ABSTRACT
This project evaluates the required amount of water in terms of flow rate
for extinguishing fire in Ilorin, Kwara State.
The necessary data for this work was obtained from Kwara State fire
service, Ilorin and other stakeholders. From the data obtained, the frequency
of fire calls and fire outbreak in commercial, industrial and domestic
buildings were examined.
Estimation of water requirement for firefighting was also carried out using
population as a deriving factor. The formula of the National Board of Fire
Underwriter was used for the estimation of the volume of water required for
firefighting.
The final analysis revealed that the local government with the highest
population (Ilorin west), has the highest fire flow rate of 1053.9 l/s while the
one with the least population (Oke-Ero), has the lowest fire flow rate of 474
l/s. This is a clear evident that the amount of water required for firefighting is
directly proportional to the population. Hence, additional water supplies
should be provided in Ilorin west local government when designing for the
size of water supplies so as to cater for the excess fire demand.
From the result and data collected, more fire outbreaks occur in domestic
building than in industrial or commercial buildings. It will be recommended
based on the result and research carried out that all buildings should have
some sort of internal or private protection system installed like sprinkler
system and alarm system to prevent or minimize the loss of life and properties
to fire outbreak and the Fire Service should adopt an accurate formula for
calculating or estimating the amount of water that will be enough to
extinguish a given fire.