A Risk-averse Methodology for Firefighting Optimization in Process Plants

Despite the incorporation of fire preventive measures in the design and operation of process plants, the threat of fire still remains a significant concern in the chemical and process industry. As such, every process plant must be equipped with firefighting resources to effectively respond to and manage potential fire incidents. Firefighting resources often prove insufficient to adequately protect all endangered facilities during a fire incident. Consequently, effective allocation of these limited resources requires a predetermined strategy to increase the efficiency of firefighting. Such firefighting strategies necessitate consideration of various factors, including the risk of fire spread through the plant, the risk of injuries, fatalities, and property losses both inside and outside the plant. Due to the complexity of integrating all these relevant aspects, risk-based decision-making approaches can be effective in designing firefighting strategies. However, given the nature of safety risks, the adoption of a risk-neutral or risk-taking approach is inappropriate in decision-making regarding firefighting. In the field of safety, it is widely accepted to be prepared for worst-case scenarios, as emphasized in numerous safety standards. In other words, no company seeks to profit by jeopardizing the lives of its employees. From a safety perspective, addressing the consequences of worst-case scenarios may offer more advantages than simply reducing the mean consequences in the system. This paper introduces a novel risk-averse methodology for determining firefighting strategies aimed at minimizing the likelihood and consequences of potential worst-case scenarios in the event of major fires in process plants. The presented approach is applied to an illustrative tank terminal, and the subsequent results are thoroughly discussed.