Investigation on Fire Protection System of Highrise Buildings in the Context of Bir Uttam Aminul Haque Avenue in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

Rapid high-rise building construction of different occupancies is becoming popular in Dhaka due to its economic gain and functional flexibility. Fire prevention poses a significant difficulty to this type of construction due to its complexity and economic worth as well. Therefore, construction of high-rise building without following the proper fire safety measures, is a common practice at present in the city and it poses a greater threat to urban life considering its associated loss. Even though, most of the owners or authorities do not respect the construction code and the majority of them lack sufficient awareness and basic fire control knowledge and practice. More often, they are unable to comprehend the magnitude and severity of severe fire hazards, and recognize the causes and implementing effective mitigation measures are rare. As a result, the number of fire hazard in high-rise construction is increasing day by day. Hence, investigating the present condition of high-rise buildings (already built) in terms of Fire Protection System is imperative to prevent the upcoming fire hazard. An urban chunk of 33 plots along with Bir Uttam Aminul Haque Avenue, located in Banani, has been chosen for the study area considering its vulnerability to fire hazard. Among these buildings, STAR Tower and HBR Tower, these two high-rise buildings are assessed thoroughly using FRI (Fire Risk Index) Method. The method is semi-quantitative in nature with seventeen parameters associated with fire protection. This assessment represents a scenario in what extent fire codes are being followed in the selected area. It concludes that most of the buildings lack in providing protection against fire hazards for not following the code strictly. This research provides some recommendations which can be followed to improve the fire safety measures in this existing context. It is expected that this research could be a unique addition to firefighting knowledge by contributing to mitigating the consequences of fire related hazards in any densely populated city like Dhaka.