TITLE:
Investigation on Fire Protection System of Highrise Buildings in the Context of Bir Uttam Aminul Haque Avenue in Dhaka, Bangladesh
AUTHORS:
Nazmul Ahmed Roni, Sharmin Sultana, Mian Md Jawad Ibne Iqbal
KEYWORDS:
Fire Hazard, Fire Safety, High-Rise Buildings, Fire Protection, Fire Risk Index
JOURNAL NAME:
Engineering,
Vol.14 No.8,
August
12,
2022
ABSTRACT: Rapid high-rise building construction of different occupancies is
becoming popular in Dhaka due to its
economic gain and functional flexibility. Fire prevention poses a significant difficulty to this type
of construction due to its complexity and economic worth as well.
Therefore, construction of high-rise building
without following the proper fire safety measures, is a common practice
at present in the city and it poses a greater threat to urban life considering
its associated loss. Even though, most of the owners or authorities do not
respect the construction code and the majority of them lack sufficient
awareness and basic fire control knowledge and practice. More often, they are
unable to comprehend the magnitude and
severity of severe fire hazards, and recognize the causes and implementing effective mitigation measures are rare.
As a result, the number of fire hazard in high-rise construction is increasing
day by day. Hence, investigating the present condition of high-rise buildings
(already built) in terms of Fire Protection System is imperative to prevent the
upcoming fire hazard. An urban chunk of 33 plots along with Bir Uttam Aminul
Haque Avenue, located in Banani, has been chosen for the study area considering
its vulnerability to fire hazard. Among these buildings, STAR Tower and
HBR Tower, these two high-rise
buildings are assessed thoroughly using FRI (Fire
Risk Index) Method. The method is semi-quantitative in nature with
seventeen parameters associated with fire protection. This assessment
represents a scenario in what extent fire codes are being followed in the
selected area. It concludes that most of the buildings lack in providing
protection against fire hazards for not following the code strictly. This
research provides some recommendations which can be followed to improve the
fire safety measures in this existing context. It is expected that this
research could be a unique addition to firefighting knowledge by contributing
to mitigating the consequences of fire related hazards in any densely populated city
like Dhaka.