Resilience of the Built Environment to Fire and Fire-Following-Earthquake: Fid-Bau Portal

Resilience of the Built Environment to Fire and Fire-Following-Earthquake

Gernay, Thomas / Khorasani, Negar Elhami

Abstract The issue of resilience of the built environment to fire is discussed in this chapter. Fire is considered either as a single or cascading multi-hazard event, with a dedicated section on fire-following-earthquake. First, a description of the fire issue in developed countries is provided based on discussion of past incidents and data on fire-related human and economic costs. Then, the current approach to fire safety is critically examined. It is argued that this approach is unable to deliver the resiliency level expected from the buildings and infrastructure systems in our modern, interconnected societies. The case is made for a complementary, performance-based approach to fire safety, which builds on new paradigms in terms of Goal, Scale, Uncertainty, and Hazard Scenario. Recent advances made in other structural engineering subfields, most notably seismic engineering, are briefly reviewed to provide context to resilience assessment and performance-based designs, while highlighting the specificities of structural fire engineering. Then, the research toward advancing the principles of resilience in structural fire engineering is examined, including current gaps in knowledge. The case of fire-following-earthquake is explored. Finally, the chapter concludes with perspectives on the future of the topic.