Fire investigation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Fire investigation - Essay Example Basic research indicates that preventing ignition fire control process and the separation of individuals from the harmful effects of fire by means of distance, time or shielding forms the three basic directions to ensure life safety, (CUNNY, 2009). Time as a factor in fire situation leads to the building up of smoke and heat thereby creating a hazardous environment and its effect may not be concretely predicted owing to multiple environmental and human variables, (Coleman, 1997). Three sets of conditions define time related effects on a fire situation inclusive of; toxic conditions, elevated environmental temperatures and current or pre-existing psycho-physiological attributes of the premises occupants. It is also imperative to note that the time interval between fire discovery and preventive action by the occupants is critical to the resulting effects. Evacuation of occupants and/or Fire extinguishment and confinement forms are fundamental actions that follow fire detection, (Coleman, 1997). The cause and outcome of a fire is greatly impacted by individual characteristics of those involved as people tend to react differently to similar emergency situations. People’s reaction during fires is affected by individual actions and therefore individual threat perception. Age forms a fundamental individual characteristic that adequately affect reaction to individual conditions as for example, the elderly or very young individuals may be less able to cope with the effects of fire, (CUNNY, 2009). Therefore, comparative to their counterparts of middle ages who are of normal physique, the fatality rate of these two age groups remains grater during fires, (USFA, 2009). Respiratory capacity of individuals may also affect the rate of fatalities in cases of fire hazards. Since majority of fires result into smoke inhalation, individuals with poor respiratory capacity may be unable to