The
FIRE SAFETY
app
The Fire Department (FDNY) responds to more than 300,000 fires and non related emergencies per year. Fire inspections are among the many services performed daily to protect lives and property from fire and other emergency conditions. To this end, creating platforms that aid in preventing loss of life from fires is essential.
On the morning of January 9, 2022, a high-rise fire killed seventeen people, including eight children, at the Twin Parks North West, high-rise apartment building. Forty-four people were injured, and thirty-two with life-threatening injuries. It was the third-worst residential fire in the United States in four decades.
Investigators determined that the fire was caused by a defective space heater bursting into flames. Smoke spread through the building as a result of two malfunctioning self-closing doors, causing deaths throughout the building.
The fire and smoke were stoked by the apartment unit's door remaining open after its occupants had escaped.
While the building did not have sprinklers, it did conform to a 2018 city law requiring self-closing mechanisms on all apartment doors in buildings containing more than three units.
After the fire, investigators found the apartment unit's self-closing mechanism inoperable — along with those on several other doors throughout the building. Among the other failed mechanisms was one on a 15th-floor stairwell door; this second open door created a flue effect that rapidly accelerated the spread of heavy smoke throughout the rest of the building.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams today signed five pieces of fire safety legislation into law. The laws include shortening the timeline of re-inspection for self-closing door violations. The Fire Safety app was developed to make it easy, mobile friendly way for anyone anywhere to report a broken self closing door to the city of New York, so it can be repaired.
The
Problem
Fire Safety doors, which are designed to close automatically, are damaged and exacerbate death
and property destruction.
The
Objective
The Report App seeks to create a streamline mobile reporting system for anyone whose fire door needs
to be repaired.
The
Solution
NYC Building Dept. has a database of damaged doors they can use to dispatch repair helping save lives
during a fire.
Wireframe and Drawing
Mobile App Design
The Fire Safety doors app is straight forward and streamlined approach to collecting the info necessary for identifying and repairing damaged self-closing fire doors.
The app’s home page begins by collecting the email address and phone number for the individual reporting the door.
After the initial info is collected the Report CTA will lead the user to input the location of the faulty door. Right now a user would need to submit a separate ticket for each damaged door.
The next version of this app should include the ability to submit info for multiple doors within a single on the same ticket.
After submission, the user will receive a confirmation message and reference number.
The next version of this app should include a search feature to check the status on reference numbers for previously submitted tickets.
