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The last 15 years have seen the rapid growth of fire science education and training in the United States. This growth was noted by the Advisory Committee on Fire Training and Education (see Education below). Currently, the Federal Government and a majority of states maintain fire academies for the training of fire personnel. The 1983 Peterson's Guide to Two and Four Year Colleges lists over 300 entries under the headings fire science and fire protection management. In addition, a number of industries and professions have a direct interest in the literature of fire science, including insurance, architecture, construction, building maintenance, forestry, and criminal justice. This review shall concentrate on materials that should be in the reference section of any educational institution offering courses in fire science. We have not included materials that are considered general reference sources for the study of public administration, which include much material on that aspect of fire service, such as the Municipal Yearbook or Pay Rates in the Public Service.

Fire Prevention Week takes place during the week of 9 October, the date of the great Chicago fire. Fire prevention in the narrow sense refers to precautionary measures taken to prevent the outbreak of fires. In books, articles, and other materials on the subject, however, fire prevention often encompasses the broader terms of fire science, fire protection, and fire safety.

The general principles of fire safety are reviewed and these are related specifically to libraries. The major elements of fire safety (people, buildings and fire) are examined and the specific components of these are discussed as they affect, and are affected by, library use and design. The contents of libraries in relation to fire protection are considered.

Fire protection has several components: prevention, containment, detection, and suppression. While building codes and inspectors generally do not require special construction techniques or fire protection systems for computer rooms, economic and service factors may dictate that special protection be given such facilities. This article discusses emergency planning, the various types of fire detection and suppression systems, and future options, with particular attention given to halon and possiblehalon‐replacements.

The purpose of this paper is to present the development and implementation of a qualitative, code-compliance framework for property managers of student housing facilities.

The paper identified the fire safety code requirements for student housing facilities and arranged these requirements in the form of a checklist, which was further validated by professional experts. Additionally, the paper presented an IDEF₀ (Integrated Definition for Function Modeling) framework model that illustrates a stepwise process for the deployment of the checklist. A case study was conducted on three similar student housing facilities in a university campus to demonstrate the application of the framework. Furthermore, the findings from the case study were reported along with recommendations to improve the degree of compliance with the requirements of fire safety codes.

The developed framework was validated by professional experts and through a case study. Fire safety provisions were mostly found to be adequate in the case study building. The authors proposed several actions to improve the current status of fire safety in the building.

The paper serves to disseminate awareness about the occurrence of fires, their severe consequences and precautionary measures in student housing facilities. It also provides a standardized checklist for ease of use by property managers who may be unable to understand the technical terminologies found in fire safety codes and standards. Thus, the developed framework is of tangible value to property managers, building specialists and student housing administrators.

Heritage housing in inner city areas represents a valuable cultural asset that belongs, in part, to the community as a whole. Despite this, the risk of destruction by fire in closely spaced heritage housing has not received a great deal of research attention. The purpose of this paper is to identify potential faults in building fabric that may result in unacceptable fire safety risks to irreplaceable heritage streetscapes.

This paper examines a sample of publically administered heritage houses in inner Sydney. A condition survey looks at the occurrence of noted defects, or non-compliances to the current building regulations, in fire separation between attached or closely spaced occupancies.

Fire spread between adjacent buildings is identified as a potential hazard which needs to be addressed in order to ensure both the sustainability of the remaining heritage housing stock and the safety of the occupants.

While the survey is small, it represents a significant proportion of a dwindling stock of nineteenth century heritage housing in public ownership in Sydney.

Based on the results of the survey, a recommendation has been made in regard to improving building surveying practice when dealing with renovation of heritage housing.

Concern over the diminishing availability of social housing in inner city locations indicates the need for more attention to the fire safety of the remaining stock.

The research provides original data on the level of fire safety risk in a regional cluster of heritage housing.

The paper discusses the problems encountered in the management and quantitative evaluation of fire risk and safety in a building. Rational methods for obtaining solutions to these problems are provided by non‐deterministic mathematical models rather than deterministic models. This is due to the fact that the occurrence and spread of an accidental (not arson) fire are random phenomena affected by uncertainties caused by several factors. Non‐deterministic models discussed briefly in the paper include simple statistical and probabilistic models, regression methods, probability distributions, fault and event trees and stochastic models. The paper only provides a framework for applying these models to any type of facility. For any type, it may be necessary to modify these techniques, collect all the relevant data and perform the analyses to derive results and conclusions applicable to that type.

Over the last 30 years, despite immense and increasing expenditures by the federal government for disaster preparedness and relief, both catastrophic and chronic losses from natural hazards have continued to increase at an alarming pace. Although earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes account for the largest portion of these natural hazard losses, wildfire increasingly represents significant disaster losses of well over a billion dollars annually. There is considerable concern that losses from wildfires will only increase in the U.S. as some of the highest growth rates in the nation, both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan types of growth, are projected to continue in states with extensive wildland fire hazard areas. The land development patterns associated with that growth are problematic because so much of the development in the last 30 years (and that is still occurring) is not being steered away from the highest wildfire hazard settings, nor are adequate steps being taken to ensure that when development occurs in high wildfire hazard zones appropriate mitigation is used to reduce the vulnerability of people and property to loss. Fortunately, those anticipated future wildfire losses have a great potential to be reduced provided state and local governments take the initiative to create partnerships to ensure “safer” and “smarter” patterns of land development occur in and near wildland–urban interface areas. This chapter explores wildfire mitigation planning as an integral component of “safe smart growth” for wildland–urban interface communities.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) develops standards for fire and emergency services through a consensus standard process, which includes a revisionary cycle. The paper aims to discuss these issue.

The present study employs a qualitative case study method to examine the NFPA’s development process for standards specific to aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF). The revisionary cycle of this process serves as an important tool to maintain currency in the industry.

As a result of the qualitative analyses, researchers identified processes and procedures that were supported by NFPA ARFF Technical Committee members. Further, members delineated factors that could be enhanced to ensure greater success with the standards development process. Initially, the research was to examine the revisionary cycle process of the NFPA ARFF standards. While this was achieved other items were identified: desire of all committee members interviewed to see these standards be widely accepted, to have more of those in the fire and emergency services industry and the general public involved, and to continue to enhance a revisionary cycle that these members believe to assist in public safety.

This study is novel in that it is one of a few studies that directly addresses the ARFF area of firefighting. This paper adds to the limited literature available in this area and provides guidance with ways to enhance the overall standards development process for NFPA ARFF-related consensus standards.