Fire Prevention in Urban Areas:

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Fire Prevention in Urban Areas

With the increased awareness of fire management and the continual recognition of Fire Engineering as a discipline, information resources in the form of books, newsletters, journals and websites have also snowballed. This is a critique of ‘Causes of Fire Emergencies managed by Rescue 1122 in Punjab, Pakistan’, a public education article and a case study found in the Industrial Fire Journal under the fire and rescue section. The Rescue 1122, is a fire management unit and a brainchild of the local government of Punjab and has been deemed to be successful in mitigation efforts. The article discusses causes of fire and prevention efforts in the cities of Punjab. It is an indication of how moderate to highly populated f urban areas go about the business of averting damages caused by fires.

According to the article, most fires in the identified areas are caused by faults in electrical installations accounting for about 50% of the leading causes. These may include short circuits and overloads. Other mentioned causes include careless smoking, kitchen fires, fireworks and LPG cylinder blasts among others. This portrays standard documented results of studies on causes of fire that put electrical fires at the apex of the causal pyramid (Diamantes, 2010). To this end, the industrial units have adopted a prevention and emergency code that is adequately commensurate with international guidelines of Fire Prevention by industrial firms that are the major consumers of electrical energy (Robertson, 1999). They are required to conduct Risk Assessment on all their premises and identify areas of high risk so as to take on appropriate measures.

The study proposes overhaul and regular maintenance of the electric supply system; replacement of old cables (mainly made of aluminum) with new fire resistant cables and re-wiring faulty installations in households, areas of public occupancy as well as industrial areas. This is standard procedure in prevention works of both the public and private sectors with the local government units such as State Fire departments tasked with overseeing that such regulations are complied with CITATION Cro09 l 1033 (Franklin, 2009). It talks of partnership by stakeholders in the urban sector towards public education and sensitization to manage safety. From an Ergonomics perspective, it proposes use of proper gear in the handling of machinery and putting in place a fully equipped Fire Response Unit.

Management of fire safety, in my view, has standard guidelines despite of the location, cause or the prevention measures adopted. These standard strategies include; Reducing Vulnerability through means such as educating the community, owners of business premises and workers in fire prone areas. Educational facilities such as schools can also be used; Identifying and removing the opportunity for the occurrence of fires through methods such as ensuring proper electrical wiring system with regular check-ups to preempt short circuits and safe usage of fireworks; Putting in place adequate security measures to avert the risk of fires that may be caused by arson instigated by delinquents or in the case of violent demonstrations; Risk Assessment in high production areas and population concentration areas, for example, in schools, stadia and even malls CITATION Dav10 l 1033 (Diamantes, 2010).

It would be my proposition that Fire Safety be incorporated in the learning system of every school. This is a sure a measure and an effective way of preventing current and would be future fires. Equipped with the knowledge, the probability of one’s actions leading to fires is minimal. With most fires occurring in urban areas, safety programs of these places need to be effected by their respective local governments. Proper urban planning that designates defined areas for residential occupancy with strict codes against encroachment may reduce vulnerability in case of occurrences such as blasts at industrial areas. Overall, all these studies show that the most effective prevention measures lie in education.

Reference:

BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Diamantes, D. (2010). Principles of Fire Prevention. Chicago: Cengage Learning.

Franklin, C. E. (2009). Fire Prevention. Charleston: BiblioBazaar.

Robertson, J. C. (1999). Introduction to Fire Prevention. Portland: Prentice Hall Health.