The U.S. Congress has recognized that safety is essential on our college and university campuses. Incidents such as the Virginia Tech massacre and the death of Jeanne Clery have emphasized the need for legislation that assists students in selecting a safe college and improves their safety by reducing the incidence of crimes and fires. The Clery Act is a federal law that requires colleges and universities to provide annual information on the number and type of crimes on campus as well as the number and cause of fires occurring in the residence halls. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived effectiveness of the Clery Act by students at two higher educational institutions in East Tennessee. This study determined that students are not aware of the Clery Act as it relates to the crime and fire statistics to a significant extent. However, students are aware of the Clery Act as it relates to the issuance of safety notices, emergency notifications, or timely warnings by their institution. Students do not tend to use the Clery Act crime and fire statistics in their decisions as to what college to attend, indicating the limited effectiveness of the Clery Act. Lack of use of the Clery Act crime and fire statistics may be related to a lack of awareness of their existence. Students perceive to a significant extent that the reporting of the Clery Act crime and fire statistics as well as the use of safety notices, emergency notifications, or timely warnings, improved their safety and security while on campus. The Clery Act mandated use of safety notices, emergency notifications, or timely warnings issued by the institution results in students changing their behavior to protect themselves and their property. Students perceive that the reporting of crime and fire statistics as well as the use of safety notices, emergency notifications, or timely warnings, has reduced crime and fires on campus.

Knowledge of fire risk is crucial for manufacturers and regulators to make correct choices in prescribing fire protection systems, especially flame retardants. Methods of determining fire risk are bogged down by a multitude of confounding factors, such as population demographics and overlapping fire protection systems. Teasing out the impacts of one particular choice or regulatory change in such an environment is crucial. Teasing out such detail requires statistical techniques, and knowledge of the field is important for verifying potential methods. Comparing the fire problems between two states might be one way to identify successful approaches to fire safety. California, a state with progressive fire prevention policies, is compared to Texas using logistic regression modeling to account for various common factors such as percentage of rural population and percentage of population in ‘risky’ age brackets. Results indicate that living room fires, fires in which the first item ignited is a flammable liquid, piping, or filter, and fires started by cigarettes, pipes, and cigars have significantly higher odds of resulting in a casualty or fatality than fires started by other areas of origin, items first ignited, or heat sources. Additionally, fires in Texas have roughly 1.5 times higher odds of resulting in casualties than fires in California for certain areas of origin, items first ignited, and heat sources. Methods of estimating fire losses are also examined. The potential of using Ramachandran’s power-law relationship to estimate fire losses in residential home fires in Texas is examined, and determined to be viable but not discriminating. CFAST is likewise explored as a means to model fire losses. Initial results are inconclusive, but Monte Carlo simulation of home geometries might render the approach viable. / text

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T20:12:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PGEF14MA031.pdf: 2003307 bytes, checksum: a7a54a3a2ae662326ba3aa09c5407e0f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-25 / Forest fires have caused damage, especially to the environment, and prevention is still the most economical and efficient way to avoid such damage. The present study aimed to draw a profile of fires in five years, 2009-2013, in Lages-SC and to verify the efficiency of the Fórmula de Monte Alegre (FMA) and Fórmula de Monte Alegre Alterada (FMA+) in predicting the degree of danger during the period of observation. Records of fires from the Fire Brigade of Santa Catarina (CBMSC) as well as meteorological data from the Center for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Information Resources Enterprise for Agricultural Research (EPAGRI / CIRAM) and National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) were used in the period from 01 January 2009 to December 31, 2013. These data were organized and analyzed, and the results showed that 386 fires were seen, and 58.81% were in native forest and 41.19% occurred in reforestation areas. The fires occurred mainly between the months of August and September, with 144 occurrences (37.3% of total), a time when greater attention, especially in the readiness of combat teams is required. There was a need for adjustments to the parameters that measure the degree of danger to FMA and FMA+, so that the number of days provided for each hazard class possess an inverse relationship to the degree of danger as well as the number of fire observe a direct relationship with the hazard class. After adjustment, the values obtained for the skill score and percentage of success of FMA were 0.2146 and 67.41% and FMA+ were 0.1883 and 63.53% / Os incêndios florestais têm causado grandes prejuízos, principalmente ao meio ambiente, sendo que a prevenção ainda é a forma mais econômica e eficiente para se evitar tais danos. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo traçar um perfil dos incêndios ocorridos durante 5 anos, de 2009 a 2013, no município de Lages-SC, além de verificar a eficiência da Fórmula de Monte Alegre (FMA) e da Fórmula de Monte Alegre Alterada (FMA+) na previsão do grau de perigo durante o período de observação. Foram utilizados os registros de incêndios do Corpo de Bombeiros Militar de Santa Catarina (CBMSC), bem como os dados meteorológicos do Centro de Informações de Recursos Ambientais e Hidrometeorologia da Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária de Santa Catarina (EPAGRI/CIRAM) e do Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET), no período de 01 de janeiro de 2009 a 31 de dezembro de 2013. Essas informações foram padronizadas e analisadas, sendo que os resultados mostraram que foram atendidos 386 incêndios, sendo que 58,81% ocorreram em floresta nativa e 41,19% ocorreram em áreas de reflorestamento. Os incêndios ocorreram principalmente nos meses de agosto e setembro, com 144 ocorrências (37,3% do total), época em que é necessária maior atenção, sobretudo na prontidão das equipes de combate. Observou-se a necessidade de ajustes nos parâmetros que medem o grau de perigo para FMA e para FMA+, de forma que o número de dias previsto em cada classe de perigo possuísse uma relação inversa com o grau de perigo, bem como para que o número de incêndios observasse uma relação direta com a classe de perigo. Após os ajustes, os valores obtidos para o skill score e percentual de sucesso da FMA foram: 0,2146 e 67,41% e para FMA+ foram: 0,1883 e 63,53%