Smoke Detectors: Reducing Deaths and Injuries Due to Fire

The United States leads all nations in the incidence of deaths due to fire. In the past two decades significant technologic advances have resulted in the development of inexpensive and reliable smoke detectors. These detectors can provide early warning to allow sleeping residents easy exit when a fire occurs in the home. Currently, there are three major types of early warning devices: heat detectors, photoelectric smoke detectors, and ionization smoke detectors. Heat detectors sound an alarm in response to rapid increases in temperature and/ or ambient temperatures above 135 F. Photoelectric smoke detectors are particularly effective for smoldering fires, because they are less influenced by the smaller particles of combustion emitted during household cooking or from automobile exhaust than are ionization smoke detectors. The ionization smoke detectors respond more quickly than photoelectric smoke detectors to fast burning fires and have been proved effective in sounding an early alarm in the vast majority of home fires. For best all-around fire protection, a home should have more than one type of detector. Detectors should be located on the ceiling or high on the ceiling of every level of the house close to each bedroom. Properly installed and maintained smoke detectors can reduce the tragic consequences of home fires, but even greater gains can be made by combining these early warning systems with a reduction in home fire hazards and in practicing a well planned fire escape route.

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Verification of Red Flag Warnings across the Northwestern U.S. as Forecasts of Large Fire Occurrence

Fire ◽

10.3390/fire3040060 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 60

Author(s):

Joshua Clark ◽

John T. Abatzoglou ◽

Nicholas J. Nauslar ◽

Alistair M.S. Smith

Keyword(s):

Early Warning ◽

Warning System ◽

Early Warning Systems ◽

The United States ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Warning Systems ◽

Large Fire ◽

Fire Activity ◽

Large Fires ◽

Red Flag

Red Flag Warnings (RFWs) issued by the National Weather Service in the United States (U.S.) are an important early warning system for fire potential based on forecasts of critical fire weather that promote increased fire activity, including the occurrence of large fires. However, verification of RFWs as they relate to fire activity is lacking, thereby limiting means to improve forecasts as well as increase value for end users. We evaluated the efficacy of RFWs as forecasts of large fire occurrence for the Northwestern U.S.—RFWs were shown to have widespread significant skill and yielded an overall 124% relative improvement in forecasting large fire occurrences than a reference forecast. We further demonstrate that the skill of RFWs is significantly higher for lightning-ignited large fires than for human-ignited fires and for forecasts issued during periods of high fuel dryness than those issued in the absence of high fuel dryness. The results of this first verification study of RFWs related to actualized fire activity lay the groundwork for future efforts towards improving the relevance and usefulness of RFWs and other fire early warning systems to better serve the fire community and public.

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Monitoring and prediction in Early Warning Systems (EWS) for rapid mass movements

Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/nhessd-2-7149-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2 (11) ◽

pp. 7149-7179 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

M. Stähli ◽

M. Sättele ◽

C. Huggel ◽

B. W. McArdell ◽

P. Lehmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Warning ◽

Early Warning Systems ◽

Mass Movements ◽

Warning Systems ◽

The Past ◽

Substantial Risk ◽

State Of Practice ◽

Cost Efficient ◽

Rapid Mass ◽

Efficient Measures

Abstract. Rapid mass movements (RMM) pose a substantial risk to people and infrastructure. Reliable and cost-efficient measures have to be taken to reduce this risk. One of these measures includes establishing and advancing the State of Practice in the application of Early Warning Systems (EWS). EWS have been developed during the past decades and are rapidly increasing. In this document, we focus on the technical part of EWS, i.e. the prediction and timely recognition of imminent hazards, as well as on monitoring slopes at risk and released mass movements. Recent innovations in assessing spatial precipitation, as well as monitoring and modelling precursors, the triggering and deformation of RMM offer new opportunities for next-generation EWS. However, technical advancement can only be transferred into more reliable, operational EWS with an intense dialog between scientists, engineers and those in charge of warning. To this end, further experience with new comprehensive prototype systems jointly operated by scientists and practitioners will be essential.

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Monitoring and prediction in early warning systems for rapid mass movements

Natural Hazards and Earth System Science ◽

10.5194/nhess-15-905-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 905-917 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

M. Stähli ◽

M. Sättele ◽

C. Huggel ◽

B. W. McArdell ◽

P. Lehmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Warning ◽

Early Warning Systems ◽

Mass Movements ◽

Warning Systems ◽

The Past ◽

Substantial Risk ◽

State Of Practice ◽

Cost Efficient ◽

Rapid Mass ◽

Efficient Measures

Abstract. Rapid mass movements (RMM) pose a substantial risk to people and infrastructure. Reliable and cost-efficient measures have to be taken to reduce this risk. One of these measures includes establishing and advancing the state of practice in the application of early warning systems (EWSs). EWSs have been developed during the past decades and are rapidly increasing. In this paper, we focus on the technical part of EWSs, i.e., the prediction and timely recognition of imminent hazards, as well as on monitoring slopes at risk and released mass movements. Recent innovations in assessing spatial precipitation, monitoring and precursors of the triggering and deformation of RMM offer new opportunities for next-generation EWSs. However, technical advancement can only be transferred into more reliable, operational EWSs with an adequate well-instructed dedicated staff. To this end, an intense dialog between scientists, engineers and those in charge of warning, as well as further experience with new comprehensive prototype systems jointly operated by scientists and practitioners, will be essential.

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Goes-13 IR Images for Rainfall Forecasting in Hurricane Storms

Forecasting ◽

10.3390/forecast2020005 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 85-101

Author(s):

Marilu Meza-Ruiz ◽

Alfonso Gutierrez-Lopez

Keyword(s):

Early Warning ◽

Satellite Images ◽

Early Warning Systems ◽

The United States ◽

Warning Systems ◽

Rainfall Forecasting ◽

Systematic Analysis ◽

Tropical Regions ◽

Surface Precipitation ◽

Analysis Of The Images

Currently, it is possible to access a large amount of satellite weather information from monitoring and forecasting severe storms. However, there are no methods of employing satellite images that can improve real-time early warning systems in different regions of Mexico. The auto-estimator is the most commonly used technique that was developed for specific locations in the United States of America (32°–49° latitude) for the type of convective storms. However, the estimation of precipitation intensities for meteorological conditions in tropic latitudes, using the auto-estimator technique, needs to be re-adjusted and calibrated. It is necessary to improve this type of technique that allows decision-makers to have hydro-informatic tools capable of improving early warning systems in tropical regions (15°–25° Mexican tropic latitude). The main objective of the work is to estimate rainfall from satellite imagery in the infrared (IR) spectrum from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), validating these estimates with a network of surface rain gauges. Using the GOES-13 IR images every 15 min and using the auto-estimator, a downscaling of six hurricanes was performed from which surface precipitation events were measured. The two main difficulties were to match the satellite images taken every 15 min with the surface data measured every 10 min and to develop a program in C+ that would allow the systematic analysis of the images. The results of this work allow us to get a new adjustment of coefficients in a new equation of the auto-estimator, valid for rain produced by hurricanes, something that has not been done until now. Although no universal relationship has been found for hurricane rainfall, it is evident that the original formula of the auto-estimator technique needs to be modified according to geographical latitude.

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Assessment of extreme heat and hospitalizations to inform early warning systems

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1806393116 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 116 (12) ◽

pp. 5420-5427 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Ambarish Vaidyanathan ◽

Shubhayu Saha ◽

Ana M. Vicedo-Cabrera ◽

Antonio Gasparrini ◽

Nabill Abdurehman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Warning ◽

Weather Forecasting ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Early Warning Systems ◽

The United States ◽

Heat Index ◽

Warning Systems ◽

Two Stage ◽

Time Period ◽

Stage Analysis

Heat early warning systems and action plans use temperature thresholds to trigger warnings and risk communication. In this study, we conduct multistate analyses, exploring associations between heat and all-cause and cause-specific hospitalizations, to inform the design and development of heat–health early warning systems. We used a two-stage analysis to estimate heat–health risk relationships between heat index and hospitalizations in 1,617 counties in the United States for 2003–2012. The first stage involved a county-level time series quasi-Poisson regression, using a distributed lag nonlinear model, to estimate heat–health associations. The second stage involved a multivariate random-effects meta-analysis to pool county-specific exposure–response associations across larger geographic scales, such as by state or climate region. Using results from this two-stage analysis, we identified heat index ranges that correspond with significant heat-attributable burden. We then compared those with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service (NWS) heat alert criteria used during the same time period. Associations between heat index and cause-specific hospitalizations vary widely by geography and health outcome. Heat-attributable burden starts to occur at moderately hot heat index values, which in some regions are below the alert ranges used by the NWS during the study time period. Locally specific health evidence can beneficially inform and calibrate heat alert criteria. A synchronization of health findings with traditional weather forecasting efforts could be critical in the development of effective heat–health early warning systems.

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The CARE Telematics Network for the Surveillance of Influenza in Europe

Methods of Information in Medicine ◽

10.1055/s-0038-1634617 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 34 (05) ◽

pp. 518-522 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

M. Bensadon ◽

A. Strauss ◽

R. Snacken

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Early Warning ◽

Early Warning Systems ◽

Warning Systems ◽

Surveillance Networks ◽

Spanish Flu ◽

The 1950S ◽

National Networks ◽

First Time

Abstract:Since the 1950s, national networks for the surveillance of influenza have been progressively implemented in several countries. New epidemiological arguments have triggered changes in order to increase the sensitivity of existent early warning systems and to strengthen the communications between European networks. The WHO project CARE Telematics, which collects clinical and virological data of nine national networks and sends useful information to public health administrations, is presented. From the results of the 1993-94 season, the benefits of the system are discussed. Though other telematics networks in this field already exist, it is the first time that virological data, absolutely essential for characterizing the type of an outbreak, are timely available by other countries. This argument will be decisive in case of occurrence of a new strain of virus (shift), such as the Spanish flu in 1918. Priorities are now to include other existing European surveillance networks.

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