Preventive Measures for Fire Accidents in Apartment Buildings in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Owing to the significant increase in population, the lands have become scarce. Therefore, the prices of land also have increased. To address this issue, people tend to buy apartments instead of individual land plots to construct a house. The height and the complexity of these residential buildings may easily lead to fires and there will be property losses, injuries, and deaths worldwide every year. Hence, nowadays people are concerned about the safety from fire in all these apartments due to these incidents. The aim of this research is to identify a better preventive measure for fire accidents in high-rise residential buildings in Sri Lanka. An extensive literature review was carried out to discover the current practice in worldwide fire prevention. This study was conducted using a questionnaire survey with apartment building occupants to identify the fire safety measures currently being practiced in the Sri Lankan context regarding the ICTAD fire regulations. Simultaneously, the statistical data relating to fire incidents in Sri Lanka for the past few years and major reasons for SL apartment building fires were collected from the fire department. The collected data were analysed based on 3 building height categories. From the findings, faulty wirings were identified as the major reason for apartment fires. Most occupants are unaware of fire safety regulations, and also some of the buildings are not facilitated with required fire safety measures. Finally, it is strongly recommended to conduct demonstration programmes for public awareness and to practice fire safety regulations.