Firefighting Resources Optimization to Reduce Risk of Fire Dominoes in Process Industries

Effective control of fires in process industries is essential due to their significant potential risk to both individuals and valuable assets. Insufficient firefighting resources can lead to irreversible consequences both onsite and offsite in case of major process fires. On the other hand, excessive firefighting resources may reduce firefighting efficiency, increase the risk of other accidents, present logistical challenges, and increase costs. Given the potential for the spread of fire among process units (i.e., domino fires), determining the optimal number of firefighting resources and their allocation to critical units become a challenging task for both facility designers and incident commanders. This paper presents an optimization model to find the minimum number of firefighting resources required to fight fire and prevent fire dominoes. The model strategically allocates firefighting resources to process units while prioritizing the preservation of lives both onsite and offsite. The developed model not only assists in identifying sufficient firefighting resources for adhering to regulatory requirements but also aids incident commanders in selecting the most effective firefighting strategies during a fire domino.