The Influence of COVID-19 Alcohol Ban on Residential Fires in Cape Town, South Africa

• 발행기관: 한국화재소방학회
• 저자명: Natalia Flores Quiroz Richard Walls
• 간행물 정보: 『International Journal of Fire Science and Engineering』Vol. 39, No. 2, 82~92쪽, 전체 11쪽
• 주제분류: 공학 > 공학일반
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2025.06.30

국문 초록

COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone’s life. Different measures were implemented around the world to stop the spread. However, South Africa was the only country where an alcohol ban was imposed for several months. Although alcohol consumption has been related to fire casualties, its relationship with the number of fires has been more difficult to establish. This work studies the influence the alcohol ban had on the number of residential fires in Cape Town. The 2020 fire statistics were compared with data from 2015 to 2019. International work that studied fire statistics during the pandemic was used as benchmark, where data from other cities showed almost no change in the number of fire incidents during lockdowns. The analysis was done in terms of residential fires, formal residential fires and informal residential fires. Results show a drop of 32% in the number of fires during April and 12% in May 2020. After that, the values observed were very similar to the 2015-2019 average until the end of the second ban. Finally, a decrease of 10% was seen in December. It was also seen that the alcohol ban had more impact on informal settlements than on formal settlements. Although it is extremely unlikely this work can be replicated again, it provides novel and difficult to capture information.

목차

1. Introduction

2. Methodology

3. Results

4. Discussion

5. Conclusions

References

키워드

Alcohol ban Alcohol impact on fires Residential fires COVID-19