Estimating Risks From Fire Following Earthquake

Prepared by the Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering of ASCE. This TCLEE Monograph covers the entire range of fire following earthquake (FFE) issues, from historical fires to 20th-century fires in Kobe, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Northridge. FFE has the potential of causing catastrophic losses in the United States, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and other seismically active countries with wood houses. This comprehensive book on FFE and urban conflagrations provides state-of-the-practice insight on unique issues, such as large diameter flex hose applications by fire and water departments. Topics include: History of past fires; Computer modeling of fire spread in the post-earthquake urban environment; Concurrent damage and fire impacts for water, power gas, communication and transportation systems; Examples of reliable water systems built or designed in San Francisco, Vancouver, Berkeley, and Kyoto; Use of large diameter (5 in.) and ultralarge diameter (12 in.) flex hose for fire fighting and water restoration; and Cost-effectiveness of various FFE mitigation strategies, with a detailed benefit-cost model. Water utility engineers, fire fighting professionals, and emergency response planners will benefit from reading this book.

Post-earthquake fire is one of the most complicated problems resulting from earthquakes and presents a serious risk to urban structures. Most standards and codes ignore the possibility of post-earthquake fire; thus it is not factored in when determining the ability of buildings to withstand load. This book describes the effects of post-earthquake fire on partially damaged buildings located in seismic urban regions. The book quantifies the level of associated post-earthquake fire effects, and discusses methods for mitigating the risk at both the macro scale and micro scale. The macro scale strategies address urban regions while the micro scale strategies address building structures, covering both existing buildings and those that are yet to be designed.

Safety, Reliability and Risk Analysis. Theory, Methods and Applications contains the papers presented at the joint ESREL (European Safety and Reliability) and SRA-Europe (Society for Risk Analysis Europe) Conference (Valencia, Spain, 22-25 September 2008). The book covers a wide range of topics, including: Accident and Incident Investigation; Crisi