Review of school fires in Iran: the causes, consequences and lessons learned

Summary

Fire in Iranian schools has led to death, serious injury and disability for dozens of students and teachers. The aim of this study was to explore the causes, consequences and lessons learned from school fires in Iran. The available literature, including scientific texts, previous research and media reports, was searched using English and Persian keywords. The keywords were: “students, school, Iran, fire, burn and incidents”. No time limitation was imposed. Results showed that 62 school and student dormitory fires have been reported in Iran, of which 14 school fires and 2 student dormitory fires led to human injuries or casualties (25.8%). In these incidents, thirty students (19 girls and 11 boys) and one teacher died. More than 60 students, 8 teachers, and 2 staff suffered burn injuries or disabilities. The main causes of the fire incidents were use of non-standard kerosene heaters (38.7%) and faulty electrical wiring (35.4%). Lack of knowledge about dealing with accidents, inappropriate physical conditions of the school building, lack of fire extinguishers in the building, and carelessness were the main reasons for the deaths and injuries. In conclusion, it is essential to reduce the incidence of fire and prevent its casualties with proper management and standardization of school buildings.

Introduction

Burn injuries are a major public health issue, and can cause mortality, disability, physical complications and psychological consequences such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and impaired selfesteem in children and adolescents. They can also cause economic problems for their families.^1-3 Parameters such as lifestyle, the energy source, and the social, economic and cultural level of the society can affect the amount and the type of burning.¹ The consequences of a fire incident also depend on the behaviour of the building’s occupants.^4,5 Studies have shown that human unsafe behaviour is a major cause of most fire incident consequences.^5-7

Globally, more than 300,000 people die each year from fire-related burns^8-9 and more than 95% of deaths caused by burn occur in developing countries.^1,2,9

Iran is one of the countries with a high rate of burn incidents.¹ About 725 thousand burns happen each year in Iran. After traffic accidents, burn injury is the second cause of death among children in Iran.¹⁰

Children are a high-risk group for burn injuries and have the highest mortality.^8,10-11,12 Children younger than 14 years are more vulnerable to the effects of hazardous environmental exposures,¹² because they have less knowledge about dangerous situations and a limited ability to react promptly and properly.⁸ They also panic easily and become difficult to manage in the event of an emergency or crisis.¹³

Several school fire incidents with tragic consequences have happened in recent years in Iran.^7,14 These incidents have also been reported from other countries including Kenya, South Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, India and Russia, where more than a hundred children and adolescents have died or become injured,^15,16 despite the fact that educational buildings should be safe places for them¹⁷ as they spend one-third of their daily time at school.¹⁸

Most burns are preventable with simple safety measures and preventive programs.^1,2,8 Developed countries have successfully decreased burn rates over the past 30 to 40 years.⁸ Careful planning to provide safe conditions in schools is one of the most important tasks of the Ministries of Education and the health services system of countries.¹⁷

Information about the causes of school fire incidents can improve school safety conditions and offer cost-effective solutions for prevention. The results of this study can be useful for managers and policy makers to make appropriate decisions and policies to prevent school fire incidents.

The aim of this study was to explore the causes, consequences and lessons learned from school fires in Iran.

Materials and methods

It is difficult to determine the total number of school fire incidents because there is no specific database for them.⁷ Therefore, in this study, in order to obtain a description of school fire incidents, their causes and consequences in Iran, the available literature, including scientific texts, previous research and media reports, was searched using English and Persian keywords. The keywords were “students, school, Iran, fire, burn and incidents”. No time limitation was imposed.

Results

Fifty-six school fires and 6 student dormitory fires have been reported from 1995 to 2019 in urban and rural areas of Iran. Of these, 14 school fires and 2 student dormitory fires had human injuries or casualties (25.8%).

Fifty fires occurred while students were in the school building (80.6%). In most schools, adverse consequences have been prevented with immediate evacuation and fire extinguishing by teachers, school staff and firemen (84%). In 16 buildings, fire extinguishing and evacuation of the students was carried out by teachers and school staff, and there was not much damage to the buildings and equipment (32%). It was not possible to evacuate students at 4 schools due to the exit routes being blocked (8%).

In these incidents, 30 students (19 girls and 11 boys) and 1 teacher died in total. More than 60 students, 8 teachers, 2 staff and 3 firemen suffered burn injuries. Of these, 2 teachers and 21 students suffered severe burn injuries or disabilities (29.4%). Also, partial and severe damage happened to 46 buildings. Most fire incidents with human injuries and casualties occurred in rural areas (62.5%). Most fire incidents happened in Sistan & Baluchestan (11.3%). A total of 45.1% of deaths (13 students and one teacher) were related to the Sefilan fire incident, and 29.03% were related to fire incidents in the Sistan & Baluchestan province. The most severe injuries and disabilities were related to the Shin Abad (52.1%) and Droodzan (34.8%) fire incidents. The cause of death was smoke inhalation in three students (9.7%), and the other deaths were due to severe burns (90.3%).

The frequency of fire incidents, and their causes and consequences in Iranian schools are listed in Table I.

Table I. Frequency of fire incidents, causes and consequences in Iranian schools.

A summary of Iranian school fire incidents, with their human injuries and casualties, has been listed in Table II.

Table II. Summary of Iranian school fire incidents with casualties or human injuries.

The main causes of the fire incidents were use of non-standard kerosene heaters (38.7%) and faulty electrical wiring (35.4%). Other causes were defects in the central heating system (4.8%), welding, laboratory fire, exposure of inflammable material to gas heaters (6.4%) and unknown (14.5%). Most of the fires were in primary schools (65.5%).

Lack of knowledge about dealing with accidents, inappropriate physical conditions of the school building, lack of fire extinguishers in the building, and carelessness were the main reasons for the deaths and serious injuries.

The causes and factors related to injuries, and a description of the incidents, are listed in Table III.

Table III. The causes of incidents and security measures that were violated in these incidents.

Discussion

Until now, 62 school fire events have been reported in Iran^7,14,19-77 (Fig. 1). Fire in Iranian schools has led to death, serious injury and disability in dozens of students and teachers, and has created serious psychological and social complications for the victims and their families.^{7,14,19,32,34-46} The causes of fire in Iranian schools were use of kerosene heaters and non-standard heating systems, faulty wiring and/or improper use of electricity devices.^{7,14,19,36,77}

Fig. 1. The process of reporting fire incidents in Iranian schools.

Inappropriate and unsafe buildings, neglecting school safety regulations, lack of supervision on the physical condition of the school building by officials, not training teachers and staff about dealing with fire incidents and proper decision-making, not teaching students about appropriate action at the time of an incident, blockage of the class exit by fire, not evacuating students on time, not having intact fire extinguishers, or not knowing how to use them, lack of an alarm system, and installing a metal fence on class windows were the most important causes of the incidents.^7,14,19-79

Knowledge about dealing with accidents, timely evacuation of students, existence of fire extinguishers, and timely extinguishing of the fire by teachers, school staff and firemen had been able to prevent deaths and injuries in most of the fires.^33-39,63-72 Authorities at the Department of Education must learn from these incidents and reduce the likelihood of injury with proper management.

Fire safety management includes activities and programs that prevent damage from fire. Elements of a fire safety management program are inspection, education, fire suppression, emergency services, evaluation of fire possibility, fire prevention, reporting, record-keeping and communication.¹³

Since 2013, standardization of heating systems has begun in Iran.⁷⁸ In spite of measures taken to prevent fires in schools, fire incident reports have increased in recent years. This is probably due to more accurate reporting of events.

According to a statement from the Head of Schools’ Equipping and Renovating Organization on 19^th December 2018, more than 40% of schools were not equipped with standard heating systems.⁷⁹ In a 2013 report, 30% of schools, which were mainly located in the disadvantaged areas of Iran, used nonstandard kerosene heaters to warm classrooms.⁷ The Ministry of Education, as the most important institution for training human resources and generating social capital, needs financial support to equip schools.

As international standards prohibit the direct use of gas or kerosene heaters in classrooms,⁷⁸ central heating systems are the most suitable option for heating classrooms because students cannot interfere with their settings. In areas where this system cannot be used, other safe and standard heating appliances should be used.^78,80 In Iran, according to an official report, all newly established schools in the cities are equipped with a central heating system.⁸⁰ Also, in order to prevent fire from faulty electrical systems, the school’s electricity system should be safe and standard, and it should be installed by qualified technicians or specialists.¹³

In some of the fires in Iranian schools, rescue operations were delayed due to the exit route being blocked, and to the metal fences that covered the windows. In Shin Abad, the metal fences were broken by local rescuers to rescue the children, but because of the delay, students were injured before rescue.7According to the fire department report, the design of some school buildings in Iran is such that fire engines cannot enter, and this delays the extinguishing of the fire.²⁵

Educational buildings should be designed appropriately and according to international standards. These buildings and the materials used in them must be resistant to fire. School buildings must get inspected, must obtain a safety certification from the fire department, and should enforce building codes. Emergency evacuation is possible in a short time. Extra things such as desks, shelves, etc. should be removed from the exit routes. The doors of all classes must have a suitable handle and open to outside. Windows must not have a fence and must open easily in emergencies. All schools should be equipped with fire alarm systems for early detection of fires.^13,80

In the pre-school and elementary school fire in Zahedan, the students had taken shelter under their desks and in the corner of the classroom instead of leaving. Students must receive the necessary training and knowledge about protective measures and the actions they should take at the time of a fire.⁸¹ Studies have shown that safety programs and training have a major impact on knowledge and accident prevention behaviours of students.^81-86

In the Shin Abad accident, there was fire-fighting equipment but it had either expired or the staff didn’t know how to use it.⁷ All schools should be equipped with intact fire extinguishers for rapid fire-fighting. This equipment should be checked regularly and replaced. An emergency evacuation plan should be prepared beforehand and roles and responsibilities should be defined clearly. Fire preparedness exercises should be conducted at least once a year to identify strengths, weaknesses and challenges, and facilitate knowledge transfer among staff and students.⁸⁷ Emergency evacuation maps should be prepared, the escape routes must be clearly marked and all fire exit signs should be located in places that clearly indicate escape routes.¹³

In the elementary school fire in Bijar sar, proper and timely evacuation by the teacher prevented the severe injury or death of thirty students. But he himself was locked in the classroom because the door had no inside handle. His head, face and hands suffered severe burns. This devoted teacher lost his life in 2012 after years of suffering from burns and disabilities.³⁷

In the Sefilan fire, despite timely evacuation of students by the teacher, with a wrong decision, the heater that was on fire was transferred out of the classroom and put close to kerosene gallons. The fire then spread to other classrooms.¹⁹ Teachers and school staff, being those who have a major role in dealing with the fire, must have the necessary training for proper and correct decision-making at the time of the incidents, and know how to work firefighting equipment.

Fire affects students’ physical, psychological and social health and even students who don’t get injured may suffer from these consequences. They may face problems such as “acute stress disorder” or “post-traumatic stress disorder”. Parents and teachers need to be aware of the range of symptoms that children and adolescents may show after a fire incident and receive the necessary training. The traumatized students should be identified and followed up. Teachers and other school staff also need psychological support because of exposure to stressful conditions, and all school students should be counselled.^19,88

After the Shin Abad school fire, the national plan of “a student ready for hard days” was developed and implemented in Iran. This plan is offered to first-year secondary school students, who have the ability and time to learn relief skills. During the 6 years of implementation of this plan, students at 8,000 schools have been trained in basic relief lessons across the country. The training is conducted by Red Crescent educators. So far, over one million students have received relief training. This plan is funded by the Red Crescent, but it is not enough, and other institutions and agencies should be involved to assist more students in relief education.⁸⁹

In the 20th century, 73 major United States fire or burn disasters have occurred; but with the lessons learned from each fire, the number of fatalities per incident has steadily decreased.⁹⁰

In Iran, the Fire-fighting and Safety Services Organization has provided school safety guidelines in three sections of building safety, safety in fire-fighting facilities and equipment, and in cooperation with the Ministry of Education has implemented this plan in all schools. It also has school-specific activities by conducting safety training and firefighting exercises. Also, a school safety checklist is now used by the Ministry of Education to check and control security and safety issues in schools nationwide.⁸⁰

Conclusion

The causes of the fire incidents in Iranian schools and dormitories were mainly use of nonstandard kerosene heating systems and electrical defects.

Various factors, most of them preventable and related to human behaviour, have led to the death, severe injury, or disability of dozens of students and teachers in Iran. It is essential to reduce the incidence of fires and prevent their casualties with proper management and standardization of buildings.