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False alarms are – in terms of fire safety engineering – fire alarms in absence of a real fire condition. They are related to the exchange of information and occur as a side effect of system technologies and the alerting process. Fires often are associated with considerable damages. Because time is a critical factor, detection is often accomplished by installed Fire Detection and Fire Alarm Systems (FDAS). The highly sensitive sensors in fire detectors make the identification of fires in an early stage possible, but this also makes FDAS susceptible to false alarms. So far there is no reliable evidence on the ratio of false alarms to installed FDAS. The studies, which are described in the present paper, close this gap for Germany on the basis of an empirical analysis of data from fire brigades. This meta-analysis show that today the false alarm ratio triggered by installed FDAS (and connected to a fire brigade) is high in Germany. It is difficult to describe the ratio in one single value, because a great number of conditions and influencing factors are relevant. To reduce the false alarm ratio, we need a common understanding of false alarms and a consistent use of terms and categories.

This paper focuses on car park fire safety, more particularly on fire and smoke (and heat) dynamics. The first part deals with the choice of design fire, based on recent full-scale car fire experiments with modern cars and different set-ups. Different aspects of smoke and heat control (SHC) systems are then discussed from the perspective of smoke (and heat) dynamics. The focus is mainly on the effect of horizontal mechanical ventilation, a popular technique, on the smoke and heat generated by the fire source. Some fundamental differences from (longitudinal) mechanical ventilation in tunnels are described. Possible effects of water (sprinklers, water mist or from a fire brigade intervention), as well as some possible routes for further research, are briefly commented.

This study focuses on investigating the affecting factors and constructing an explanatory model for fire losses. The research was carried out using a series of questionnaires and official reports. A total of 918 cases of residential building fires in Taiwan from January 1998 to February 2002 are examined. The contents of the investigations include attributes of occupants and building fire safety, time and spatial attributes of fire occurrence, fire development and egress, fire brigade interventions and the resulting fire losses. Using factor analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis and path analysis, significant factors that have been identified, including degree of fire severity, dispatched fire-fighting forces, control time, degree of difficulty of fire egress, partition structure, time of fire occurrence, accessibility and conditions of fire-fighting and situations of escape routes are conceptualized and examined. The relative weights of importance among these factors on fire losses are analyzed as well. Connecting the identified significant factors by time sequence of fire occurrence and development, an explanatory model is proposed to explain fire loss for residential building.

Incidents in Jordan reported to the Public Fire Brigade during 1996-2004 involving fires are investigated. A detailed analysis of over 60,000 incidents covering all types of fire is presented. Statistical comparisons are made based on the type of accidents and the causes of fires are identified. The results obtained indicated that half of the total number of incidents are wildland and other 20% were residential homes. Children carelessness were identified to be the highest cause of fire incidents.

This article presents a method for calculating probabilities and a suggestion for a functional method to calculate the effect of detectors, sprinklers and fire brigade efforts on a fire. Effects on evacuation of people and on the size of the fire are discussed.

In Sweden a fundamental development has recently taken place in the training of future senior fire brigade officers. There are two main changes: the training period has been substantially increased and the theoretical part upgraded to university curriculum level with final requirements corresponding to a university undergraduate degree. The new educational system reflects the changing and expanding role of fire brigades and the need for a professionally improved leadership. To put the new training system into a proper context, the varied and dissimilar responsibilities of a Swedish fire brigade officer should be touched upon. Four main sectors are identified: business administration, fire prevention, training of employed staff and rescue service operations. The main structure of the training system and the university curriculum are discussed. (Less)

A fire started within a hotel staircase which smoke-logged the stairway. Smoke leaked on to adjoining lobbies which formed part of the escape routes for upper floor guests rendering them useless as a means of escape. Whilst the majority of guests were rescued from their bedroom windows by the fire brigade, one guest was overcome by smoke within the top floor lobby in attempting to escape. By calculating mass flow rates it has been possible to explain the observed movement of smoke and to demonstrate that with the venting of the stairway, there would have been very much less smoke logging of the lobbies with a resultant life and property saving.

After the Hamburg Fire Service had started to concern itself with the problems of fire fighting in the underground tunnels of the public transport system, they were able to gain first-hand experience during the fire in an underground station on April 8, 1980. An attempt was made therefore to make full use of the experience, and it led to the development of an extensive operations concept for lifesaving, and fire fighting. This operations concept was tested for its practibility during two exercises. These exercises confirmed the principles of this concept but at the same time highlighted the limits of the capabilities of the fire brigade. The measures to be taken by the Transport Authorities, and the fire brigade should be put into action as soon as possible.

This paper gives data on information available on casualty incidence and behaviour from fire brigade reports. The data presented appear to refute several popular beliefs about the typical casualty fire. Fire brigade data are large in volume and cover a wide range of fires but provide only limited information on each individual fire. Thus, for further information on behaviour patterns, some fires will have to be investigated in detail.