Do you know the protection level of the buildings within your response area? Do you know which structures present the greatest risk of fire incident or safety to life? Are your tenants, employees and customers really safe, or are they truly at risk, with just...
Ray McCormack, Lieutenant Ladder 28 with the New York Fire Department has attended several high rise fires and spoken about his experiences at the HROC High Rise Operations Conference. Here Ray shares his thoughts with FME readers regarding fighting balcony fires in high rise buildings. Balcony...
BuroHappold Engineering has been involved in major rail and aviation projects in the region including KAFD and Olaya Metro stations in Riyadh KSA in which evacuation modelling has helped develop fluid, functional designs. Sophie Washington is a BuroHappold Senior Fire Engineer based in Dubai where...
Attempts by America’s NASA Space agency to design and use fireproof craft have not always proved to be successful. Nearly 50 years ago in February 1967 three astronauts were killed when a cabin fire broke out during a launch rehearsal for the Apollo 1 rocket....
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” The above quote is attributed to Henry Ford who, as most readers will know, became quite successful in the motor industry during the 20th century. He knew a thing or two about bringing people...
Due to many associated risks, safe evacuation from offshore installations has been of significant concern between stakeholders and emergency professionals. Evacuation from offshore installation may become necessary due to various reasons such as a gas leak, fire and explosion, blow out, structural failure, adverse weather conditions such...
Healthcare, food, microelectronics: how smart a cleanroom is equipped and managed is key to a product’s time-to-market. Meticulously designed cleanroom-related contingency and fire safety plans are critical to protecting staff and to avoiding any kind of disruption in the production process. In particular, the ability...
In the past decades, research on tunnel fire has mainly focused on design fires and smoke control in longitudinally ventilated tunnels. There is a clear lack of research on detailed ceiling jet characteristics in tunnel fires. This investigation, conducted by Ying Zhen Li and Haukur...
Flame detectors use optical sensors to detect flames due to fire and are key components of a fire detection system in for example, the oil, gas and petrochemical industries. A variety of sensor technologies are available. In this article Dr. Daniel Waldron, Research Engineer with...
No structure best depicts affluence and wealth more than the Dubai Mall which is the latest addition to a development set to have a huge impact on the infrastructure of Dubai City with an additional 12 million sq feet of high end retail fashion space....
By Ian Dunbar, Rescue Consultant at Holmatro and regular contributor to FME. Before joining Holmatro he was a Training Officer in the UK fire & rescue service with a background in both technical as well as medical rescue. Ian provides Consultation & Training to emergency...
Although Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been variously adopted in the Fire Engineering sector, most of the BIM-related activities are still focused on stand-alone, contractor-owned models. At BuroHappold, explains Peter Stephenson, Associate Director, our designers use BIM to shape smart integrated environments. One key benefit...
Fighting fires anywhere presents firefighters with a level of unpredictability but as Paul Gibson, International Sales Manager, Bristol Uniforms explains, at sea, the level of unpredictability is substantially greater. Every fire is different with the risks and hazards very much dependent on a range of factors including...
Modern mass transportation hubs, including railway stations and airports, form part of a progressive infrastructure network often encompassing contemporary retail and leisure facilities thus creating a unique passenger experience. This coming together of a mixed occupancy environment provides particular challenges to the design team, including...