Citation

Hansell GO, Morgan HP. Fire Safety J. 1985; 8(3): 177-186.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There is a trend for many new hotels to incorporate a roofed-over 'Atrium'. Such spaces often require a smoke control system, usually some form of smoke ventilation. At present there are no clear grounds for choosing a fire size on which to base the design of such systems.This paper draws on the U.K. Fire Statistics data-base for 1978 and 1979 to establish the proportion of reported fires exceeding any given size (the relative frequency). It is suggested that a fully-involved bedroom fire is appropriate for design. This corresponds to a relative frequency of c. 9%. Methods of estimating the heat carried by gases entering the atrium are presented.There are 26 times more casualties and rescues per hour at night than in the day. Other information derived from casualty and source of ignition data is also presented.