Use Of Case Studies To Determine Technical Deficiencies With Respect To Fire Spread In School Buildings

Almost every day between one and two school fires occur in Sweden. In most cases arson is the cause of the fire. The losses for these arson fires are considerable. A multidisciplinary research project has been launched in Sweden with the long-term goal to reduce these arson trends. As a part of this project a smaller project has been conducted where cases studies of arson fires in schools have been preformed to identify technical deficiencies and suggest solutions to mitigate the consequences of arson fires. Some of the deficiencies resulting from the study are lack of detection systems and automatic alarm systems, bad construction of roof and voids and insufficient fire barriers. Solutions for these deficiencies can be automatic alarm systems with efficient location of different type of detectors, good illumination, surveillance cameras and sprinklers. The areas which need innovations are fire protection system for roof eaves nearby the connection between facades and roofs, sprinklers and rescues tactics for voids. Three possible fire scenarios were identified as important. These scenarios are important for the further development of technical solutions in the next project