The Role of Design and Construction in Mitigating Fire Disasters in Housing in Nigeria

Abstract

Fire occurrence in and around human living spaces is inevitable due to the twin inescapable human errors of commission and omission. Fire disaster could render a whole family homeless in a blink of a moment, a government building totally inhabitable and vital document completely burnt, and even sustainable private and public housing effort might be threatened by unexpected fire disasters. According to NEMA (2012), “ A disaster describes the situation where the occurrence of abnormal or infrequent hazardous event has impact on the communities, causing substantial damages, disruption and possible casualties and leaving the affected communities unable to function normally without external assistance’’. Nothing could be sustainably done to stop fire occurrence but the concern is how the spread could be mitigated. The paper examined fire disaster, the hazards, destruction of property and loss of lives. It focused on fire spread and ways of curtailing it through design and construction management. It also determined measures that could be taken to mitigate the impacts. The research methodology made use of primary and secondary data for its data. The primary sources were made up of field surveys, use of questionnaires randomly administered to relevant professionals and stakeholders in housing provisions. Secondary sources were used encompassing extracts from related literatures, journals, magazines and articles from the internet. The data were analysed using discreet statistics and presented in tables and graphs. The results showed that fire occurrence could not be humanly stopped but the spread through material specifications, using fire rated doors and windows, compartmentalising building spaces and treating them with materials resistant to fire, and avoiding fire fuels in housing environment vulnerable to fires. The paper concluded that through design and construction management the impact of fire disaster could be minimised.