An evolutionary approach for fire risk assessment in Brazilian slums.

Abstract

Fires are frequent in urban slums. In general, a fire beginning in a slum community gets out of control and the resultant fire propagation affects large areas. Lack of reliable data on slum fires is an obstacle for immediate application of quantitative methods for fire risk assessment. This article proposes an evolutionary approach to risk assessment in slums. The concepts of structured and unstructured systems for risk assessment are introduced. A sequence of methods is proposed going from qualitative to fully quantitative. In addition, a critical analysis of the index method is provided; such a method might avoid subjectivity in adopting a power rule for risk and safety factors.