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Panic Behavior

• The media tends to show that fire and panic are closely linked.

• Over the past 30 years more and more studies have been done regarding panic.

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have been done regarding panic.• What this has shown is that in most cases panic

did not occur.

Panic Behavior• An early definition of panic was:A sudden and excessive feeling of alarm or fear usually affecting a body of persons, originating in some real or supposed danger, vaguely apprehended, and leading to extravagant and injudicious efforts to secure safety.

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injudicious efforts to secure safety.• A new definition for panic is:A fear-induced flight behavior which is non rational, nonadaptive, and nonsocial, which serves to reduce the escape possibilities of the group as a whole.

Panic Behavior

The four elements of panic are:1. A hope for escape, even with closing escape

routes.2. Contagious behavior, especially if keynoted by

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2. Contagious behavior, especially if keynoted by leaders of the group affected by the fire.

3. “Aggressive concern” by the individual for his or her own safety, as opposed to concern for others in the same fire.

4. Irrational, illogical response to the fire situation

Panic BehaviorStudies show that one or more of these elements were missing in most fire evacuations:• There is usually no evidence of panic when

there is no hope of escape.• Contagious behavior is very common in

emergencies or ambiguous situations simply

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emergencies or ambiguous situations simply because people tend to “follow the leader” in times of stress or when they need reassurance about the right thing to do.

• Panic occurs in those instances where an individual does not follow the actions of the group.

Panic Behavior

• People often help others - even at great personal risk.

• Escape strategies that are unsuccessful are not necessarily irrational or illogical.

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There was no panic behavior among the 164 victims of the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire

MAKING SENSE OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR DURING FIRES

• How people react during a fire is based on a complex pattern of human behavior. This can be grouped together in a process called Decision Process of the Individuals.

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Decision Process of the Individuals.• People use six basic techniques to decide what

to do in an emergency situation. These are recognition, validation, definition, evaluation, commitment, and reassessment.

Recognition

• The recognition process happens when the individual perceives cues that indicate a threat of fire.

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of fire. • These cue may be ambiguous and not always

indicative of a severe fire. This is where something “does not feel right” to the person. The threat is unrecognized until flame, heat, or smoke are seen.

Validation

• The validation process consists of attempts by the individual to determine the seriousness of

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the individual to determine the seriousness of the threat cues.

• Question such as “Do we evacuate the building?” or “Do you smell smoke?”

Definition

• The definition process basically consists of an attempt by the individual to relate information concerning the threat to some certain variable, such as the qualitative nature of the threat, the

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such as the qualitative nature of the threat, the magnitude of deprivation of the threat, and the time context.

• In this part the person will determine a course of action on “How much smoke do we see” or “How much heat do we feel”.

Evaluation• The evaluation process can be described as the

cognitive and psychological activities required for the individual to respond to the threat.

• The individuals ability to reduce their stress levels became an essential psychological factor.

• In this process the threat created by the fire will

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• In this process the threat created by the fire will determine the decision of whether to fight the fire or take flight.

• Because of the speed at which the fire grows and intensifies, the time frame for this evaluation is usually completed in a few seconds.

Commitment

• This part of the process consists of mechanisms the individual will use to initiate

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mechanisms the individual will use to initiate the behavioral activity required to fulfill the defense plan that was developed in the evaluation process.

Reassessment

• This is the most stressful of the processes for the individual because the last process has failed.

• As successive failures are encountered the

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• As successive failures are encountered the individual will become more frustrated.

• At this point the possibility of injury and risk increase with a greater activity level and with less probability of success.

• At this point decisions become less rational.

OTHER ACTIONS AFFECTING PEOPLES REACTION TO FIRE

AVOIDANCE

• A person can feel that they protect themselves, from a psychological standpoint, denying unpleasant situations.

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unpleasant situations. • This is a form of denial that is common in early

stages of a fire. • Avoidance is one of the reasons that many people

delay their reaction to a fire, by treating the alarm as a “false alarm”.

COMMITMENT• Most persons are committed to what they are

doing at the time, work projects, leisure activities, personal projects, etc.

• When a person picks up cues of a fire they will continue working despite the danger warnings. People will finish up what they are doing and

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People will finish up what they are doing and then evacuate the danger area, even though the alarm has sounded.

• At other times a person may see the warning signal that a fire alarm is occurring, but still enter the building as if nothing is wrong.

AFFILIATION

• People are social animals, and tend to act as a group, whether they know the people or not.

• Most people leave together in a danger situation, and the speed of the evacuation is usually based on the speed of the slowest member.

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on the speed of the slowest member. • This affiliation explains why parents will not

leave without their children, and why people will wait for co-workers and even strangers.

ROLE

• The role or status of someone will determine how they will react in a fire situation.

• Someone unfamiliar with a building or facility, i.e., a visitor, may take more time to react to a fire threat than someone who works or lives

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fire threat than someone who works or lives there.

• People will tend to turn to someone “in the know”, such as a supervisor, security personnel, or firefighter for information on what to do next in the emergency.

LIFE SAFETY STRATEGIES

• Ideally, building design considers the risk factors that are associated with occupants and fires, and includes the safety features that might mitigate the risks.

• Some of the strategies that are used to limit these

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• Some of the strategies that are used to limit these risks are:1. Fire prevention, 2. Fire management, 3. Occupant management.

FIRE PREVENTION

• If there is no fire then there is no harm from it. • Fire prevention methods have the potential to

eliminate fire safety measures. But, since fire prevention is not totally effective it can not be relied on as the sole answer to fire control.

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relied on as the sole answer to fire control. • Fire prevention relates to the control of heat

sources and their coming in contact with burnable fuels.

• Fire prevention also deals with the major cause fires - humans.

FIRE MANAGEMENT• Since we cannot control all ignitions, we must

consider the management of the fires. • This strategy attempts to control the rate of

production of smoke and heat by controlling the• combustion process by manual or automatic

suppression, and to control the products of

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suppression, and to control the products ofcombustion through ventilation and/or containment.

• The objective of fire management is to reduce the risks associated with fire growth, and to reduce fire and smoke spread.

OCCUPANT MANAGEMENT

• This is the most complex of the strategies, because we are dealing with people.

• Occupant management involves undertaking emergency action appropriate to the expected fire

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emergency action appropriate to the expected fire development and to the characteristics of the occupants.

• To initiate occupant management there must first be detection and alerting activities.

OCCUPANT MANAGEMENT

• The functions performed by this equipment involves evacuation, refuge or rescue.

• Evacuation is the most common approach for

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• Evacuation is the most common approach for occupants that are alert and mobile.

• Areas of refuge from fire and smoke are employed to move occupants in the building to safe areas to await emergency personnel.