Fire risk Assessment in Multi-story Commercial Buildings Using Computerized Fire Safety Evaluation System: A Case Study in Shiraz

Abstract

Background: The occurrence of fire in buildings inflicts considerable damage on communities and individuals. This issue is very important in multi-story commercial buildings due to the high fire load, large and untrained population, high value of building and its equipment, complexity of emergency evacuation, and firefighting operations. This study was conducted to evaluate the fire risk of multi-story commercial buildings in Shiraz, Iran. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in 22 multi-story commercial buildings of Shiraz with an average of four floors. A field survey was performed using the checklist extracted from the National Fire Protection Association 101 standard. Then fire risk was assessed with regard to three aspects, including the requirements of fire control, requirements of egress routes, and requirements of general fire safety, using the Computerized Fire Safety Evaluation System software. The final results of the study were analyzed using Excel 2013 software. Findings: According to the obtained results, among the fire safety parameters studied in the buildings, the parameters of construction, as well as the parameters of smoke and sprinkler control, had the best and worst conditions, respectively. In addition, final results of fire assessment risk indicated that 50%, 73%, and 45.5% of the buildings had unacceptable risk regarding the aspects of fire control, egress routes, and general fire safety, respectively. In general, fire risk was acceptable from all three aspects in only five buildings (22.7%) of all the surveyed samples. Conclusion: The fire safety condition was undesirable in the studied buildings__AWT_NOKT_COMMA__ therefore, it is necessary to implement measures, such as the modification of egress routes, installation of automatic systems of fire detection, fire alarm, and fire suppression, as well as the development of an emergency response plan.