The purpose of this study is to use the evacuation simulation program to arrange the same conditions of entrances and stairs by NFPA 101, analyze the number of people accommodated per household according to the number of 3, 4, 5, and 6 per household, ...
The purpose of this study is to use the evacuation simulation program to arrange the same conditions of entrances and stairs by NFPA 101, analyze the number of people accommodated per household according to the number of 3, 4, 5, and 6 per household, and to suggest ways to secure evacuation safety of apartments. The experimental results are as follows. First, if there are 3 residents per household, the total number of households in apartments is 156, and 85.25% of them were evacuated as a result of checking the number of evacuees within 5 minutes. Second, if there are 4 residents per household , the total number of households in apartments is 208, and 81.25% of them were evacuated within five minutes. Third, if there are 5 residents per household, the total number of households in apartments is 260, and 71.92% of them were evacuated within five minutes. Fourth, if there are 6 residents per household, the total number of households in apartments is 312, and 62.82% of them were evacuated within 5 minutes. The measures to secure evacuation safety for apartments derived from the experimental results were largely divided into four categories and suggested. Under the current law, only the minimum regulations are stipulated regardless of the capacity required for evacuation passages, such as emergency exit routes and emergency exit doors, the use of buildings, the number of households, and the behavior of households. Therefore, in order to secure efficient and safe evacuation, it is necessary to establish new regulations such as separation distance and installation angle between the stairs of evacuation so that the evacuee can depart from the fire room and evacuate in two directions. In case of the subject apartment, there was no evacuation elevator installed, so it was confirmed that the evacuation time was increased by evacuating only to the direct stairs. Accordingly, a measure to install an evacuation elevator and use it as a means of evacuation for residents was proposed. The reason why it should be considered as a means of evacuation is that many evacuees actually use passenger elevators when outbreaking of fire , and as the aging society progresses, there is a limit to evacuating evacuees living in upper floors using stairs and aerial ladder cars. Therefore, it is considered to amend the law necessary that mandate the installation of evacuation elevators in case of fire. In addition, as visibility gets shorter assuming that smoke spreads to all floors through direct stairs due to the lack of evacuation stairs or special evacuation stairs, it was analyzed that the evacuation route and time was delayed for the occupants in consideration of the obstacle during evacuation. The reason why is that the subject apartment was built before 1958, and only the direct stairs are installed. Therefore, regardless of the number of year of the building completion, it is necessary to retroactively apply the relevant laws to make it mandatory to install evacuation stairs and special evacuation stairs for apartments on the 16th floor or higher.
In case of scenarios, men, women, children, and the elderly were designated. Children and the elderly have the characteristics of "the vulnerable" who are difficult to evacuate quickly when outbreaking of fire. Under the current law, evacuation safety performance is determined according to the floor, height, and total floor space, use of the apartment without considering the resident's response characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary to shift the classification in the application of the law of apartments to focus on the reaction characteristics of residents, not on each floor, height, total floor space, and use. It is also necessary to improve the resident's response characteristics, the size of fire loading, and risk of accommodation, including the building's density of residence, resident’s accommodation and meals, freedom of body, period of residence, type of residence, evacuation safety performance determinant, number of visits, frequency of visits, etc.
In case of apartment fires, most of them spread rapidly compared to other buildings, and fires spread across households. Early detection and notification of unexpected ignition situations is very important in controlling evacuation and combustion expansion. But, effective detection is impossible with the current fire detection system. Therefore, it is expected to minimize casualties if the occupants inside the apartment are evacuated sequentially through a systematic early warning system such as priority and cross-alert methods according to the characteristics of each fire zone.