggestions are proposed to improve indoor air quality and reduce casualty rates in fire incidents. The results show that under ventilation conditions, adjusting the position of the induced ventilation fan can maintain CO concentrations below 30 ppm in partitions one to three and below 37 ppm in partitions four to six. The temperature of smoke gases remained below 50 °C during the evacuation time, and only a small area exhibited CO levels exceeding 2000 ppm. The existing ventilation exhaust system provides effective fire protection, as it minimally affects personnel evacuation due to the relatively lower smoke temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the year 2000, the United States Fire Administration (USFA) has been recording all line‐of‐duty deaths in the fire service. Stress or overexertion caused 1096 out of 2598 total line‐of‐duty deaths in the United States from 2000 to 2021. Those deaths due to stress or overexertion were further classified as myocardial infarction (90%), cerebrovascular accident (6.8%), other (2.6%), and heat exhaustion (0.6%). Environmental heat exposure is a concern in firefighting, as firefighters work in extreme conditions, such as high ambient temperatures, while wearing protective clothing. Heat stress is not only hazardous to the cardiovascular system, but may accentuate muscle fatigue and overexertion. In addition, overexertion itself is related to increased incidence of musculoskeletal injuries, usually to the lower extremities. Further, there is a strong physiological mechanistic link to suggest that the increased occupational heat exposure and thermoregulatory strain firefighters experience may be a stressor that increases the risk of injuries. This commentary hopes to show the need for further research on the effects of occupational exposures and physiological strain in the fire service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of the current state of fire statistics and data collection in Europe and other countries is needed to increase awareness of how fire incidents affect buildings and to support pan-European fire prevention and fire mitigation measures. The terminology and data collected regarding fire incidents in buildings in the EU Member States were mapped to obtain meaningful datasets to determine common terminology, collection methodology, and data interpretation system. An extensive literature review showed that fire data collection systems have been instrumental in informing firefighting strategies, evidence-based planning, prevention, and educational programmes. Differences and similarities between fire data collection systems were also investigated. The amount and quality of the information in fire statistical recording systems appear to be influenced by the complexity and structure with which the data are collected. The analysis also examined the existing fire statistics in the EU Member States and a few other countries. Finally, a detailed investigation of the number of fires, fire deaths, and injuries from 2009 to 2018 in several countries was examined based on data from a report by CTIF. The trends showed differences attributable to the existing fire statistical practices in terms of terminology and data collection, and interpretation. Part II proposes a common terminology for selected fire statistical variables. The results provide relevant information regarding fire safety at the European level and should be used to guide the development of more uniform fire statistics across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Wildland Fire Science is the property of Journal of Wildland Fire Science Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Lithium-ion batteries are commonly used in electric vehicles, mobile phones, and laptops. These batteries demonstrate several advantages, such as environmental friendliness, high energy density, and long life. However, battery overcharging and overdischarging may occur if the batteries are not monitored continuously. Overcharging causes fire and explosion casualties, and overdischarging causes a reduction in the battery capacity and life. In addition, the internal resistance of such batteries varies depending on their external temperature, electrolyte, cathode material, and other factors; the capacity of the batteries decreases with temperature. In this study, we develop a method for estimating the state of charge (SOC) using a neural network model that is best suited to the external temperature of such batteries based on their characteristics. During our simulation, we acquired data at temperatures of 25°C, 30°C, 35°C, and 40°C. Based on the temperature parameters, the voltage, current, and time parameters were obtained, and six cycles of the parameters based on the temperature were used for the experiment. Experimental data to verify the proposed method were obtained through a discharge experiment conducted using a vehicle driving simulator. The experimental data were provided as inputs to three types of neural network models: multilayer neural network (MNN), long short-term memory (LSTM), and gated recurrent unit (GRU). The neural network models were trained and optimized for the specific temperatures measured during the experiment, and the SOC was estimated by selecting the most suitable model for each temperature. The experimental results revealed that the mean absolute errors of the MNN, LSTM, and GRU using the proposed method were 2.17%, 2.19%, and 2.15%, respectively, which are better than those of the conventional method (4.47%, 4.60%, and 4.40%). Finally, SOC estimation based on GRU using the proposed method was found to be 2.15%, which was the most accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing high-quality care services and fire safety for long-term care institutions is an important issue in Taiwan, which became an aging society in 2018. The fire incidents in Taiwan over the years show that nighttime fires in care institutions often cause serious casualties. It is necessary not only to understand the causes of serious nighttime fire incidents that have occurred but also to draw lessons from the fires that have been put out without causing injuries. In this study, the top two serious nighttime fire accidents in long-term care institutions in the past two decades in Taiwan were analyzed based on the publicly official and academic literature utilizing fire protection defense-in-depth strategies. For comparison, two other nighttime fire cases with similar scenarios but no casualties were also analyzed in depth about the cause of no casualties. The buildings of the four nighttime fires were equipped with fire protection equipment in their public areas. The theoretical basis of the research is the fire protection defense-in-depth strategy. In both categories of severe casualties and no severe casualties, one was caused by arson and the other one by an electrical fire, with the ignition point of a fire in the storeroom and the other in the ward. However, the end results were quite different. The analyzed results showed that the severe fires lasted for about an hour, while the fires without casualties were put out within 15 min. A well-constructed second layer of defense measures could effectively contain a fire, and an effective third layer of measures could avoid casualties. The death rate of personnel can be reduced from a dozen to zero, and the burning time is also greatly reduced. The results could be used as a reference for emergency measures in long-term care institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire accidents occur in every part of the world and cause a large number of casualties because of the risks involved in manually extinguishing the fire. In most cases, humans cannot detect and extinguish fire manually. Fire extinguishing robots with sophisticated functionalities are being rapidly developed nowadays, and most of these systems use fire sensors and detectors. However, they lack mechanisms for the early detection of fire, in case of casualties. To detect and prevent such fire accidents in its early stages, a deep learning-based automatic fire extinguishing mechanism was introduced in this work. Fire detection and human presence in fire locations were carried out using convolution neural networks (CNNs), configured to operate on the chosen fire dataset. For fire detection, a custom learning network was formed by tweaking the layer parameters of CNN for detecting fires with better accuracy. For human detection, Alex-net architecture was employed to detect the presence of humans in the fire accident zone. We experimented and analyzed the proposed model using various optimizers, activation functions, and learning rates, based on the accuracy and loss metrics generated for the chosen fire dataset. The best combination of neural network parameters was evaluated from the model configured with an Adam optimizer and softmax activation, driven with a learning rate of 0.001, providing better accuracy for the learning model. Finally, the experiments were tested using a mobile robotic system by configuring them in automatic and wireless control modes. In automatic mode, the robot was made to patrol around and monitor for fire casualties and fire accidents. It automatically extinguished the fire using the learned features triggered through the developed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroxocobalamin administration is not uncommon during the initial medical assistance of fire victims, so it should always be included in the differential diagnosis when evaluating orange-red discoloration with mucosal involvement and chromaturia in this context. Changes in the skin coloration is a common and potentially serious reason for dermatological consultations in hospitalized patients. When evaluating a fire victim developing sudden and asymptomatic orange-red discoloration, one should first investigate the possible administration of hydroxocobalamin as treatment for cyanide poisoning.[1] We present three cases of women in their 80s developing sudden generalized orange-red discoloration. [Extracted from the article]

"The Path of Flames: Understanding and Responding to Fatal Wildfires" is a comprehensive anthology that explores various aspects of large-scale wildfires. The book is divided into five sections, covering topics such as the historical context of wildfires, incident command practices, managing mass fatality events, forensic aspects of recovery and identification of human remains, wildfire investigation techniques, and law enforcement responses. It provides an overview of the challenges and complexities involved in understanding and responding to fatal wildfires, making it a valuable resource for those new to the field as well as experienced professionals. The book also examines the wider societal implications of wildfires, including demographic factors, psychological effects on first responders, and broader social impacts. [Extracted from the article]

Scenario models of a moving subway train can help investigate the influence of different fire locations on smoke propagation characteristics in curved tunnels. To this end, this study adopts the three-dimensional Unsteady Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes equations method and the renormalization group k-ε two-equation turbulence model with buoyancy correction for numerical analysis. The motion of the train is replicated using the slip grid technique. The results indicate that when a fire breaks out on a moving train in tunnels, the piston wind leads the longitudinal movement of the smoke. If a fire erupts in the head or middle car of a moving train, the time of smoke backflow is delayed by 30 s or 17 s, respectively, compared to that for the tail car. The obtained results provide a theoretical basis for reasonably controlling the smoke flow in subway tunnels and reducing casualties in fire accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assassination of British journalist Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, the Brazilian expert on Indigenous peoples, symbolized a shift in the nature of Brazil's international image. During the far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), the Amazon rainforest came to play an increasingly important role in shaping Brazil's international standing in the eyes of the foreign media. This article analyzes international media coverage of Brazil between May and July 2022, the period in which Phillips and Pereira were murdered. It assesses news related to the country published by seven newspapers from different countries and reveals how the murders increased the number of times Brazil was mentioned, while the tone of coverage became more negative. Based on our findings, we argue that the progressive destruction of the Amazon has become a concrete liability to Brazil's international status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential fires are the main source of fire deaths and injuries both in the United States and globally. As such, better fire-resistant building materials are needed to bolster fire protection and to enhance life safety. This is during a time when fewer materials are being used to construct homes. Nanotechnology may be a solution if it can overcome its current barriers to widespread adoption in residential construction, namely economy, sustainability, and safety. This research effort includes a critical examination of the literature from a safety perspective to address fire deaths and prevent personal injuries and illnesses by targeting fortification of residential construction building materials via the use of nanotechnology. The paper reviews nanotechnology for building materials by material type, known toxicity of various nanomaterials used in construction, and a discussion on a way forward through assessing materials by their ability to satisfy the requirements of sustainability, economy, and safety- both as a material designed to reduce fire injury and death and from a toxicological hazard perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fire intelligence is the multidisciplinary basis of reconnaissance, which includes determining the origin, cause, and identification of fire victims. Fire is a destructive force capable of inflicting significant damage. Destruction of soft tissue in fire disasters makes victim identification nearly impossible. Teeth are hard and resilient and withstand such conditions. Analyzing the precise morphological, stereomicroscopic, histological, and gravimetric findings can extract valuable information from dental evidence in forensic investigations. Materials and Methods: Thirty-six mandibular premolar teeth extracted for therapeutic purposes were exposed to high-temperature gradients. Macros copic, stereomicroscopic, histological, and dry weight analyses were performed at each temperature gradient. Results: The colour of teeth changed from yellowish orange to metallic black bronze to chalky white. Stereomicroscopy showed intact teeth at 100°C, gradual micro-cracks at 500°C, and a fully fractured crown at 900°C. Decalcified sections revealed dilatation of dentinal tubular pattern at 300°C. Dentinal tubules showed appearance of vapour bubbles at 400°C, resulting in loss of typical architecture. In the ground sections, alterations in scalloping nature of dentino-enamel junction, coalescing radicular dentinal tubules, and sand cracking appearance of teeth were noted at 100°C, 300°C, and 900°C, respectively. Significant reductions in the weight of the teeth samples were observed with higher temperatures. Conclusion: From the morphological, histological, and gravimetric changes in a tooth caused by fire, it might be possible to determine the temperature and duration of fire exposure, and the cause of the fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban fires are annually responsible for heavy financial, property, business and life loss. The present study attempts to assess from a quantitative and qualitative perspective the direct impact of such incidents in the Greek region. Special focus is given to residential fires, since they comprise 25.6% of the total incidents and they generate most of the fatalities (74.2% of fire deaths), casualties and material losses. Conclusions and results are drawn through temporal and spatial statistical analysis of fire incident records, covering approximately the past two decades (2000–2019) The combination of insured capital and loss in conjunction with the fire incident statistical analysis results, allows calculation of the average losses (12.8% of insured capital) and loss risk per incident (0.0124% of the insured capital) associated with residential fires. Fire related fatalities are also assessed and the fire risk per age group is underlined. Based on Greek demographics, the aging population raises concern in terms of future fire-related deaths increase and the necessity for intensifying relevant Fire Regulations by the national authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber threat targeting ICS (Industrial Control System) has indicated drastic increases over the past decade and Cyber Incident in Critical Infrastructure such as Energy, Gas Terminal and Petrochemical industries can lead to disaster-level accidents including casualties and large-scale fires. In order to effectively respond to cyber attacks targeting ICS, a multi-layered defense-in-depth strategy considering Control System Architecture is necessary. In particular, the centralized security log system integrating OT (Operational Technology) and IT (Information Technology) plays an important role in the ICS incident response plan. The paper suggests the way of implementing centralized security log system that collects security events and logs using OPC Protocol from Level 0 to Level 5 based on IEC62443 Purdue Model to integrate ICS security logs with SIEM (Security Information Event Management) operated in IT environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early fire detection and timely notification are paramount for preventing human and material casualties caused by fire. As a result, scientists have developed various fire monitoring systems based on sensors and images. Image-based systems have proven more advantageous than sensor-based ones as they provide additional details about the fire, such as its location, intensity, and progression. However, accurately determining the shape and boundaries of flames in image-based systems is difficult due to various factors, including backgrounds, different fire sizes, and interference from objects that resemble flames. In this study, we first evaluate convolutional neural networks used in related research and benchmark them on our challenging indoor fire dataset. Secondly, we propose a novel Feature Merging Model (F2M), which combines the output fire segmentation masks of the top five segmentation models obtained through the performed evaluation. The F2M relies on a novel mechanism that introduces bias into the mask estimation and achieves better results than all the tested methods, along with Monte-Carlo dropout for uncertainty estimation. The F2M ensemble-based uncertainty estimation model achieved improvements in comparison to the best performance convolutional neural network U-Net++, on three different image resolutions: 256 × 256, 640 × 640 and 800 × 800, according to the following metrics: Total error, Dice coefficient, and IoU score. [Display omitted] • Benchmark of the state-of-the-art machine learning methods for fire segmentation. • Proposal of demanding indoor fire dataset. • Novel Feature Merging Model (F2M) for assembly creation based on bias imputation. • Uncertainty estimation in fire segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting cyanide compounds in postmortem blood samples is an important matter in forensic science because cyanide is often used as a poison for murder or suicide. However, the direct analysis of cyanide itself has practical limitations because of cyanide's volatility and short half-life at ambient temperature. Here, we focused on the relatively stable cyanide metabolites 2-aminothiazoline-4-carboxylic acid (ATCA) and 2-aminothiazoline-4-oxoaminoethanoic acid (ATOEA) as potential markers of cyanide exposure. We developed an analytical method that uses chemical derivatization of the target compounds with 4-bromoethyl-7-methoxycoumarin followed by liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry. The recovery rates for pretreatment and calibration curve linearities were good in the concentration range of 20–1000 ng/mL. Using our approach, we were able to detect and quantify both ATCA and ATOEA concentrations in postmortem blood samples, and in our samples the ratio of ATCA and ATOEA was in the range of 4.5–19.1. To our knowledge, this is the first time ATOEA has been successfully detected in human blood samples. In addition, we found that ATCA and ATOEA concentrations were both significantly higher in the blood of fire victims than in the blood of individuals with a non-fire-related cause of death. Also, we found that there was a significant positive correlation between ATCA concentrations and ATOEA concentrations. Together, our present data suggested that ATCA and ATOEA are both potential markers of cyanide exposure. • A novel LC/ESI–MS/MS method for simultaneous quantification of ATCA and ATOEA was developed. • This is the first time ATOEA has been successfully detected in human blood samples. • Both ATCA and ATOEA are potential markers of cyanide exposure in human blood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nursing hospitals have a high probability of casualties during a fire disaster because they have many patients with impaired mobility. In this study, fire and egress simulations were conducted to evaluate the egress safety of a typical nursing hospital. The available safe egress time (ASET) of the prototype nursing hospital was calculated using Fire Dynamics Simulator, and the required safe egress time (RSET) was estimated by Pathfinder, reflecting characteristics of the occupants. The egress safety of the nursing hospital was then evaluated by comparing the ASET and RSET, considering the number of egress guides and delay time. According to the simulation results, the RSET increased as the egress delay time increased and the number of egress guides decreased. In addition, it is estimated that at least 20 workers (egress guides) should be on duty in the prototype nursing hospital, even during shiftwork and night duty. Based on the simulation results, egress safety criteria have been proposed in terms of normalized numbers of egress guides and egress delay time. The proposed criteria can be very easily applied to evaluate the egress safety of a typical nursing hospital in operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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An original kinetic spectrophotometric procedure was developed for the determination of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in the whole blood of fire victims. Cyanide poisoning by smoke inhalation is common in forensic medicine, but the blood HCN of fire victims has not been studied in detail so far. In this research project, we developed a simple, fast, sensitive, and selective quantification method for both free and metabolized HCN based on the kinetics of cyanide reaction with ninhydrin. The method was linear in range, from 0.26 to 2.6 μg mL−1, with a coefficient of determination of r = 0.994. A high molar absorptivity of 4.95 × 105 L mol−1 cm−1 was calculated under the reaction conditions. The limit of quantification was 0.052 μg mL−1; the detection limit was 0.012 μg mL−1 and the standard error was ±2.7%. This micro method proved to be accurate, sensitive, and selective and has been successfully applied to the analysis of blood samples, allowing rapid monitoring of blood cyanide in several fire victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study developed a simulation program using standardized patients for the training of mental health practitioners in psychological first aid and evaluated its effect on learners' self-efficacy and psychological first aid performance competence and knowledge. The simulation used in this program was of a fire disaster. Methods: Thirty participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group, a comparison group, and a control group. The experimental group participated in simulation training after attending a two-hour psychological first aid lecture. The comparison group was given only the two-hour lecture and the control group was given a psychological first aid handout to study individually. The results of pre- and post-intervention questionnaires were then statistically analyzed. Results: The participants' self-efficacy, performance competency, and knowledge improved in all groups, and there were some statistically significant differences between the three groups. The experimental group showed a greater improvement in self-efficacy and performance than the other groups. Conclusions: The psychological first aid simulation training program was effective in improving three qualities of mental health practitioners: self-efficacy, performance competency, and knowledge. Further research is required for the development of various learning scenarios for iterative psychological first aid education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and Objectives. Strategic evacuations for medical causes are those that are carried out when the casualty cannot be recovered for the mission and is transported to national territory. The objective of this study is to describe the Spanish casualties strategically evacuated due to cardiovascular causes, as well as to describe the Spanish military personnel who died due to cardiac causes in the area of operations. Material and methods. Retrospective cross-sectional study in which all Spanish military personnel evacuated for medical reasons from the area of operations to the Central Defense Hospital "Gómez Ulla" (Role 4) during the years 2007 and 2020 were included. Results. Thirty-six casualties were evacuated on Spanish Role 4 due to cardiovascular causes, of which 25% were diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, 22,2% with myocardial infarction, 11,1% with acute venous thrombosis, and 5.5% of hypertensive crisis, atrial flutter, and atrioventricular block, respectively. The area of operations from where the most evacuations originated was Afghanistan (31%), followed by Lebanon (28%) and international navigations (14%). A total of 13 Spanish soldiers have died in the area of operations for cardiovascular reasons. Conclusions. Atrial fibrillation and acute coronary syndrome have been the main diagnoses among the casualties evacuated for cardiovascular reasons. The authors consider it essential that the Spanish Armed Forces have a Role 4 - Cardiology department that, in addition to performing care tasks, serves as a unit for medical examination prior deployment and take part into the medical support for international military operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A good and healthy environment is a human and constitutional right for every Indonesian citizen (UUD NRI 1945). However, increasingly complex environmental problems continue to threaten human rights, such as cases of forest and land fires. The community is the most disadvantaged party due to the forest and land fires, ranging from environmental damage, healthy problems, delays in the learning process in schools, and other activities that have an impact on economic losses. In this case, the community cannot apply for restitution. The legal problem is that there is a void in norms governing the restitution process for victims affected by environmental crimes in general, including victims of forest and land fires. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the urgency of regulating legal protection for the victims, so that the position of victims of environmental crimes of forest and land fires is the same as victims of other crimes such as victims of violence, victims of terrorism, and victims of other acts of violence which regulated in Law Number 31 of 2014 concerning Amendments to Law number 13 of 2006 concerning the Protection of Witnesses and Victims. This study aims to examine the urgency of regulating legal protection in the form of restitution for forest and land fires victims. This research is normative legal research. The results of this study conclude that the urgency of regulating legal protection for victims affected by forest and land fires must be carried out. The restitution is given by considering the number of losses suffered by the affected victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on assessing people's awareness of fire safety practice in public hospitals in Malaysia. Raising awareness of fire safety practice is important to avoid delays in the fire evacuation process. Hospital users like patients, visitors, and medical staff should be familiar with the hospital building plan and escape routes, which intend to minimize the risk of casualties in the event of fire. However, poor evacuation design and design information, lack of promotion on the importance of fire safety practice among patients and visitors and poor knowledge on fire safety practicelead to the low level of awareness on fire safety practice. Therefore, there are three purposes of this study; to determine the level of awareness on fire safety practice among hospital users, to identify the significant differenceof level of awareness onfire safety procedure based on the hospital users socio-demographic and to propose improvement strategies in order to increase the level of awareness of hospital users. A total of 285 respondents, including hospital staff, patients and visitors were selected from six hospitals in peninsular Malaysia. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis and One Way Anova using SPSS software version 26. The result showed that, respondents from four hospitalsshow a moderate level of fire safety awareness, while only respondents from two other hospitals show a high level of fire safety awareness. A one-way Anova test did not reveal any significant difference statistically between the level of fire safety awarenessand the socio-demographic background. Based on the finding, several suggestions were recommended in order to raise the awareness on the fire safety practice in public hospitals such as, advocatingmini campaigns on fire safety practice at hospital level thru public outreach campaigns like public talk and fire safety awareness booth, improve fire safety awareness poster designs, conduct fire drill stimulation, create video case regarding the importance of fire safety practice, educational fire safety practices throughbrochures, create effective fire safety advertisement, enhance safety awareness through sign board and much more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The fire risk of dried on residues of emollients on textiles. • The analysis of emollient residues after washing using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. • Further analysis using PCA and a novel Cluster Analysis Network approach. • Potential fire risk of remaining emollient residues after washing. • Additional fire risk of transfer of emollients to clean fabrics within the wash. Since 2010, more than 50 UK fire deaths, have been reported as linked with emollients. This prompted the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to issue advice on their safer use in 2018. The advice was in response to concerns raised by the National Fire Chiefs Council, coroners' reports, and flammability tests. The test results show a significant reduction in ignition time of fabrics contaminated with paraffin-based and paraffin-free skin care product residues. The MHRA report also included advice on washing clothing and bedding at high temperatures but warned this may not remove all emollient residues. This paper reports on new research on the removal of skin care products from clothing investigated by laundering contaminated 100% cotton fabric at 30, 40 and 60 °C using both biological and non-biological based detergents. As part of the experiment, non-contaminated (blank) napkin samples were included in the wash experiments to assess the possible transfer from fabrics contaminated with emollients to uncontaminated clean fabrics during washing. Washed and dried fabrics were analysed using Attenuated Total Reflectance, Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and further interpreted via principal component analysis (PCA) and network analysis. Results suggest that the majority of the 6% white soft paraffin-based lotion and paraffin-free cream were removed at all temperatures. Residues of 21% paraffin-based cream (6% light paraffin/15% white soft paraffin) remain, and more residues persist of the 100% paraffin-based ointment (5% light paraffin/95% white soft paraffin) after washing at 30, 40 and 60 °C. The wash experiments show unequivocal transfer of the 100% ointment from the contaminated napkins to clean control napkins placed within washes at 30 °C. Furthermore, residues of the ointment were observed within the machine drum, and washing machine door seal, though this did not cause secondary transfer to subsequent wash experiments. There were no differences observed when using biological versus non-biological detergents, nor when employing a pre-wash treatment in the removal of residues of the 21% cream and 100% ointment. These results suggest that a single application of an emollient when soaked and dried into a fabric is not removed by a single wash at 30, 40 or 60 °C. Instead, the residue remains a persistent potential fire risk and, its high paraffin content presents an additional fire risk via contamination of other fabrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around 0.2 million people are admitted in hospital due to burns, of which about 5000 people die every year.4 Extent of Total Body Surface Area involved is an important parameter, that affects the prognosis in case of burn injury. The majority of fire related deaths are accidental, usually due to carelessness. Suicidal burns are mostly seen in domestic situations and in females. Homicidal burns are rare; mostly accomplished to take revenge or to conceal crime. So, this study was carried out with the aim to estimate the total body surface area affected & duration of survival / hospital stay and to find out the manner of death in burn cases. It was found that 79.00% cases had burn injuries covering 60-100% of the total body surface area (TBSA). Maximum percentage of burns was seen in females (30.00% cases) with TBSA of 80-90%. 95% cases were hospitalized with 75.00% having the hospitalization period of 1 - 10 days and maximum number of cases (33%) survived for a period of 3 to 5 days. In most of the cases (64.00%), the manner of death was accidental followed by suicidal (34.00%), with only 2% cases of homicidal burns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salman Rushdie's Luka and the Fire of Life and Joseph Anton both reflect on his concerns with death along with an attempt to keep the process of storytelling alive. This article explores Rushdie's addressing of the literal threat of death in the memoir and the metaphorical death of storytelling abilities in the children's fiction. The emphasis of this article is on Rushdie's usage of gaming and virtual reality to retain his authority in the storytelling world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]