FireDOC Search

Author
Lerup, L. | Hansen, D. | Stein, B.
Title
Towards a Case Study Approach to Fire Safety.
Coporate
California Univ., Berkeley
Sponsor
National Science Foundation, Washington, DC
Contract
NSF-GRANT-GI-43
Keywords
fire safety | case histories | housing | morphology | mapping | fire research | residential buildings | methodology
Identifiers
row houses
Abstract
This paper describes a procedure that has been developed for analyzing the various aspects of fire safety in housing. It uses the case study method. By using this procedure, a fire situation may be analyzed within a framework which includes, as much as possible, all the physical and behavioral data as well as the relevant concerns and issues of fire safety. Elements of the procedure are: a description and morphological analysis of the setting: a mapping of fire-related events, including the behavior of those involved in and around housing subject to fire; an evaluation of the fire situation against a set of concerns related to fire safety and a set of fire safety areas; and, finally, the production of fire-related issues and arguments, leading to fire safety standards, heuristic principles, and directions for future research.