Background: Since firefighting in high-rise buildings requires special equipment and expertise and is associated with many risks for residents and rescuers, the firefighting of these buildings has become one of the safety problems in megacities. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify and rank critical factors affecting fire safety in high-rise buildings in the city of Karaj using the ANP-DEMATEL integrated approach.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, six criteria including: 'firefighting regulations', 'fire safety training', 'policies and equipment management', 'review of previous incidents', 'attitudes of contractors in design and construction', as well as the 'speed of rescue operations' and 32 sub-criteria were identified from similar studies and screened using the Delphi technique. Then the criteria and sub-criteria of each criterion were subjected to pairwise comparisons and weighting. The internal relationships between the criteria were determined using the DEMATEL technique; also, the final prioritization and weighting of the results were done using ANP and DEMATEL via the Super Decisions software. In so doing, 10 experts from the Karaj Fire Protection Organization were selected in a non-probabilistic way to respond.
Results: Based on the results obtained, the 'speed of rescue operations' criterion with a final weight of 0.222 was assigned the first priority among the others. On the other hand, the 'policies and equipment management' criterion, as the most influential criterion, had the most interaction with other criteria. Also, the 'attitudes of contractors in design and construction' criterion was recognized as the most effective criterion. This is despite the fact that the 'not using low-quality and cheap materials with the aim of more profit' sub-criterion, with a final weight of 0.061, had the first priority among the sub-criteria.
Conclusion: In conclusion, it can be acknowledged that in order to increase the speed of operations, it is better to have enough fire stations in different parts of the city, and at the same time, special routes for traffic in crowded city centers should be considered for fire engines. At the same time, it is necessary to use the latest equipment and technologies in the world regarding the fire extinguishing of high-rise buildings and make sufficient investments in this regard. At the same time, there should be sufficient supervision in the construction stages, including the design and use of fire-resistant materials.
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