A Proposed Design of a Fire Service Headquarter, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

ABSTRACT

Fire outbreaks often occur with the exigency of appropriate response from building occupants in order to safely escape it. Fire safety in buildings is a major design consideration in architecture which helps everyone to escape by way of the most harmless and closest exit point. The research method used in this project work was case studies and descriptive survey research. This method involved field trips by the researcher to gather information through the assessment of some existing fire stations to establish how prepared fire fighters are towards combating fire outbreak, with a view to identify areas for further improvements. The results revealed that the firefighting responses to fire outbreak is low. The active and passive fire emergency provisions in the stations exhibit various levels of inadequacies. A significant finding was that there was no provision of any full scale firefighting appliances and equipment in the stations. Some of the suggestions made are that: the fire station facility should be retrofitted with the various active and passive firefighting appliances and equipment found to be lacking; and workshops, seminars and fire drill should be conducted periodically for the firefighters in conformity with best practices.