|
|
|
|
|
29 May 2026
|
Featured FRI Magazine article: Fire station planning principles: The importance of understanding planning drivers by Previn D Govender
A dynamic metropolitan local government environment constantly pursues the best models for service delivery
|
Figure 1: Stages of fire development showing sequences of events that may occur from ignition, discovery and response
|
It may not always be possible to have a fire station in an exact geographic centre of the area to be serviced
|
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Fire station planning principles: The importance of understanding planning drivers written by the late Previn D Govender, divisional head: strategy and planning, City of Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (at the time of writing the article), (FRI Vol 3 no 12). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
Fire station planning principles: The importance of understanding planning drivers
By Previn D Govender, divisional head: strategy and planning, City of Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (at the time of writing the article)
In this second part of the four part series on fire station planning principles, we focus on the importance of understanding planning drivers, including the South African National Standards (SANS) category 1 rating, urban complexity factor, consulting spatial development frameworks, optimal siting of fire stations, the importance of time and alignment to standard.
The importance of the SANS Category 1 rating
The South African National Standard on Community Protection against Fire (SANS 10090) provides advice on the measures that should be taken by a controlling authority to ensure that the provision of fire services is done according to desired levels of efficiency.
SANS 10090 includes a schedule against which the performance potential of each aspect as well as of the whole of a fire service can be judged. A fire-risk rating based on this schedule will indicate the extent to which loss of life and property can be avoided in any particular given area.
Under SANS 10090, fire brigade services are classified according to the ability to meet specific performance criteria of:
• Risk profile of area of jurisdiction
• Weight and speed of response
• Call receipt and processing requirements
• Vehicle/equipment availability and maintenance
• Incident management procedures
• Pre-fire planning and risk visits
• Training/personnel
• Water supplies
• Fire safety functions
In order to meet the criteria of a Category 1 fire brigade service, a brigade has to have adequate arrangements and provisions in place to meet the relevant performance indicators or statistics or both and performance criteria for staff availability per appliance availability, predetermined attendance (PDA), manning levels and attendance times, 35 to 45 percent of the time, more than 75 percent of the time when measured annually.
Whilst SANS 10090 therefore implies and calls for a continuous improvement strategy in order to meet, sustain and enhance the levels of protection against a variety of risk variables, the shortcoming may be that it allows for a 55 percent deficiency in maintaining (at a continuous level) the most critical aspects of an emergency service response, ie staff availability, crewing levels and attendance times.
This allowed flexibility, whilst understood in the context of a developing country, may be contrary to the intention of the total intention of community protection against fire.
Furthermore, the one major critique of SANS 10090 is that its approach centred on a central business district (CBD) as the major risk factor in fire station placement and disregarded to a large degree the extent of the built-upon area of integrated human settlement, which is now the predominant factor in a postapartheid South Africa.
The importance of the urban complexity factor Major South African cities cannot claim to be any different from other international major cities in terms of baseline risks and some local cities can, in fact, claim more diverse risk profiles in the context of the complexities and complications of the mergers and impacts of municipal re-demarcation, rapid urbanisation, urban sprawl and the mushrooming of informal settlements in the fringes of developed nodes.
The uniqueness of the urban complexity factor in South African cities and towns compounded the demand for tenancy and service in areas that were used to certain built environment capacities has without doubt overwhelmed the coping ability of even the noblest of efforts.
Factors such as traffic congestion, ever expanding street networks, building densities, suburban development, etc, are common urban complexity factors that must be considered in planning, locating and siting of fire stations.
Considering the influence of economic and other forms of human migration as it occurs in southern Africa, the urban complexity factor is often made more significant by added stand-out factors such as:
• The patterns of unregulated (informal) human settlement around established economic hubs that creates high population densities and complexities of other risks
• The range of unregulated business activities that change building occupancies and create new risks overnight
• The decentralisation of central business districts (CBD) and creation of new scattered ‘mini CBDs’ in suburban spaces that may result in scattered distribution of high risks
• High motor vehicle collision rates on major routes, which create additional first response demand
• The advent of ‘gated’ communities and security villages/complexes that may impact on emergency services accessibility.
It therefore becomes important to consider these influences in planning location parameters as distribution of risk becomes wide-spread, as opposed to confined in previous established locales and it may not always be possible to have a fire station in an exact geographic centre of the area to be serviced.
The importance of consulting spatial development frameworks
A spatial development framework (SDF) within a municipality seeks to guide overall spatial distribution of current and desirable land use with the aim of promoting sustainable functional and integrated human settlements and maximisation of resource efficiency.
SDFs primarily dictates the parameters and underlines the important elements of future growth and can provide key data in terms of expected long term population densities and major development plans for the area of jurisdiction, which ultimately drive the formation of built-upon areas.
Therefore, in the context of constantly changing and growing population centres, a spatial development framework and the development planning components that attach themselves to the SDF, are inherently important sources of future spatial and land use development information that must be consulted and incorporated as a planning driver, when deciding on the future siting of fire stations.
The importance of optimal siting of fire stations
SANS 10090 requires that the objective of meeting the required response times for a category of fire risk as a component of the total attendance time, can only be achieved by proper siting (locating) of fire stations and further directly influenced by the size of turnout areas taking into consideration complexities of street grid networks, speed of appliances, terrain, traffic conditions, etc.
Using an ‘as the crow flies’ methodology and to simply draw a circle to indicate a linear response coverage area, does not effectually represent the topographical area that a single fire station can cover nor does it allow for the urban complexity factor.
Both SANS and international studies have shown that a polygon better represents the response area in terms of square kilometres that may be possible from a fire station. The use of the polygon instead of a circle also accounts for the urban complexity factor when calculating the area. The limitations of either are that it assumes the uniform distribution of resources in the jurisdictional area and the formula does not allow for geographical barriers that dissects the area.
However, in terms of application it may be better suited to use a polygon rather than a simple circle.
In siting of fire stations, the significance of overlap of turnout areas must never be overlooked as overlap keeps response times low by reducing travel time and avoiding delayed dispatches.
In a highly urbanised metropolis, it would therefore not be unique nor out of the ordinary to have fire stations within a few kilometres from each other (as measured in straight line distances).
The turnout overlap is also a factor that becomes critical in ensuring adequacy of predetermined response support for second arriving and specialist appliance units, which will have a significant impact on the consistency of ability to meet performance criteria for a Category 1 service.
The importance of time
To provide an effective service, response must be initiated in a smallest amount of time after the incident has been reported and with sufficient resources to initiate fire, rescue or emergency medical actions.
Fire station location planning must take into account a number of variables including, the importance of time in responding to fire and medical emergencies, fire development and total reaction time sequence.
The three main variables related to the importance of time, provides clarity on the influence on the importance of the optimal locating of fire stations.
Variable 1: Time is the life-threatening element during a reported fire emergency
Fire growth can develop at a rate of many times its volume per minute (fig 1). The time between fire outbreak and the start of fire suppression and rescue activities has a direct relationship to fire and life loss. All fires go through the same stages of development and growth.
Fire growth occurs exponentially ie fire doubles itself every second of free burn duration. A significant stage in fire development is when the flashover phenomena occurs. This is a stage when essentially all combustibles in the room simultaneously reach ignition temperature after undergoing thermal decomposition as a result of intense heat build-up.
The factors that determine when flashover may occur is dependent on variables of the type of fuel, fuel load, fuel layout and size of enclosure, etc and consequently suggests that the exact time to flashover cannot be predicted. However, in most typical enclosure or compartment layouts, a flashover can typically occur from less than four to beyond 10 minutes after free burning starts. A post flashover fire burns with intensified temperatures and spreads faster and adds more complexity and difficulty to the fireground operations, whether firefighting, search and rescue, etc.
Variable 2: The delivery of time critical emergency medical services leads to better outcomes
In emergency medicine, the golden hour principle refers to a time period lasting for one hour or less, following traumatic injury being sustained by a casualty or medical emergency, during which there is the highest likelihood that prompt medical treatment will prevent death.
It is generally accepted that the chances of survival for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has an association with the activation of the emergency response system and the response time intervals of emergency medical services. The chance for positive outcomes for victims of some types of medical emergencies is also influenced by rapid intervention by trained emergency medical personnel.
Variable 3: Total reaction time sequence is manageable
Essentially, there are five phases in the emergency services total reaction time sequence from time of an alarm being raised, to the time that an emergency crew arrives and starts to work at the scene of the alarm. These phases are:
(i) Call receipting time. This is the amount of time that it takes an operator to process an emergency call ie (1) receive the call, (2) establish what the emergency is, (3) establish the address of the emergency
(ii) Dispatch time. This is the amount of time it takes to sound the alarm to response units, ie (4) determine the appropriate response units and (5) determine the nearest station that is able to respond to the emergency
(iii) Turnout time. This is the amount of time from when units receive and acknowledge the dispatch ie (6) the time they are actually enroute to the emergency
(iv) Travel time. This is the amount of time taken by the responding unit to reach the emergency scene ie (7) the time from when the responding units turnout to the time of arrival on scene
(v) Set-up time. This is the amount of time required for units to set up the scene location to begin intervention ie (8) the time from when units arrive on scene till the time crews actually start firefighting, rescue or emergency medical intervention.
Most important in the sequence of response reaction time, will be the travel time, which can be significantly impacted by better informed fire station location.
The table below illustrates the response time sequence (RTS).
Fire station planning principles: The importance of understanding planning drivers
By Previn D Govender, divisional head: strategy and planning, City of Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (at the time of writing the article)
In this second part of the four part series on fire station planning principles, we focus on the importance of understanding planning drivers, including the South African National Standards (SANS) category 1 rating, urban complexity factor, consulting spatial development frameworks, optimal siting of fire stations, the importance of time and alignment to standard.
The importance of the SANS Category 1 rating
The South African National Standard on Community Protection against Fire (SANS 10090) provides advice on the measures that should be taken by a controlling authority to ensure that the provision of fire services is done according to desired levels of efficiency.
SANS 10090 includes a schedule against which the performance potential of each aspect as well as of the whole of a fire service can be judged. A fire-risk rating based on this schedule will indicate the extent to which loss of life and property can be avoided in any particular given area.
Under SANS 10090, fire brigade services are classified according to the ability to meet specific performance criteria of:
• Risk profile of area of jurisdiction
• Weight and speed of response
• Call receipt and processing requirements
• Vehicle/equipment availability and maintenance
• Incident management procedures
• Pre-fire planning and risk visits
• Training/personnel
• Water supplies
• Fire safety functions
In order to meet the criteria of a Category 1 fire brigade service, a brigade has to have adequate arrangements and provisions in place to meet the relevant performance indicators or statistics or both and performance criteria for staff availability per appliance availability, predetermined attendance (PDA), manning levels and attendance times, 35 to 45 percent of the time, more than 75 percent of the time when measured annually.
Whilst SANS 10090 therefore implies and calls for a continuous improvement strategy in order to meet, sustain and enhance the levels of protection against a variety of risk variables, the shortcoming may be that it allows for a 55 percent deficiency in maintaining (at a continuous level) the most critical aspects of an emergency service response, ie staff availability, crewing levels and attendance times.
This allowed flexibility, whilst understood in the context of a developing country, may be contrary to the intention of the total intention of community protection against fire.
Furthermore, the one major critique of SANS 10090 is that its approach centred on a central business district (CBD) as the major risk factor in fire station placement and disregarded to a large degree the extent of the built-upon area of integrated human settlement, which is now the predominant factor in a postapartheid South Africa.
The importance of the urban complexity factor Major South African cities cannot claim to be any different from other international major cities in terms of baseline risks and some local cities can, in fact, claim more diverse risk profiles in the context of the complexities and complications of the mergers and impacts of municipal re-demarcation, rapid urbanisation, urban sprawl and the mushrooming of informal settlements in the fringes of developed nodes.
The uniqueness of the urban complexity factor in South African cities and towns compounded the demand for tenancy and service in areas that were used to certain built environment capacities has without doubt overwhelmed the coping ability of even the noblest of efforts.
Factors such as traffic congestion, ever expanding street networks, building densities, suburban development, etc, are common urban complexity factors that must be considered in planning, locating and siting of fire stations.
Considering the influence of economic and other forms of human migration as it occurs in southern Africa, the urban complexity factor is often made more significant by added stand-out factors such as:
• The patterns of unregulated (informal) human settlement around established economic hubs that creates high population densities and complexities of other risks
• The range of unregulated business activities that change building occupancies and create new risks overnight
• The decentralisation of central business districts (CBD) and creation of new scattered ‘mini CBDs’ in suburban spaces that may result in scattered distribution of high risks
• High motor vehicle collision rates on major routes, which create additional first response demand
• The advent of ‘gated’ communities and security villages/complexes that may impact on emergency services accessibility.
It therefore becomes important to consider these influences in planning location parameters as distribution of risk becomes wide-spread, as opposed to confined in previous established locales and it may not always be possible to have a fire station in an exact geographic centre of the area to be serviced.
The importance of consulting spatial development frameworks
A spatial development framework (SDF) within a municipality seeks to guide overall spatial distribution of current and desirable land use with the aim of promoting sustainable functional and integrated human settlements and maximisation of resource efficiency.
SDFs primarily dictates the parameters and underlines the important elements of future growth and can provide key data in terms of expected long term population densities and major development plans for the area of jurisdiction, which ultimately drive the formation of built-upon areas.
Therefore, in the context of constantly changing and growing population centres, a spatial development framework and the development planning components that attach themselves to the SDF, are inherently important sources of future spatial and land use development information that must be consulted and incorporated as a planning driver, when deciding on the future siting of fire stations.
The importance of optimal siting of fire stations
SANS 10090 requires that the objective of meeting the required response times for a category of fire risk as a component of the total attendance time, can only be achieved by proper siting (locating) of fire stations and further directly influenced by the size of turnout areas taking into consideration complexities of street grid networks, speed of appliances, terrain, traffic conditions, etc.
Using an ‘as the crow flies’ methodology and to simply draw a circle to indicate a linear response coverage area, does not effectually represent the topographical area that a single fire station can cover nor does it allow for the urban complexity factor.
Both SANS and international studies have shown that a polygon better represents the response area in terms of square kilometres that may be possible from a fire station. The use of the polygon instead of a circle also accounts for the urban complexity factor when calculating the area. The limitations of either are that it assumes the uniform distribution of resources in the jurisdictional area and the formula does not allow for geographical barriers that dissects the area.
However, in terms of application it may be better suited to use a polygon rather than a simple circle.
In siting of fire stations, the significance of overlap of turnout areas must never be overlooked as overlap keeps response times low by reducing travel time and avoiding delayed dispatches.
In a highly urbanised metropolis, it would therefore not be unique nor out of the ordinary to have fire stations within a few kilometres from each other (as measured in straight line distances).
The turnout overlap is also a factor that becomes critical in ensuring adequacy of predetermined response support for second arriving and specialist appliance units, which will have a significant impact on the consistency of ability to meet performance criteria for a Category 1 service.
The importance of time
To provide an effective service, response must be initiated in a smallest amount of time after the incident has been reported and with sufficient resources to initiate fire, rescue or emergency medical actions.
Fire station location planning must take into account a number of variables including, the importance of time in responding to fire and medical emergencies, fire development and total reaction time sequence.
The three main variables related to the importance of time, provides clarity on the influence on the importance of the optimal locating of fire stations.
Variable 1: Time is the life-threatening element during a reported fire emergency
Fire growth can develop at a rate of many times its volume per minute (fig 1). The time between fire outbreak and the start of fire suppression and rescue activities has a direct relationship to fire and life loss. All fires go through the same stages of development and growth.
Fire growth occurs exponentially ie fire doubles itself every second of free burn duration. A significant stage in fire development is when the flashover phenomena occurs. This is a stage when essentially all combustibles in the room simultaneously reach ignition temperature after undergoing thermal decomposition as a result of intense heat build-up.
The factors that determine when flashover may occur is dependent on variables of the type of fuel, fuel load, fuel layout and size of enclosure, etc and consequently suggests that the exact time to flashover cannot be predicted. However, in most typical enclosure or compartment layouts, a flashover can typically occur from less than four to beyond 10 minutes after free burning starts. A post flashover fire burns with intensified temperatures and spreads faster and adds more complexity and difficulty to the fireground operations, whether firefighting, search and rescue, etc.
Variable 2: The delivery of time critical emergency medical services leads to better outcomes
In emergency medicine, the golden hour principle refers to a time period lasting for one hour or less, following traumatic injury being sustained by a casualty or medical emergency, during which there is the highest likelihood that prompt medical treatment will prevent death.
It is generally accepted that the chances of survival for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has an association with the activation of the emergency response system and the response time intervals of emergency medical services. The chance for positive outcomes for victims of some types of medical emergencies is also influenced by rapid intervention by trained emergency medical personnel.
Variable 3: Total reaction time sequence is manageable
Essentially, there are five phases in the emergency services total reaction time sequence from time of an alarm being raised, to the time that an emergency crew arrives and starts to work at the scene of the alarm. These phases are:
(i) Call receipting time. This is the amount of time that it takes an operator to process an emergency call ie (1) receive the call, (2) establish what the emergency is, (3) establish the address of the emergency
(ii) Dispatch time. This is the amount of time it takes to sound the alarm to response units, ie (4) determine the appropriate response units and (5) determine the nearest station that is able to respond to the emergency
(iii) Turnout time. This is the amount of time from when units receive and acknowledge the dispatch ie (6) the time they are actually enroute to the emergency
(iv) Travel time. This is the amount of time taken by the responding unit to reach the emergency scene ie (7) the time from when the responding units turnout to the time of arrival on scene
(v) Set-up time. This is the amount of time required for units to set up the scene location to begin intervention ie (8) the time from when units arrive on scene till the time crews actually start firefighting, rescue or emergency medical intervention.
Most important in the sequence of response reaction time, will be the travel time, which can be significantly impacted by better informed fire station location.
The table below illustrates the response time sequence (RTS).
Whilst the time from ignition to discovery to reporting of a fire is indirectly manageable (but can be influenced to direct alarms, public education, etc), there are a number of critical time frames in the five phases of total reaction time that can be managed by the emergency service to positively impact on required emergency services deliverables ie better call taking processes, partial dispatches once the ‘what and where’ has been established and improved turnouts all can buy much needed added time in the reaction sequence.
The importance of alignment to standards
The SANS 10090 Standard contains maximum prescribed attendance times (total reaction time sequence) for the various categories of fire risk (table 2).
The importance of alignment to standards
The SANS 10090 Standard contains maximum prescribed attendance times (total reaction time sequence) for the various categories of fire risk (table 2).
Time objectives for fire departments are also contained in the US National Fire Protection Association Standard (NFPA) 1710, Standard for the Organisation and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments (table 3). In detailing the time objective requirements fire suppression response, no differentiation is made in terms of fire risk but rather the focus is on life risk within an urbanised environment.
Interestingly, the NFPA 1710 is a normative standard in the SANS 10090, which thereby also constitutes provisions of the SANS 10090.
Interestingly, the NFPA 1710 is a normative standard in the SANS 10090, which thereby also constitutes provisions of the SANS 10090.
The next article will focus on the methodology for calculating optimal siting.