Direction of FIRE Response in Super Tall Buildings

Abstract

Not long ago, a fire in high‐rise buildings in London, England, killed 58 people and caused enormous damage, which is the worst fire incident in the UK since World War II. In Korea, high‐rise buildings and super tall buildings have a tendency to continue to increase, but they are more vulnerable to fire response. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss prevention and countermeasures against super tall buildings in the future. As such, super tall buildings have been increasing more and more, but super tall buildings have not been able to cope with the fire countermeasures. Thus, this article examines the fire vulnerability of super tall buildings and the difficulty of fire suppression of super tall buildings, and suggests ways to prevent and quickly cope with fire in super tall buildings in the future. Super tall buildings are more vulnerable to fire. Of course, super tall buildings are strictly regulated with firefighting facilities such as sprinklers, evacuation facilities, and firewalls rather than general buildings. However, if fire breaks out due to the failure of fire suppression in the early stage of the fire, the firefighting authority is more vulnerable to fire because the firefighting must be accompanied by considerable difficulty. In particular, firefighting and rescue operations using helicopters are also difficult to access due to the rapidly changing currents around high‐rise buildings. And as a result, firefighters must enter the super tall buildings themselves to quell the fire, which is not easy. Therefore super tall buildings fires are more vulnerable. Therefore, in case of fire in super tall buildings, fire suppression is very difficult, so more attention should be paid to fire prevention. Super tall buildings in many countries overseas, the emphasis is on expanding fire protection and fire evacuation facilities by applying very strict regulations. In Korea, it is also necessary to strengthen regulations for fire‐fighting facilities such as fire detectors and sprinklers for each building, and to strengthen the inspection in advance. The introduction of mid‐sized to large‐sized helicopters that can extinguish the fire of super tall buildings seems to be urgent. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the initial fire detection system. In addition, it would be a good way to reduce the damage by conducting evacuation drills in advance for residents.