- Author
- Snell, J. E.
- Title
- Fresh Look at Strategies for Fire Safety.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Book or Conf
- Interscience Communications Ltd.; National Institute of Standards and Technology; Building Research Establishment; and Society of Fire Protection Engineers. Interflam 1990. (Interflam '90). Fire Safety. International Fire Conference, 5th. September 3-6, 1990, Interscience Communications Ltd., London, England, Canterbury, England, Franks, C. A., Editors, 305-314 p., 1990
- Keywords
- fire safety | fire statistics | fire research | costs
- Identifiers
- United States fire problem
- Abstract
- Society depends primarily on some combination of public education, codes and fire brigades for fire safety. Clearly, this combination has worked, at least to the extent that cities no longer burn to the ground, and that numbers of fires and in most cases fire deaths have been steadily decreasing. Recently, however, in the U.S.A., fire deaths and injuries have plateaued (and may even be increasing) and the costs of fire safety to society have been increasing and in most cases well ahead of inflation. The question then is what is needed, more of the same or something new and if so what? This paper presents a preliminary analysis of this situation from the perspective of the potential contribution of fire research. It points to the need for major technical innovations in fire areas to provide the basis for legitimizing fire prevention technology, or what we have termed the techologies for "assured fire safety." These techologies may complement and strengthen the traditional fire safety strategies, further reducing the losses to fire and the economic burdens of fire on society. The potential benefits of international cooperation in this area are significant.