This paper presents a stochastic model for emergency evacuation simulation such as for a subway station. The model, MCEVAC was developed using Monte Carlo and a macro-simulation technique; the model includes a number of random variables, such as occupant load, initial occupant load, and pre-evacuation time. A random event of a train fire including fire location, fire growth rate, and the effect...

Aims Responses of ecological restoration projects to disturbances are rarely explored, yet their capacity withstand and recover from disturbance (resilience) is a critical measure success. In many plant communities, the soil seed bank (SSB) provides an important source propagules for species persistence community resilience disturbance. Understanding how SSBs develop with time can inform resili...

The Hayman forest fire occurred near Denver, burning ~138,000 acres during 8 June-2 July 2002. It produced aerosol that filled the troposphere over Colorado, allowing an investigation of the effects of increased aerosol concentration on cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning polarity. Specifically, we examine whether positive CG (+CG) flashes are favored in smoky environments. Aerosol optical depth (AO...

Characterising the dynamics of landscape-scale wildfires at very high temporal resolutions is best achieved using observations from Earth Observation (EO) sensors mounted onboard geostationary satellites. As a result, a number of operational active fire products have been developed from the data of such sensors. An example of which are the Fire Radiative Power (FRP) products, the FRP-PIXEL and ...

While sleep is clearly a major risk factor for dying in a fire, in this review it is argued that in most fire fatalities during the sleeping period additional risk factors are also operating. This view is consistent with the data from empirical sleep studies and smoke alarms where most (but not all) adults tested will awaken to a signal reaching the pillow at 75 dBA. However, research suggests ...

NASA plans to launch the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the polar orbiting Earth Observation System (EOS) for morning and evening global observations in 1998 and afternoon and night observations in 2000. These 4 MODIS daily fire observations will advance global fire monitoring with special 1 km resolution fire channels at 4 μm and 11 μm, with high saturation at 500K an...

We introduce an open-source software Aamks for fire risk assessment. This article focuses on a component of Aamks – an evacuation simulator named a-evac. A-evac models evacuation of humans in the fire environment produced by CFAST fire simulator. In the article we discuss the probabilistic evacuation approach, automatic planning of exit routes, the interactions amongst the moving evacuees and t...

Evaluation of injury prevention programs is critical for measuring program effects on reducing injury-related morbidity and mortality or on increasing the adoption of safety practices. During the planning and implementation of injury prevention programs, evaluation data also can be used to test program strategies and to measure the program's penetration among the target population. The availabi...

Environmental effects and hazards in combustion ....................................................................................... 1 Fire safety. Protection and remediation .................................................................................................... 2 Fire safety education .................................................................................................

Blood samples submitted to the Civil Aeromedical Institute (CAMI) from aviation accident fatalities are analyzed for carbon monoxide (CO), as carboxyhemoglobin (COHb), and hydrogen cyanide, as cyanide (CN(-)). These analyses are performed to establish possible exposure of victims to smoke from in-flight/post-crash fires or to CO from faulty exhaust/heating systems. The presence of both gases in...