Urban Apartment Blaze: Mass Evacuation

   Large fire in apartment building in urban area. 200-300 people had to be evacuated. The entire building burned down and cannot be used for residential purposes.
   2022
   Vanløse (Copenhagen)
   
   Crowdsourcing
   City
   After, During
   Real-world
   Major fire
   -A citizen called 112 and reported smoke emanating from the residential building. The emergency services secured live streaming from the incident. The operator sent an SMS to the citizens and could then follow the fire development via the citizen's phone. The live stream was available in emergency vehicles, emergency services and operations managers, as well as the police. 

The fire developed very quickly. It therefore became necessary to evacuate all the residents of the property. The residents were evacuated to an evacuation center set up by the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department.

   https://www.brs.dk/da/nyheder/2023/sirenen/, https://nyheder.tv2.dk/samfund/2022-03-25-omfattende-brand-i-vanlose-involverer-over-100-brandfolk
   

1. HBR

,

1. Grøndalsparkvej

   twitter
   no
   Ensuring Credible Information, Making Information Accessible, Mobilising Citizens, Targeting Communication
   non
   -To ensure the evacuation of the affected citizens and support their need for information about the incident and their situation. Thus, it was clearly communicated that it was not possible to return to the apartments.

The residents were offered rehousing and social and insurance support.

   People with physical disabilities
   -It was difficult to get in touch with the residents about relevant info. 

The Greater Copenhagen Fire Department was pressed on their internal communication resources.

   -The personal contact with the citizens of the evacuation center worked well. Individual consideration was given to residents with special needs, e.g. pets were collected from cordoned off apartments.

The Greater Copenhagen Fire Department now has access (in 2023) to S! RENEN, Denmark's mobile-based public warning system. This would have made a big difference in terms of being able to provide residents with accurate messages about the incident, developments and actionable information.

   1 to 3 days
   Twitter
   
   

View all Use Cases

Created: 25 April 2023
Last edited: 23 October 2023

Large fire in apartment building in urban area. 200-300 people had to be evacuated. The entire building burned down and cannot be used for residential purposes.

Hazard:

Major fire

Year:

2022

Location:

Vanløse (Copenhagen)

Scale:

City

Publishing Organisation

unknown

Category

Real-world

Theme

Crowdsourcing

Thematic

• Ensuring Credible Information
• Making Information Accessible
• Mobilising Citizens
• Targeting Communication

Disaster Management Phase

After, During

Description

-A citizen called 112 and reported smoke emanating from the residential building. The emergency services secured live streaming from the incident. The operator sent an SMS to the citizens and could then follow the fire development via the citizen's phone. The live stream was available in emergency vehicles, emergency services and operations managers, as well as the police. The fire developed very quickly. It therefore became necessary to evacuate all the residents of the property.

The residents were evacuated to an evacuation center set up by the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department.

What was the overall goal of the Use Case?

-To ensure the evacuation of the affected citizens and support their need for information about the incident and their situation. Thus, it was clearly communicated that it was not possible to return to the apartments.

The residents were offered rehousing and social and insurance support.

What worked well and could be recommended to others?

-The personal contact with the citizens of the evacuation center worked well. Individual consideration was given to residents with special needs, e.g. pets were collected from cordoned off apartments.

The Greater Copenhagen Fire Department now has access (in 2023) to S! RENEN, Denmark's mobile-based public warning system. This would have made a big difference in terms of being able to provide residents with accurate messages about the incident, developments and actionable information.

What limitations were identified?

-It was difficult to get in touch with the residents about relevant info.

The Greater Copenhagen Fire Department was pressed on their internal communication resources.

Which social media and crowdsourcing technologies were used?

• twitter

Which guidelines were used?

• non

Which social media platforms were used?

• Twitter

Which hashtags or keywords were used?

#HBR, #Grøndalsparkvej

Additional Links

• https://www.brs.dk/da/nyheder/2023/sirenen/
• https://nyheder.tv2.dk/samfund/2022-03-25-omfattende-brand-i-vanlose-involverer-over-100-brandfolk