Appraisal of fire safety interventions and strategies for informal settlements in South Africa

Abstract

Purpose Informal settlements are inherently unstructured in nature, lack adequate services, regularly have high population densities and can experience social problems. Thus, fires can easily propagate rapidly through such areas, leaving thousands homeless in a single fire. The purpose of this paper is to present an appraisal of various interventions and strategies to improve fire safety in informal settlements in South Africa (globally, similar settlements are known as slums, ghettos, favelas, shantytowns, etc.), considering aspects of both technical suitability and social suitability. Design/methodology/approach This paper focusses on three specific aspects: ignition risk management, active fire protection interventions and passive fire protection interventions. These are presented within a framework to outline how they may mitigate the impact of fires. Findings Often “solutions” proposed to improve fire safety either lack a sound engineering basis, thus becoming technically inefficient, or do not consider social circumstances and community responses in settlements, thereby becoming practically, socially or economically unsuitable. It must be understood that there is no “quick fix” to this significant problem, but rather a combination of interventions can improve fire safety in general. A broad understanding of the various options available is essential when addressing this problem, which this paper seeks to provide. Practical implications This paper seeks to provide an overview to guide policymakers and organisations by illustrating both the advantages/benefits and disadvantages/challenges of the interventions and strategies currently being rolled out, as well as potential alternatives. Originality/value A broad but succinct appraisal is provided that gives insight and direction for improving fire safety in informal settlements. It is hoped that the challenges associated with the fire safety interventions discussed can be addressed and improved over time.

The Effect of Separation Distance Between Informal Dwellings on Fire Spread Rates Based on Experimental Data and Analytical Equations

“…Although numerous fire spread interventions had been proposed over the past decade [4], informal settlement fires still expose the one billion people that reside in these settlements to high risk of extreme losses (i.e., economical losses and death) [5]. Whilst fire related fatalities have decreased in the Global North, they have increased in the Global South [6].…”

Full-Scale Informal Settlement Dwelling Fire Experiments and Development of Numerical Models

“…This work forms part of an overall project to understand fire behaviour in informal settlements. Previous work has focused on results from preliminary single dwellings experiments [5], results from multi-dwelling experiments considering inter-dwelling spread [19], the development of a simplified FDS model to describe the aforementioned multi-dwelling experiment [20], analysis of large-scale spread in a real fire disaster that affected over 2000 homes [11], and the appraisal of fire safety interventions to be used in such settlements [21].…”

Proximal design in South African informal settlements: users as designers and the construction of the built environment and its fire risks

“…Moreover, informal settlement dwellings have windows, doors and other gaps through which flames and radiation can pass, even if the paint does serve some function elsewhere. Current testing is insufficient to allay these fears or to prove whether intumescent paint will prove resilient over time (Walls et al 2019).…”

“…Many of these interventions start from the premise that informal settlement fire can only be eliminated through the provision of safe, accessible and affordable housing but that such housing will not be imminently available. Therefore, they seek to offer short-tomedium term mitigations to tackle fire risk, including education, fire alarms, intumescent paint, new forms of construction material, and the re-blocking of informal settlements (Walls et al 2019).…”