Validity of South African design water flows for fire protection in KwaZulu-Natal rural towns

Abstract

Fire accidents can be catastrophic, causing loss of life, property and livelihood. Firefighting can therefore be defined as “fire suppression, search and rescue, extrication, ventilation, salvage, overhaul and emergency medical services”. So, while numerous methods exist to extinguish fires, the primary resource used in South Africa is potable water supplied via water distribution systems. In South Africa, the provision of water for firefighting is legally the responsibility of property owners. The main aim of this study was to compute the volumes, durations, and fire flows that have been needed to extinguish fires within a KwaZulu-Natal district municipality and compare them to the existing South African fire flow design standards to expose any inconsistencies between the two. The study achieved this by visiting the three fire stations within the said KwaZulu- Natal district municipality and collecting the records available on the fire incidents that have occurred since the establishment of each fire station. For each of the said fire stations, the study analysed each record to ascertain the volume of water used to extinguish each fire and estimated the time it took to extinguish the fire in order to calculate the average required flow that was used to extinguish the fire. The findings revealed that the study area falls under Moderate Risk 2 per the Guidelines for Human Settlement Planning and Design (2019). It was also found that most fires occur between the hours of 14:00 and 19:00. Most of the fires in the study were classified under grass fires at 54%, followed by structural fires at 30%, and industrial fires accounted only for 16%. The average amount of water required to extinguish all fires in the area was 23.677KL/day, which is only 13.15% of the 180KL/day recommended by the Guidelines for Human Settlement Planning and Design (2019). The study also found that a Water Distribution System (WDS) that considers fire flow was far more expensive to build than a WDS that did not consider fire flow. Considering fire flow in the WDS increased the cost of construction by approximately 40%. The 40% percentage cost increase, coupled with the low volume of water required to extinguish fires (23.677KL/day), suggests a need to reassess the figures provided by the current South African fire flow guidelines. South African national standards and guidelines need to be reduced, especially for rural towns where fires were extinguished with less than 15% of the water currently recommended for storage. For a safety factor of 2, a storage capacity of 50KL/day in place of 180KL/day was recommended for risk category 2.