A resident flees from the blaze as a shack goes up in flames behind her. File Picture.
Johannesburg - Shack fires leave devastation in their wake and now results of newly released research into the fires says they can spread to at least 20 shacks in just under five minutes.
The research, published by the Fire Engineering Research Unit at Stellenbosch University in collaboration with the Western Cape Disaster Management, Fire and Rescue Services and the Breede Valley Municipality fire department, was the world’s largest informal settlement fire experiment consisting of 20 homes.
“People often criticise the fire department for not acting swiftly, but our experiment showed that a fire can move really, really fast. Firefighters have always known this but now we have better experimental data to understand the problem and analyse interventions.
“From our experiment we could see that certain interventions currently being implemented would have been ineffective for slowing down this fire. For instance, fire-resistant paint would have had little impact due to the intensity of the fire and the fact that the fire ignited homes through any small openings in these structures, negating the influence of coatings.
“Also, doors and windows in a densely-packed settlement will always provide an easy entrance for fire,” said Stellenbosch Professor Richard Walls who managed the project.
The experiment was designed by Walls’s colleague Nico de Koker who also analysed the results.
De Koker said the study simulated a “fire line” which would be found in a dense settlement as a large fire moves through it.
Walls said that it took five minutes for the fire to start and to destroy 20 homes. “After around 16 minutes there were almost no homes left standing in the experiment, there was simply a pile of scrap metal lying on the floor. Temperatures of up to around 1 200°C were measured and flames many metres long emerged from dwellings.”
Walls said that this research would help fire departments develop better planning around the management of informal settlement blazes.
“Although there are no easy solutions to the problem, at least the data is immediately showing what sort of interventions are likely to be less effective. Computer models have been developed to simulate fire spread through settlements, and may soon be useful decision-making tools for analysing risk in settlements, and potentially for developing fire safety strategies.”
The Star