No abstract

Response time is an important factor in fire operations. A continuous assessment of response time is crucial in order to monitor firefighters’ performance level. An initial assessment of fire response time was conducted for fire stations in categories A-D throughout Malaysia from 2018 to 2020. The categories were determined based on risk profiling scores. In this study, the mean response time and distance travelled for the selected fire stations were calculated. To measure the fire station’s performance, a 10 min standard response time was used as a benchmark. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also applied to statistically determine any significant differences between mean response time and mean distance travelled. Among the four categories, category C and D fire stations recorded high values for mean distance travelled and mean response time. Category C fire stations recorded the mean response time, at 15.1 min, and distance travelled, 20.1 km. The areas where category D fire stations are located have low population density, resulting in greater coverage for the stations. Most of the fire stations in this category had approximately 13.8 km travel distance with a mean response time of 17.9 min. Category C and D fire stations require a substantial amount of time to reach incident locations due to the low-quality road network and the local topography. A new profiling method for minimizing fire risk based on constant development in these areas might be necessary for future improvement. Additionally, new category C and D fire stations would meet the demands of expanding communities. It is important to note that establishing a demand zone in Malaysia with specific response time could give a better indication of firefighters’ performance in the future.

Smoke fills the car park area due to smoke back layering occurred during a fire. The presence of the beam which leads to the smoke back layering phenomena is investigated to remain smoke layer longer at the upper level with fewer occurrences of backflow. In the current study, a combination of Design of Experiment (DOE); Central Composite Design, (CCD) and statistical tools Response Surface Methodology, (RSM) were utilised to evaluate an optimal design for longer smoke residing time. The Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS), a CFD model for the fire-driven fluid flow, was employed as a flow simulation tool. The result of six replication model produced by DOE, the error that ranged from 0.48% to 1.77% indicating that the model is reliable. It was also found that the polynomial regression result was linear with predicted R2 of 97.64%, which was within the actual R2 (99.45%). The effects of five control parameters such as ceiling height, beam spacing, transversal beam, extraction rate and longitudinal beam on the smoke descend time has been found to be significant. In the optimal design, the smoke remained longer at the upper level with the percentage of improvement 217.95%. The contribution of the study is the time measured in this analysis is adequate within the beam span only. Interestingly, it effects to the overall geometry with having a lengthier time of smoke to descend. The polynomial model should be used for future engineering design in an enclosed car park.

In recent years, it is evident that there is a surge in photovoltaic (PV) systems installations on buildings. It is concerning that PV system related fire incidents have been reported throughout the years. Like any other electrical power system, PV systems pose fire and electrical hazards when at fault. As a consequence, PV fires compromised the safety of emergency responders. Therefore, the objective of this review is to evaluate the elements of firefighters' safety practices and subsequently collate the best safety practices for local fire rescue and firefighters in the event of PV fires. Out of 264 documents, only 20 publications were identified as ‘closely related’ and were systematically reviewed to evaluate firefighter safety practices from a scholarly perspective. Only 3% of the 20 publications reviewed, discussed the safety practices during PV fires. Thirteen safety practice key points were extracted from the reviewed documents, with nine critical findings highlighted as the hallmark of safety practices during PV fire for firefighters. The lack of academic journals discussing the fire safety aspects proves that there is a low interest in this field which is in dire need of further study and exploration to adhere with the PV population in ensuring a reliable emergency operation to minimize losses or injuries due to accidents.

Abstract-When fire occurs, smoke is detrimental to human health and interrupts the evacuation process if it is not controlled properly. Due to the existence of beams in a building, smoke tends to stagnate near the obstacles and recirculates, further delaying the evacuation process. In the current study, Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) is employed as a numerical tool to simulate smoke propagation. The numerical result is then compared with the available experimental data obtained from the literature. It is found that the agreement between the numerical and experimental results is promising. From this study, it is shown that FDS can indeed be used to model the smoke propagation in an enclosed car park; hence, it can be utilised to generate other CFD models related to fire simulation.