A suggested model for mass fire spread

Fire following earthquake possesses significant risk of damages to life and property in urban areas. Mitigation and planning can reduce the level of risk associated with post-earthquake fire spread. This paper presents the details of a model that can be used to simulate mass urban fire spread based on the building material. The mechanisms of fire spread both within a building and building to building have been considered. For modelling building-to-building fire spread, the effects of direct flame impingement, heat transfer by convection and radiation, and flaming brands have been included in the model. A cellular automata scheme of modelling was employed for the construction of model. The model was implemented using a free-source computer programming framework which allows integration of building information data in geographic information system and mathematical formulation of fire spread mechanics. The results of the model have been compared with the existing data of mass urban conflagration. The employed algorithm was found to be stable which eliminates the need of large number of iterations to obtain reliable predictions. The results of the model correlated well with the existing data of fire-related damages and extent of fire spread available in the literature.