Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

Post-earthquake fire risk can be different from other design scenarios because fire protection systems can be non-functional even when a building itself is structurally sound. We have developed a prototype of a seismic-induced fire risk assessment method to evaluate fire risk based on factors such as size and type of buildings, installed fire protection systems, and the intensity of input earthquake motion. This paper describes the outline of the framework and examples of results from a case study applying a tentative simplified model. Results from our study show that sprinkler systems that are designed to be seismically resistant have a significant effect in mitigating fire risk associated with earthquakes.