The Nightclub fire was an incident that showcased the need to have in place the necessities to reduce the impact of fire when it occurs. The research into the fire incident that claimed 100 people revealed that despite its occurrence, the high number of casualties was due to a lot of negligence and illegalities that were in place within the club. Therefore, the need to understand strategies the do research on fire incidents and also its management has been on the rise as a way to reduce such events and reduce their impact on people’s lives. A step towards understanding the best ways of mitigating fire as well as reducing its effect on people is understanding the different forms of investigating fire incidents. There are numerous methodologies that people rely on as a way to find more information about fire incidents that can be useful in curbing similar events that could occur in the future. They include investigating the history of fire and using descriptive analysis of the events that took place prior, during, and after the fire incident. Others include understanding the actions that took place during the fire incident and also evaluating the entire incident to fin facts that can be beneficial for investigating the fire incident. All these approaches have merits and demerits, and this is the focus of this discussion.
Pros and Cons
The first approach to fire investigation or research is historical perspective or methodology. The historical method analyzes different aspects of the fire event to locate the origin of the fire. The historical perspective or methodology regarding fire incidents answers various questions, such as what was the source of the fire. What was the location of the fire? Where did it start and what happened before the light began. The historical perspective is not experimental but is more of qualitative research where different people can be interviewed to getting more information concerning some of the circumstances surrounding the fire. Therefore, the historical methodology of fire investigation had numerous merits and demerits.
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The first advantage of the historical approach to fire investigation is the fact that it allows the investigator to understand the factors that lead to a fire. Take, for instance, the fire incident at the night club. Applying the historical perspective to fire, the investigators will determine the actual factors that led to the fire. These will lead them because during the event, there were some illegalities such as the materials that were used before the event took, and these could have had a hand in leading the fire ( Falatová et al., 2019). Gathering such data that lead to the fire events is thus critical during fire investigation because they enhance understanding of the materials that lead to the fire as well as the behavior that could have led to the fire event.
Another pro to the historical fire investigation approach is the fact that it allows the investigation to assess the behaviors that could have led to the fire. Such behaviors thus can enable investigators to educate those involved in behaviors change that can lead to mitigation of the fire. The disadvantage of this approach is omission bias. In most cases, a historical investigation is less scientific. Therefore, it relies on interviews and also events that could have led to the fire. Thus, such omission and bias can lead to misinformation during the investigations.
Another methodology is descriptive, and this applies to a scientific means of collecting data about a fire that looks forward to describing the events that took place and might have led to the fire incident. Using this approach to the fire incident at the Night Club, the approach would look to gather data on different issues that lead to the fire and those that made it difficult for the fire to be contained quickly ( Missemer et al., (2019). The advantage of this approach is the fact that it is data-oriented. Uses different analytical tools to gather data on events that lead to a fire. It also collects data on the matter of how the fire spread. In this case, the methodology describes where the fire started and how it spread. Another advantage of this approach is the fact that it allows the researcher to gather data on the dynamics of the fire. These include different information on the heat level, the growth, and the development of fire. It also helps in gathering data on peak points to regain gas accumulation and other factors that could have the least spread in other areas more than others within the room.
The disadvantage this approach may have is the fact that it relies more on simulation and estimation to gather data and facts about a fire event. In this sense, the approach may not be precise on some estimation and simulation, too, may not be accurate. In this sense, there is a high chance of inaccuracy in data description. Another con is that it may take a long time before the data is finalized because of it descriptive approach look to use numerous tool to collect data, analyze the data and also present in forms that is easy to read and understand. Time consumption can be a big challenge during a fire investigation. Another approach is the action-based approach that gathers information about the actions that were taken before, during, and after the fire events and how such action could have caused or spread the fire ( Missemer et al., (2019). The first advantage of this approach is it easy to conduct because it focuses on the decision and action that people made and did that would have led to the spread of fire. The decision on the fuel load within the building, the choice that people made during the event such as lack of coordination during the fire exit, the time it took to alarm people, and other vital data ( Falatová et al., 2019). The disadvantage of this approach is that it can be affected by bias as most of such an explanation of action and estimation must come from simulation and interviews. Also, the investigations take longer, depending on the data quantity fire investigators have during the event.
The last methodology is the evaluative approach that involves observation of the aftermath of the fire, documentation of the events, and analysis based on the events that occurred before the fire. The advantage of this approach is the fact that it allows for observative techniques for developing ideas. The investigator has a chance to observe, and compare observations gathered from statistics during, before and after the event. It cannot take short periods to evaluate the data from the fire events. However, the method's advantage is its subjective nature as investigators include data regarding observations as part of the results. In most cases, the method cannot stand alone as it relies on the evidence that is gathered using other approaches such as the historical data and descriptive statistics to make a connection with the observations.
The Impact of Each Method
The purpose of using each of these methods is understanding the fire's cause, the cause of casualties to come up with recommendations to reduce the impact of fire when it occurs in other places. Therefore, by using a historical approach to investigating the fire, the investigators can understand people’s behaviors before the fire that could have led to its cause and behaviors that could have led to its spread. In this sense, using this approach means that the fire investigators can understand where to begin the investigation process and where to start the mitigation process to prevent such actions or behavior from happening in other areas and leading to fire disasters. It also implies that by using the descriptive approach, the fire investigators can obtain critical data and description concerning where the fire began, the materials, how it spread, and the heart is produced, and the areas where it was much intense and developed quickly. In this manner, they can be able to recommend a different material that can be used for fire measures, the design of the building to enhance mitigation. They can also understand the dynamics of the fire, and this can be critical in controlling its intensity. In the same manner, fire investigators can benefit a lot by carrying out action-based research. Using this approach, they can understand the tools that were used to fight the fire and whether these tools were useful in controlling the intensity or developments of the fire( Falatová et al., 2019). By carrying out actioned based investigation also, the inquiry can understand the intent of each action taken during the shooting and whether such activities led to the spread of fire or reduced its intensity.
For a recommendation of behaviors and steps that need to be taken during a fire event, the conductive evaluative approach is critical during a fire event. With the results of such evaluative research, the fire service can be improved by educating people on the best way to behave and the best action to take during the fire event. Furthermore, such results are paramount because they reveal the mistakes that people made that could have resulted in a fire ( Mees& Murray, 2019). Coming up with such recommendations be critical in improving fire services. For instance, on the Night Club fire, the assistant arrived late, and this could mean that the management should increase the response to such events, it can save more people.
Tools
For the historical approach, tools such as the plan of the house could be important. Also, it can rely on an interview as a tool for gathering data to assess the history of fire. Relying on the past documents on this issue can also give a glimpse of the history of the fire. For descriptive, tools such as survey questionnaires can be appropriate for such methods. Also, Projective Technique and case method analysis can apply to gather data and do research on fire events . Others include longitudinal studies and document revision, which can also give descriptive data on the fire events that can be critical while making recommendations for such events.
For Action-based research methods, a survey questionnaire can be effective. Also, an interview can be effective in this case because the investigators would like to understand the intent of each decision-maker before they engaged in any activity during the fire event. For the evaluative approach, observation can be critical. In the same manner, approaches such an interview, house plan review, and also statistical analysis can be essential to get data for more research. Understanding the methodologies for investigating fire events is a critical step towards understanding the mitigating measures to curb the impact of fire in people’s lives. Therefore, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of each of the methods discussed can be critical towards selecting the best approach to use based on the case presented.
References
Falatová, B., Ferreiro-González, M., Kačiková, D., Galla, S., Palma, M., &Barroso, C. G. (2019). CHEMOMETRIC TOOLS USED IN THE PROCESS OF FIRE INVESTIGATION. Acta FacultatisXylologiaeZvolen res PublicaSlovaca , 61 (1), 111-119.
Mees, C., & Murray, T. (2019). Visual and Screen-Based Research Methodologies. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education .
Missemer, L., Ouedraogo, E., Malecot, Y., Clergue, C., &Rogat, D. (2019). Fire spalling of ultra-high performance concrete: From a global analysis to microstructure investigations. Cement and Concrete Research , 115 , 207-219.
