Survey based fire load assessment and impact analysis of fire load increment on fire development in contemporary dwellings

• Published in: Safety science 2021-03, Vol.135, p.105094, Article 105094
• Main Authors: Džolev, Igor, Laban, Mirjana, Draganić, Suzana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Apartments; Building materials; Buildings; Construction materials; Dwellings; Fire development; Fire load; Fire load survey; Fire prevention; Fire protection; Fire safety; Firefighters; Fires; Houses; Housing; Impact analysis; OZone software; Polls & surveys; Residential areas; Residential buildings; Residential density; Residential location; Risk assessment
• ISSN: 0925-7535; 1879-1042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2020.105094

•Evolution of a single family home is influencing the dynamics of residential fires.•Standards addressing fire load should be updated through frequent fire load surveys.•Fire load has doubled in the last 30 years based on a survey of 120 family apartments.•Fire load increase causes longer fully developed fire stage and higher temperatures. Changing dynamics of residential fires is a result of changes in dwelling size, geometry, spatial organization, contents and building materials over the past 50 years, as well as the added complexity to the fire behaviour. While the physics of fire development has not changed over time, the socio-political and economic tendencies have influenced contemporary dwelling. A single family home has evolved due to changes in building materials and furnishings. An overview of different national codes for defining fire load in residential buildings has shown a great discrepancy and deviation in proposed fire load density. Such uncertainties and changes in the way of living result in the need to continually update fire load data through new fire load surveys. A study on fire load density was conducted on a sample of 120 three-room family apartments, located in residential buildings and houses in Novi Sad, Serbia. Fire load was determined by the combination method (weighing and inventory) and was compared to other research results. Based on the survey results, fire load density in residential building apartments in Serbia has doubled in the past 30 years, affecting the overall fire safety by the increase of energy being released during combustion. The influence of fire load density on fire development was studied on a representative apartment using computer code OZone. The consequences of the increase of fire load are mostly reflected on the extension of the fully developed fire stage duration and the maximum temperatures reached, leading to higher fire risk associated to residential housing.