Fire Administration and Efficient Performances

The Needs for Improved Technologies in the Operations of the United States Fire Administration for More Efficient Performances
February 25, 2019
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is a division under the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Created on the 1st April 1979 by the US former president, Jimmy Carter and was brought under DHS in 2003. For almost four decades of its creation, FEMA has been relentlessly committed to helping people before, during, and after disasters, which are its obligations as stated in its statutory mission statement. The agency has been helping US residents to prevent and avert impending dangers, and also providing succor to some in the event of natural and human-made disasters in the country. One of the responsibilities the agency is saddled with is the prevention and management of fire incidents in the country, which is managed by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). In carrying out its duties, USFA employs the various technologies to aid its performance in responding to fire outbreaks in the country. These technologies have tremendously been helpful in carrying out USFA’s duties. Some of these technologies are Smoke and fire alarms; Home fire sprinklers; and Emergency egress and fire escape.
Smoke and fire alarm, a technology which was researched and created with a combined effort of USFA and the CPSC, along with the Naval Research Laboratory. It’s a disk-like device, housed in plastic and powered by a central alarm system, in residential and industrial buildings. It is installed in buildings to sense smoke and raise alert to indicate a possible fire outbreak with the preventive purpose of averting the fire incidence. A home fire sprinkler is another component of technology used by USFA in its discharge of duties. "Home fire sprinklers include a network of piping filled with water under pressure that is installed behind the ceilings and walls, and individual sprinklers are placed along the piping to protect the areas beneath them” (“Fire Sprinkler Initiative”). A fire sprinkler dispenses water whenever there is any detection of fire in a building. It is a highly sensitive device that gets triggered whenever a certain degree of temperature as programmed in the functions of the machine is exceeded, which signals the potential of degenerating into fire outbreak. For emergency egress and fire escape, it is an emergency exit usually set up outside a building to provide an exit for the occupants during an event of an emergency, especially fire incidents that make it difficult for them to access or use the staircase. It is usually made of iron and mounted at almost equal height with a storey building it is meant for.
These highlighted technologies have been so advantageous to the USFA in aiding its preventive and responsive commitments, and to the general public, in saving lives. For instance, the Smoke and fire alarms have been helping in saving lives and has drastically reduced the number of casualties that could have resulted from fire outbreaks. According to a report from National Fire Protection Association, “almost three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (40%) or no smoke alarms that were working (17%). Ahrens (2019). However, Ahrens’ report also showed the efficacy of the device, which by its function of providing an early alarm, gives people an additional time to exit and escape fire incidents. With this, “in 2012-2016, smoke alarms were present in three-quarters (74%) and sounded in more than half (53%) of the home fires reported to U.S. fire departments.” Home fire sprinklers have also been very helpful in saving lives. For instance, over 4000 of deaths recorded annually from fire incidents can be drastically reduced with the use of fire sprinklers and loss of properties related to these incidents could be reduced. Home fire sprinklers “can contain and may even extinguish a fire in less time than it would take the fire department to arrive on the scene” Henzi (2014). The Insurance Institute also believed that installing both smoke alarms and fire sprinkler systems in a home will reduce the risk of death in from fire incidents by 82 per cent. In the same vein, emergency escape has been a handy tool of escaping fire incidents by giving the evacuee a better and faster means of escape especially in storey buildings.
However, as good as these emergency measures are, there have been some downsides associated with each of them, which sometimes, affect their performances. Smoke and fire alarms have problems ranging from battery and installation issues that have made many experts in the field clamor for improvement of the device or better still, a totally different device with better performances. For instance, the effectiveness of wireless fire alarm systems is affected by factors which include its requirements of wireless signal transmission via radio wave signals. With this specification, the wall and ceiling installation has to follow a guideline of National Fire and Alarm Codes, which in some case. Factors such as building materials and other environmental aspects may impact the ability to install wireless fire alarms. Gregory (2017). Other factors that may reduce or interfere with the signals include concrete construction, cores of taller buildings, and masonry elevator cores or stair cores.
For residential fire sprinklers, one of the downsides is the cost of installation. While the NFPA put the cost at $1.35 per square foot, the recommended figure by 2010 National Construction Estimator, however, was $3.70 per square foot. With this, the total cost of installing on a 2,000 per square foot home will be around $7,400 Shinskie (2011). This has been a major concern for many homeowners. Also, the 2011 fire incident at the farmhouse of Ted and Janelle, where the couple lost seven out their eight children despite the presence of residential sprinkler systems in each room, has sparked a debate on the efficiency of the RSS. This has led to a call for a better technology that will not only alert people but will be more efficient in saving lives in fire outbreaks. Homeowners will also want a more cost-effective system that will not be a huge burden on their building budget as the current cost of RSS in many new homes across the country. Shrisnkie (2011).
Also, while the Emergency egress and fire escape might be a good evacuation plan in an emergency, there are some downsides of it worthy of taking into consideration. For instance, ethical issues which could arise from urgency, route and stair congestion might subject evacuees to injuries, anxiety and fatigues. Gwynne (2016). It is recommended, however, that the government look towards advancing these technologies currently used by the USFA in order to ensure there is a better performance coming from the fire service that will make the officials under the division more proficient, which will translate to better life-saving measures for the members of the public.
The USFA's assignments are majorly carried out in American buildings, and as such, it is expected that the agency maintains a balance with the technology advancements in the construction industry to ensure it provides a more cost-effective and protective service to the U.S. residents regardless of their economic status. Some areas the three technologies under review could be improved include user education and awareness campaign, and partnering with building associations and more tech companies to provide more efficient technologies for fire incident life-saving devices. As it stands now, many myths are surrounding the cost, maintenance and the efficacy of these three technologies among the general public, IBHS (2014).
As the vision for the Sustainable Development Goal 2030 draws nearer and every industry and nation is working hard to meet up with the actualizations of the set goals, it is imperative that the USFA follow suit. Improvement on cloud-based technology that will enhance organizational management and provides efficiencies with automated communications and use of drones and Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) that will aid quick response to distress calls during fire incidents need to be embraced. Avsec (2017). However, the technologies will not be fully effective without the consideration for human factors that will aid the efficiency on the parts of the USFA and the masses. To this end, the 2020 vision fire strategies as suggested by Carter (2014), are worthy of consideration. They include fire prevention advocacy, fire prevention marketing, fire prevention codes and standards. The strategies will go a long way in carrying members of the public along and letting them know that fire prevention is everyone's responsibility. By so doing, there will be more cohesive teamwork between the division and the masses, and with the bigger picture of drastically reducing the number of casualties being currently recorded annually in the U.S.



References
Ahrens, M. (2019). Report: Smoke Alarms in the U.S. Home Fires. Public Education. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Detection-and-Signaling/Smoke-Alarms-in-US-Home-Fires
Avsec, R. (2017). 5 fire service trends to watch in 2018. https://www.firerescue1.com/2017-year-in-review/articles/371500018-5-fire-service-trends-to-watch-in-2018/
Charter, R. (2014). We Need to Do More with Fire Prevention. Freehouse.com. https://www.firehouse.com/prevention-investigation/community-risk-reduction/article/11699279/the-us-fire-service-needs-to-increase-fire-prevention-education
“Fire Sprinkler Initiative”. How Home Fire Sprinkler Works. Public Education. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Campaigns/Fire-Sprinkler-Initiative/Take-action/Free-downloads/How-sprinklers-work
Gregory, H. (2017). The benefits and challenges of wireless fire alarm systems. Consulting – Specifying Engineer, https://www.csemag.com/articles/the-benefits-and-challenges-of-wireless-fire-alarm-systems/
Gwynne, M. V. et al (2016). Pros and Cons of Egress Drills. Research Gate, 1657-1670. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ruggiero_Lovreglio/publication/304784021_Pros_and_cons_of_egress_drills/links/58acf6c392851c3cfda06058/Pros-and-cons-of-egress-drills.pdf
Henzi, B. (2014). IBHS Provides Facts and Myths about Home Fire Sprinkler Systems, which Save Lives and Reduce Property Losses, https://disastersafety.org/ibhs-news-releases/ibhs-provides-facts-myths-home-fire-sprinkler-systems-save-lives-reduce-property-losses/
Shinskie, J. (2011). Fatal fire fuels debate over sprinkler system, https://www.pennlive.com/perry-county-times/index.ssf/2011/04/fatal_fire_fuels_debate_over_s.html