Fire insurance is a crucial component of property insurance, and its rating depends on the forecast of insurance loss claim data. Fire insurance loss claim data have complicated characteristics such as skewness and heavy tail. The traditional linear mixed model is commonly difficult to accurately describe the distribution of loss. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a scientific and reasonable distribution model of fire insurance loss claim data. In this study, the random effects and random errors in the linear mixed model are firstly assumed to obey the skew-normal distribution. Then, a skew-normal linear mixed model is established using the Bayesian MCMC method based on a set of U.S. property insurance loss claims data. Comparative analysis is conducted with the linear mixed model of logarithmic transformation. Afterward, a Bayesian skew-normal linear mixed model for Chinese fire insurance loss claims data is designed. The posterior distribution of claim data parameters and related parameter estimation are employed with the R language JAGS package to obtain the predicted and simulated loss claim values. Finally, the optimization model in this study is used to determine the insurance rate. The results demonstrate that the model established by the Bayesian MCMC method can overcome data skewness, and the fitting and correlation with the sample data are better than the log-normal linear mixed model. Hence, it can be concluded that the distribution model proposed in this paper is reasonable for describing insurance claims. This study innovates a new approach for calculating the insurance premium rate and expands the application of the Bayesian method in the fire insurance field.

Along with the rapid urbanization and economic growth in China over the last four decades, the higher education in Fire Safety Science and Engineering has been developed and changed significantly. This work systemically reviews the origin and evolution of fire safety higher education history in China, from Fire Protection Technology (before the 1980s) to Fire Safety Science and Engineering (from about 1985 to the 2010s) and to Human-Oriented Public Safety and Smart Firefighting (from the 2010s to today). The scopes of fire safety discipline are discussed by introducing the requirements of firefighters, registered professional fire protection engineers and safety engineers in China. The courses and curriculum in fire safety higher education in representative universities are introduced and compared in detail. By comparing their undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, we explain the context of fire safety education in different universities. From a historical viewpoint, we introduce the unique features and the diversity developed in different institutes, based on the evolution of programme documents and first-hand teaching materials. This review aims to introduce the higher education systems of fire safety in China to the world and encourage more international collaboration with the Chinese fire safety science and engineering communities in the future.

People living in informal settlements, whether in urban or tented environments, face daily risks of injury and loss of life or property due to preventable fires. Currently, research and practice in the field of fire risk and prevention within informal settlements centres on technical interventions and solutions. While developments in materials, response and urban planning, for example, are an important aspect of reducing the effects of fire, the gendered framework for fire justice presented in this paper challenges the dominance of such technical solutions which neglect social dimensions of vulnerability to fire risk. Rethinking fire risk through gender can ensure strategies and systems of fire safety are situated, and informed by the range of people who experience fire and burns risk. The multidisciplinary framework engages with critical feminist approaches to disaster, vulnerability analysis and education, arguing for a gendered framework of fire justice that presents new possibilities for how fire risk and safety are understood and responded to by the range of stakeholders and actors who seek to reduce the instances and impact of fire on already marginalised populations, including those living in informal settlements.

New generation of mission-oriented fabrics meets advanced requirements; such as electrical conductivity, flame retardancy, and anti-bacterial properties. However, sustainability concerns still are on-demand in fabrication of multi-functional fabrics. In this work, we used a bio-based phosphorus molecule (phytic acid, PA) to reinforce flax fabrics against flame via layer-by-layer consecutive surface modification. First, the flax fabric was treated with PA. Then, polyethylenimine (PEI) was localized above it to create negative charges, and finally PA was deposited as top-layer. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), and inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) proved successful chemical treatment. Pyrolysis-combustion flow calorimetry (PCFC) showed significant drop by about 77% in the peak of heat release rate (pHRR) from 215 W/g for untreated to 50 W/g for treated flax fabric. Likewise, the total heat release (THR) decreased by more than three times from 11 to 3.2 kJ/g. Mechanical behavior of the treated flax fabric was completely different from untreated flax fabrics, changing from almost highly-strengthened behavior with short elongation at break to a rubber-like behavior with significantly higher elongation at break. Surface friction resistance was also improved, such that the abrasion resistance of the modified fabrics increased up to 30,000 rub cycles without rupture.

International trade connections with COVID-19 impeding the development of the logistics industry in express delivery, the world has become an inseparable part of daily life. To improve protection competency, there is a need for effective research on logistics warehouse fire accident alarms. The goal of this study is to create a novel fire risk evaluation method for fire safety managers in logistics warehouses. The Gustav method is used to convert a plane model to a stereoscopic model. Hazards to construction, hazards to life, and fire rescue competency are all taken into account. The empirical study used JingDong Gu'an logistics park as a case study, and the evaluation results revealed differences in fire risk levels between the two warehouses. The results show that the transmit warehouse had a higher fire risk level than the sorting warehouse. The method describes the total risk of a warehouse fire. It is appropriate for the various types and processes found in modern logistics warehouses. The results of the developed 3D-Dynamic method demonstrate the model's feasibility and practicability even to laypeople with limited professional knowledge.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of compounds containing multiple aromatic rings formed during incomplete combustion. Since many of them are known mutagens and carcinogens, PAHs found in the particulate matter (PM) from the wildfire smoke may pose significant health risks to the wildland firefighters. It is pivotal to determine the levels of PAHs in the PM to evaluate the health effects of their inhalation exposure. However, the determination of PAHs using the conventional chromatographic approaches is often time-consuming and laborious. Herein, we describe a novel method for screening nonpolar and polar PAHs in the PM of smoke by direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry (DART-MS). PM and PM samples were collected on the quartz filters with a sampling system consisting of a cascade impactor with a portable sampling pump. Various indoor and outdoor experiments from biomass burns were conducted to evaluate the PM sampling systems. PAHs were analyzed by DART-MS and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods. The PM samples were collected in California during the wildfire season of fall 2020, and significant levels of multiple nonpolar PAHs and polar PAHs were detected. Overall, the DART-MS method has shown promising ability for high-throughput screening of PAHs in the PM of smoke. Further studies are currently under way to apply this method to study the particulate phase PAH exposures of wildland firefighters during their firefighting activities.

In recent years, it is evident that there is a surge in photovoltaic (PV) systems installations on buildings. It is concerning that PV system related fire incidents have been reported throughout the years. Like any other electrical power system, PV systems pose fire and electrical hazards when at fault. As a consequence, PV fires compromised the safety of emergency responders. Therefore, the objective of this review is to evaluate the elements of firefighters' safety practices and subsequently collate the best safety practices for local fire rescue and firefighters in the event of PV fires. Out of 264 documents, only 20 publications were identified as 'closely related' and were systematically reviewed to evaluate firefighter safety practices from a scholarly perspective. Only 3% of the 20 publications reviewed, discussed the safety practices during PV fires. Thirteen safety practice key points were extracted from the reviewed documents, with nine critical findings highlighted as the hallmark of safety practices during PV fire for firefighters. The lack of academic journals discussing the fire safety aspects proves that there is a low interest in this field which is in dire need of further study and exploration to adhere with the PV population in ensuring a reliable emergency operation to minimize losses or injuries due to accidents.

A fire started in Shurijo Seiden, or the main hall of Shurijo Castle, Naha-city, Okinawa, Japan on the morning of October 30th, 2019. The fire resulted in loss of 8 structures and many important Okinawan cultural assets. The original Shurijo Castle was destroyed many years ago and a replica was constructed and rebuilt to be as close as possible to the original building. The replica was fabricated mainly from wood (. Firebrands were reported during the fire. In this study, firebrands from Shurijo Castle was collected and analyzed. The data was compared with those from other investigation as well as experimental data.

Firefighters' or instructors' exposure to airborne chemicals during live-fire training may depend on fuels being burned, fuel orientation and participants' location within the structure. This study was designed to evaluate the impact of different control measures on exposure risk to combustion byproducts during fire dynamics training where fuel packages are mounted at or near the ceiling. These measures included substitution of training fuels (low density wood fiberboard, oriented strand board (OSB), pallets, particle board, plywood) and adoption of engineering controls such as changing the location of the instructor and students using the structure. Experiments were conducted for two different training durations: the typical six ventilation cycle (6-cycle) and a shorter three ventilation cycle (3-cycle) with a subset of training fuels. In Part A of this series, we characterized the fire dynamics within the structure, including the ability of each fuel to provide an environment that achieves the training objectives. Here, in Part B, airborne chemical concentrations are reported at the location where fire instructors would typically be operating. We hypothesized that utilizing a training fuel package with solid wood pallets would result in lower concentrations of airborne contaminants at the rear instructor location than wood-based sheet products containing additional resins and/or waxes. In the 6-cycle experiments (at the rear instructor location), OSB-fueled fires produced the highest median concentrations of benzene and 1,3 butadiene, plywood-fueled fires produced the highest total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations, particle board-fueled fires produced the highest methyl isocyanate concentrations, and pallet-fueled fires produced the highest hydrogen chloride concentrations. All fuels other than particle board produced similarly high levels of formaldehyde at the rear instructor location. The OSB fuel package created the most consistent fire dynamics over 6-cycles, while fiberboard resulted in consistent fire dynamics only for the first three cycles. In the follow-on 3-cycle experiment, PAH, benzene, and aldehyde concentrations were similar for the OSB and fiberboard-fueled fires. Air sampling did not identify any clear differences between training fires from burning solid wood pallets and those that incorporate wood-based sheet products . However, it was found that exposure can be reduced by moving firefighters and instructors lower in the compartment and/or by moving the instructor in charge of ventilation from the rear of the structure (where highest concentrations were consistently measured) to an outside position.

Fire-induced spalling of concrete continues to be an intriguing and intricate research problem. A deep dive into the open literature highlights the alarming discrepancy and inconsistency of existing theories, as well as the complexity of predicting spalling. This brings new challenges to creating fire-safe concretes and primes an opportunity to explore modern methods of investigation to tackle the spalling phenomenon. Thus, this paper leverages the latest advancements in explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) to vet existing theories on fire-induced spalling and to discover solutions/heuristics to predict spalling of concrete mixtures. The developed heuristics are in the form of and . The proposed solutions allow interested researchers and engineers to graphically identify the propensity of a given concrete mixture to spalling directly and with ease. For example, we report that concrete mixtures with a combination of moderate water/binder ratio (of about 0.3), low heating rate (less than 2.5°C/min), moderate rise in temperature (less than 500°C), and have moisture content (less than 3%) are expected to be less prone to spalling. Further, findings from this research showcase the potential for developing simple (i.e., one-shot) and graphical (coding-free and formula-free) XAI-based solutions and web applications to address decades-long problems in the area of concrete research.

The cavities in a building facade can significantly increase the fire hazard, acting as pathways and accelerators for the vertical spread of flames and smoke, even in non-combustible facades. Ensuring fire safety during facade design requires a thorough understanding of how cavity geometry influences fire dynamics. However, established theories for this phenomenon are lacking. Therefore, in this study, we use the computational fluid dynamics code FireFOAM to develop step-by-step multiphysics simulations incorporating fluid mechanics, heat transfer, buoyancy, and combustion phenomena to investigate the non-linear behaviour in narrow vertical cavities. Four scenarios of increasing complexity are modelled and validated against experimental data from the literature. The simulations predict flow velocities and convective heat fluxes within 20% error and buoyancy-driven flow, radiative heat flux, and flame height predictions within 30% error across a range of cavity widths. The study also highlights the limitations of the models, offering insights for future refinement. The results demonstrate that computer simulations can reliably be used to study critical phenomena of cavity fires and, with future improvements, predict fire behaviour across various facade designs and conditions.

A qualitative assessment of fire hazard posed by laminated glass balcony balustrades was carried out through an in-depth analysis of empirical evidence from six (6) past balcony fires with glass balustrades to deduce the type of glass used and understand the mechanism for fire spread in these fire scenarios. Post-fire conditions of these balconies were studied based on their post-breakage integrity and presence of decolourisation/delamination in order to determine the type of glass used in these balconies. A visual observation of the overall fire spread during the fire and extent of damage post-fire was then carried out to determine whether there was a correlation between the type of glass used and the extent of fire spread. It was found that fire spread was mainly driven by combustible materials around the balcony construction as the fire damage on the balustrades was limited to the area in the vicinity of the combustible materials and the balustrade glass did not contribute to the fire. Given the current regulatory framework in England that limits the use of laminated glass in balcony balustrades from a fire safety perspective despite its architectural benefits and structural safety, this study shows that there is no evidence that the use of laminated glass would constitute a fire hazard when used as glazed balcony balustrading.

The COVID-19 pandemic kept people at home, in either a voluntary or non-voluntary capacity, in many countries. These suggested countermeasures were prominent in the so-called initial waves of the pandemic, especially from March 2020 to May 2020. As people stayed home, in many cases restaurants were closed. As a result, people spent more time in their kitchen, not only to cook meals but also as a personal hobby. It is well known that cooking fires are a main cause of fires in residential homes. In this study, the change in the number of cooking fires in residential homes as well as the number of residential fires during these COVID-19 countermeasure periods were examined in four cities: New York City (USA), San Francisco (USA), Tokyo (Japan), and London (UK). The time period examined was from January to June in 2020 in order to grasp overall effects of stay-at-home measures on fire incidents. The number of cooking fires and residential fires increased in Tokyo and San Francisco, while the number of cooking fires in New York City (no data was obtained for cooking fires in London.) and the number of residential fires in New York City and London remained similar to previous years.

There is a persistent risk of large-scale fire conflagrations in informal settlements, which can threaten hundreds of people simultaneously. Although the literature implies that wind conditions have a significant impact on these fires, little is known about how wind conditions affect the dynamics and spread of flames in informal settlements. In order to comprehend the impact of wind conditions (speed and direction) on the time to flashover and fire severity in informal settlement dwellings with different wall thermal characteristics, a numerical study was conducted utilizing the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code. For six different wind speeds (1 m/s, 5 m/s, 10 m/s, 15 m/s, 20 m/s and 25 m/s) and two wind directions (side and back wind). Simulations were conducted with full-scale informal settlement dwellings burning wood cribs, analyzing the fuel mass loss rate, hot gas temperature, global equivalence ratio, radiative heat flux outside the door, and time to flashover. In addition, the influence of wall thermal properties was examined for thermally-thin steel-clad and asbestos cement-clad dwellings (thermally-thick). Regardless of wind direction, it was noticed that an increase in wind speed significantly shortened the time required to attain flashover. This was shown to be the result of the wind accelerating the burning rate of the wood cribs and, as a result, the faster temperature rise of the hot gas. Radiative heat fluxes observed outside the door increased with the wind speeds. The direction of the wind had a small effect on the investigated fire characteristics, with the side wind scenarios exhibiting somewhat longer timeframes to flashover. Thermally-thin walled informal settlement dwellings exhibited a greater fire severity, with higher fuel mass loss rates, hot gas layer temperatures, and higher external radiant heat fluxes, as well as shorter timeframes to flashover. These findings indicate that both wind speed and thermal wall characteristics have a substantial impact on the severity of fires in informal settlements and can enhance the risk of fire spread.

Previous full-scale fire studies revealed that the role of wind on fire spread between informal settlement dwellings was critical. However, the influence of wind conditions on informal settlement dwellings fire spread is currently understudied in the literature. This study aimed to investigate the effect of external wind conditions on fire spread between two informal settlement dwellings with a distance of 1 meter between them. A parametric numerical analysis was performed using the computational fluid dynamics code Fire Dynamics Simulator. The numerical models were benchmarked through laboratory experiments. The investigation included an analysis of the fire spread mechanism, flashover conditions, and heat transfer processes at the boundaries of the dwellings. Simulations were conducted with burning wood cribs as fuel and three wind speeds (6 m/s, 10 m/s, and 14 m/s) with four wind directions (East, West, South, and North). Results showed that wind speed and direction had a significant impact on the fire dynamics of the origin dwelling and its spread to neighboring dwellings. The wind direction also influenced the time to flashover in both dwellings, with a delay observed when the wind flowed through the alley between the two dwellings. The total heat transfer coefficient was found to be directly proportional to the wind speed for all directions. The internal radiative heat transfer coefficient of one wall was found to represent the total heat transfer coefficient in different scenarios. This study highlights the complexity of determining the role of wind in urban fire spread and underscores the need for further research in this area.

Three full-scale experimental compartment fires are compared to investigate the effect of the fuel location and the ventilation factor on under ventilated thermally thin bounded ISO-9705 compartments. Wood cribs were used as the fuel load and the crib placement was varied between two locations (back and middle) to study the effect of the fuel location. Furthermore, the ventilation conditions were changed from a door and window (i.e., ventilation factor of 2.58 m) to only a door (i.e., ventilation factor of 2.26 m) for the scenario where the cribs were placed at the back of the compartment. The novelty of this work lies in its examination of the time to flashover, gas layer temperature, heat release rate, and external radiative heat fluxes, specifically considering the impact of fuel location and ventilation factor. It was observed that placing the fuel package in the middle of the compartment led to a longer growth phase, hotter gas layer temperature, a higher Heat Release Rate (HRR) needed for flashover ( ), and higher external radiative heat fluxes through openings. It was also found that, decreasing the ventilation factor decreased the heat losses and therefore the . Decreased ventilation also affected the height of the neutral plane, as one would expect, and the shape of the external plume, but did not have significant effect on the temperature within the compartment, the walls of the compartment, and the external radiative heat flux.

In 2010, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) announced a "vision zero" of zero fire deaths in Sweden by 2050. Studies into fire deaths have identified that certain risk groups, including but not limited to older people, are overrepresented in fire death statistics in Sweden. The MSB has developed guidelines for how individualised fire safety (IFS) can be implemented in local communities for risk groups, in support of their vision zero for fire deaths. This paper presents the results of an interview study with a selection of Swedish municipalities to further explore how municipalities are working with IFS programs for community dwelling older people. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research has been used to analyse data developed through semi-structured interviews, from an analysis of the delegation of authority from MSB to local level and assessment of secondary documentation from national, regional and local organisations. The analysis has identified that IFS has, indeed, been implemented to varying degrees in Sweden, but that there are both facilitators and barriers which can be further leveraged to improve the implementation of IFS in the future.

Wildfires are increasing in scale, frequency and longevity, and are affecting new locations as environmental conditions change. This paper presents a dataset collected during a community evacuation drill performed in Roxborough Park, Colorado (USA) in 2019. This is a wildland-urban interface community including approximately 900 homes. Data concerning several aspects of community response were collected through observations and surveys: initial population location, pre-evacuation times, route use, and arrival times at the evacuation assembly point. Data were used as inputs to benchmark two evacuation models that adopt different modelling approaches. The WUI-NITY platform and the Evacuation Management System model were applied across a range of scenarios where assumptions regarding pre-evacuation delays and the routes used were varied according to original data collection methods (and interpretation of the data generated). Results are mostly driven by the assumptions adopted for pre-evacuation time inputs. This is expected in communities with a low number of vehicles present on the road and relatively limited traffic congestion. The analysis enabled the sensitivity of the modelling approaches to different datasets to be explored, given the different modelling approaches adopted. The performance of the models were sensitive to the data employed (derived from either observations or self-reporting) and the evacuation phases addressed in them. This indicates the importance of monitoring the impact of including data in a model rather than simply on the data itself, as data affects models in different ways given the modelling methods employed. The dataset is released in open access and is deemed to be useful for future wildfire evacuation modelling calibration and validation efforts.

Previous building fires and research has shown that simple (shear) connections develop large axial force and flexural demands during a fire leading to potential failure of the connections and progressive collapse of a building. These findings have motivated decades of international research on the fire behavior of simple (shear) connections. While this research all confirmed that simple connections experience large axial force and flexural demands, it occurred without consistency of testing methodology, testing setup, and reporting of results. Due to this inconsistency, the decades of research have yet to be synthesized into comprehensive code changes for the design of simple connections in fires. This paper will summarize international experimental and numerical research on simple (shear) connections and highlight the inconsistencies between this research in an effort to motivate consistent testing and data reporting for future research developments.

Informal settlements, where over 1 billion people live globally, are extremely vulnerable to fire events. Thermally thin steel-clad timber-framed homes found in South African informal settlements are a prime example of this. In this paper, we explore, through six full-scale laboratory experiments and modelling, the influence of opening locations, areas, and aspect ratios, on the fire dynamics of thermally thin and leaky compartments. It was found that having the window on the same wall as the door produced the highest heat fluxes opposite the door (13 kW/m). Having the window opposite the door on the back wall, created a crossflow scenario which produced slightly higher fluxes opposite the door (10-11 kW/m) compared to when the windows were on a side wall (7-9 kW/m). Increasing the opening area by including another equally sized window, or by doubling the window width or height, slightly reduced the heat fluxes opposite the door and window, in general slightly increased the time to flashover, and significantly increased the heat release rate required for flashover. The work presented within this paper adds to the growing body of knowledge around informal settlement dwelling fire dynamics which can be used by engineers and urban planners in understanding and mitigating urban conflagrations within these communities.