Emergence of aged populace: who is at higher risk in fires?

✍ Scribed by S. Kose

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 71 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0308-0501
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1018(199911/12)23:6<337::aid-fam708>3.0.co;2-o

✦ Synopsis

What are the capabilities of occupants who are to be safeguarded during a building 5re? What type of disabilities should one assume? An enormous number of people who will experience di7culties once a 5re occurs have never been given the consideration they deserve. Aged persons, in particular, who are considered to be disabled due to their limited ability in perception, making decisions and taking action, have almost been neglected. In this society that has an ever escalating number of persons in 65؉ year age group, the number of disabled persons is much greater than previously assumed. It may simply be that those disabilities are made to seem invisible because the gap between the capabilities of the 65؉ age group and the physical characteristics of the buildings are dealt with by alternative measures (i.e. life safety protection systems). Should a 5re occur in which those alternative measures are not e4ective or insu7cient time is available, it would lead to a tremendous disaster that had not been foreseen. Therefore it is desirable to reconsider the philosophy of 5re safety in buildings to deal with the dramatic change in the capabilities of occupants. It must be pointed out that the recent disaster in Kobe narrowly escaped a large number of 5re fatalities because the majority of people were at home. The main cause of fatalities was being caught under collapsed old timber houses.