DESIGN OF FIRE VULNERABILITY MAP AND FIRE RESISTANCE TEST OF

HOUSES IN BARANGAY MAQUILAO, TANGUB CITY

A RESEARCH
Presented to the Faculty of the College of Computer Studies, Engineering and Architecture
La Salle University – Ozamiz

In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering

Ymbong, Judylyn Me C.

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 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

I. Background of the Study

Fire is either man-made or natural. Sometimes it’s started on purpose and other times it’s an
accident. According to science fire is a chemical reaction that occurs when heat and a fuel source
combine with oxygen in the air, creating flames and giving off light and smoke. Fire has purpose
and is very important for daily basis, but comes with risks.

Risk refers to the outcomes of a hazard occurrence such as the expected number of lives lost,
persons injured, damage to property and disruptions of economic activities. Risk is a function of
both the hazard and vulnerability (Ahmed Saleh, Ph. D, 2017). Imminent to fire safety are
referred to as fire hazards. Fire hazard may include a situation that increases the likelihood of a
fire, and the consequences if one were to occur.

The residential houses along barangay Maquilao, Tangub City are commonly subjected to
fire because the houses are built closer to each other. In fact a history of fire way back 2007 was
encountered. The tendency of fire occurrence in barangay Maquilao can possibly experience
since the houses are made of timber.

This takes into account for inspection and measures for safety. Precautions to reduce or
prevent the likelihood of fire and fire safety measures are involved for planning and protection
from flood hazards that threatens the life of the people as a result to injury, property damage or
otherwise losses.

A design of fire vulnerability map is the aim for this research that will serve as a guide for
the barangay to locate which part of the barangay is more prone to fire. This enables residents to
be aware, cautious in handling fire and put them into safety.

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 II. Statement of the Problem

The design of vulnerability map in barangay Maquilao, Tangub City, Misamis, Occidental,
Philippines aims to answer the following questions:
1. What are the parameters needed in designing the fire vulnerability map?
2. What design of fire control is appropriate?
3. What assessment is appropriate?
4. What are the factors triggers the fire?

III. Objectives of the Study

In general this study aims to prevent fire as the main concern in formulating fire preventive
measures. Barangay Maquilao has given the assistance of the Building Code of the Philippines.
The specific objective of this research is to identify the fire resistivity of dwellings to fire and
formulate preventive measures, which can help the barangay from fire damages. Preventing fire
as a main concern aims:
1. To identify the fire resistivity of each residential building in Barangay Maquilao.
2. To locate which part of the barangay is vulnerable to fire.
3. To design a fire vulnerability map.

IV. Significance of the Study

The significance of the study will help the people or residents, the community and the future
researchers.

1. People or residents.
This study will help the people in the barangay especially to the area that is vulnerable to fire
since they will be the first benefactors. It will serve as awareness to them for their safety.

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 2. The city of Tangub.

The researchers aim to gather data that could be useful in identifying problems regarding the
present condition of the area. The study provides information to the City Planning Department,
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). This will serve as a guide for future plans
in decision making for the improvement and management.

3. Future Researchers.
This study will serve as reference to the future researchers. They can use this study as their
extension for enhancement to go deeper beyond this research. It aims to develops and add
knowledge for future improvements of the community as they collect and analyze the data.

V. Scope and Limitation

This study is limited only to the areas within the Barangay Maquilao, Tangub City.
The researcher are tasked to inspect and to locate which part of the barangay is more prone to
fire as to rate the fire resistivity of buildings exclusively within the barangay.

VI. Definition of Terms

Barangay – referred as the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native
Filipino term for a village, district or ward. It is subdivided into smaller areas called Puroks.
Cautious – being careful to avoid potential problems or dangers.
Fire – an occurrence in which something burns has the potential to cause physical damage
through burning.
Fire Safety – refers to planning and infrastructure design aimed at reducing the risk of fire or
impeding the spread of a fire when one does break out.
Fire hazard – are workplace hazards that involve the presence of flame or the risk of an
uncontrolled fire.
Hazard – condition or set of circumstances that present a potential for harm.

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Residential – expresses a relationship with homes, apartments, or any place where people live.
Risk – a situation involving exposure to danger or a probability of something going wrong.
Precautions – a careful action you make in advance and is done to prevent something unpleasant
or dangerous happening.
Prone – subjected to be affected by something.
Timber – referred as wood used in building houses.
Vulnerability – is the inability to resist a hazard or to respond when a disaster has occurred.

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 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Fire risk analysis of residential buildings based on scenario clusters and its application
in fire risk management

This article presents building fire risk analysis model based on scenario clusters and its
application in fire risk management of buildings. Building fire risk analysis is a process of
understanding and characterizing the fire hazards, the unwanted outcomes that may result from
the fire and the probabilities of fire and unwanted outcomes occurring. The purpose is to evaluate
and make a decision about the level of fire risk to determine whether to take appropriate risk
management measures or not. Therefore, building fire risk analysis serves as a basis for fire risk
management. In the paper, scenario clusters are constructed in the process of building fire risk
analysis, and the number of deaths and directive property loss are selected as building fire risk
indexes. Finally, the average fire risk of residential buildings is quantified in detail. With the
types of detailed fire risk models developed here, fire risk management measures could be taken
to improve the building fire safety grading and reduce fire risk levels and subsequent damage.

2.2 A decision model for recommending which building occupants should move where
during fire emergencies

This paper describes a decision model for managing the movement of building
occupants during fire emergencies. Currently available guidance from standard practice, egress
modeling, codes and the research literature, is too general to provide much help to persons
charged with the responsibility of where groups of occupants should be located given a fire
scenario.

2.3 Building safety and human behavior in fire: A literature review

The most crucial aspect of a building's safety in the face of fire is the possibility of safe
escape. An important precondition is that its fire safety facilities enable independent and

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adequate fire response performances by the building's occupants. This paper contains a review of
the available literature on human behavior in a fire so far as building safety is concerned.

2.4 Fire Resistance of Timber Structures

This paper is a report for the National Institute of Standards and Technology. A study
focusing on the fire resistance and fire safety for timber structure or buildings inclined with
strategies and application to fire safety design.

2.5 Assessment of fire hazard in Pakistan

An international journal regarding the causes of fire in urban areas include accidental
fire, antisocial activities, criminal acts, industrial accidents and, at present, terrorism. A
survey of the fire‐exposed buildings and sites has been conducted for this study in order to
identify the causes of fire spread and associated damages. Considering factors for the causes
of fire such as careless handling of burning or combustible materials, smoking close to
hazardous areas of flammable storage (paints, chemicals, textiles, plastics, etc.), lack of
planning for the prevention of spread of fire, ill‐planned storage facilities, etc., indicated
negligent behavior and unawareness of safety measures.

2.6 Fire safety for vulnerable groups: The challenges of cross-sector collaboration in
Norwegian municipalities

The study explores the challenges experienced by service providers in achieving cross-
sector collaboration on fire prevention for vulnerable groups. The findings describe challenges at
three levels: 1) the national regulatory level represents an obstacle to local cross-sector
collaboration, 2) the municipal level lacks strategies and arenas for cross-sector collaboration
for fire safety, and 3) the professional level experiences conflicting values and norms, including
uncertainties about professional boundaries. The study contributes with a social scientific
approach to fire prevention and contributes with new perspectives on fire safety for vulnerable
residents.

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2.7 Structural fire risk: The case of Portugal

This study is focused in mapping the structural fire risk in the vegetated area of Portugal
using a deterministic approach based on the concept of fire risk currently accepted by the
scientific community which consists in the combination of the fire hazard and the potential
economic damage. The obtained fire risk map identifies the areas more prone to be affected by
fires in the future and provides an estimate of the economic damage of the fire which will be a
valuable tool for forest and fire managers and to minimize the economic and environmental
consequences of vegetation fires in Portugal.

2.8 Using the vulnerable localities index to identify priority areas for targeting fire safety
services

This research explores this relationship, identifying that the priority neighborhoods’ of interest to
the police are also areas where there are significantly higher than expected levels of deliberate
fires and malicious false alarm calls to the fire service.

2.9 Participatory Mapping for Urban Fire Risk Reduction in High-density Urban
Settlement

This public outreach attempt generated fire risk maps through overlay analysis and public
perception of fire risk in their neighborhood. Most of the Kelurahan fall under level 4, meaning it
has high fire risk. At the end of the participatory mapping activity, public awareness
towards urban fire safety increased. The community now acknowledges their need of fire
safety equipment and vigilance in activities that could potentially cause a fire outbreak.

2.10 Modeling the risk of structural fire incidents using a self-organizing map

In this study the proposed approach shows superior performance for predicting risk,
although the quality and quantity of training samples is critical to the success of the predictions.

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Author/s Title of work Journal name, Vol., Objectives/ Hypothesis
page no, Publication
yr.

Fire risk analysis of residential buildings Fire Safety Journal 62 Building fire risk analysis
based on scenario clusters and its (2013) 72–78 serves as a basis for fire risk
application in fire risk management management. The study
aims to improve the
building fire safety grading
and reduce fire risk levels
and subsequent damage.
A decision model for recommending Fire Safety Journal 80 This study describes an
which building occupants should move (2016) 20 – 29 Occupant movement
where during fire emergencies decision model.
Intended to assist the
occupants when fire.

Building safety and human behavior in Fire Safety Journal An overview of the critical
fire: A literature review Volume 45, Issue factors which determine
1, January 2010, occupants’ fire response
Pages 1-11 performances, namely the
characteristics of fire,
human beings and
buildings.
Fire Resistance of Timber Structures Draft Report 31 The research study is about
March 2014 pages 4 – the basic understanding of
20 timber structures in fire.
Assessment of fire hazard in Pakistan International Journal, The study aims to identify
Vol. 21 Issue: 1, a potential hazard which is
pp.71-84 faced by the businesses
and community in the city.

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Fire safety for vulnerable groups: The Fire Safety Journal The study contributes with
challenges of cross-sector collaboration Volume a social scientific approach
in Norwegian municipalities 92, September 2017, to fire prevention and
Pages 1-8 contributes with new
perspectives on fire safety
for vulnerable residents.
Volume 573, 15 This study is focused in
Structural fire risk: The case of Portugal December 2016, mapping the structural fire
Pages 883-893 risk within the area of
Portugal using fire risk map
identifying the areas that is
vulnerable to fire.
Using the vulnerable localities index to Fire Safety Journal It is for public safety
identify priority areas for targeting fire Volume 62, Part through the collaboration of
safety services A, November 2013, fire, police and other local
Pages 30-36 public service delivery.

Participatory Mapping for Urban Fire Procedia – Social and A study on a densely
Risk Reduction in High-density Urban Behavioral Sciences populated city prone to
Settlement Volume 227, 14 July urban fires.
2016, Pages 395-401

Modeling the risk of structural fire Fire Safety Journal This study highlights the
incidents using a self-organizing map Volume 49, April Self-Organizing
2012, Pages 1-9 Map (SOM) that is used to
classify and assess the risk
levels of structural.
fire incidents.

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