Fire Safety Innovation – a Global View
By: Kathleen H. Almand, PE, FSFPE
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The Meaning of Fire Safety Innovation
The Oxford English Dictionary defines innovation as: “Creating change in something established…” What does that mean in a complex field like fire safety, where physical and human systems interact to create outcomes? Can we isolate fire safety innovation from these other systems? Changes in technology and construction materials and methods create new hazards (and possibilities) that must drive innovation in our field. Where we build and how we live are causing us to rethink our whole regulatory approach to fire safety.
Why do we innovate? How do we measure the impact of innovation? Our traditional measures of safety: injury, loss of life, and property have helped us evaluate the impact of fire safety innovations over the past fifty years. But even that is changing: the way we measure our success must now expand to include reducing the environmental impacts of fire. Fire safety innovation must evolve to keep pace with the rapidly evolving environment around it.
This article is a high-level summary of the views of a virtual panel of 14 global leaders in fire safety science and engineering who were asked to reflect on recent innovations in our field and focus on where we now need to turn our attention to stay in step with that changing environment. A particular focus of the panel was the residential fire problem.
Recent Innovation in Fire Safety
Our panelists provided a comprehensive list of impactful innovations in the fire safety field in the last fifty years. We’ve categorized them here simply by the point in the fire timeline at which they have the most impact: before, during, and after an event. (Some innovations span more than one portion of the timeline). Table 1 provides a listing of the panelists.
| Table 1: Fire Safety Innovation Virtual Panelists |
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Danielle Antonellis, Kindling, USA
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Greg Baker, Fire Research Group, New Zealand
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Anders Bergqvist, Stora Bjurum, Sweden(invited)
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Craig Beyler, Jensen Hughes, USA
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Thomas Gell, Brandforsk, Sweden
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Dan Gottuk, Jensen Hughes, USA
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Tuula Hakkarainen, Technical Research Center of Finland
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Anthony Hamins, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA
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Stephen Kerber, Underwriters Laboratories, Inc, USA
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Per Ola Malmquist, Utkiken Sverige, Sweden
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Birgitte Messerschmidt, National Fire Protection Association, USA
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Lynn Ranaker, Fire Rescue South Sweden
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Anne Else Steen-Hansen, RISE, Norway
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Bjorn Sundstrom, Brandforsk, Sweden
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Pre-Event (prevention)
Fires are most often caused by direct or indirect actions by people. Thus, their prevention is intimately connected with human behavior change. Innovations in this field include innovative public education on fire safe behaviors, focusing on children; and recent major initiatives by the fire and rescue services on systematic community risk reduction, targeting high-risk groups. From firefighting to risk reduction, the changing role of the rescue services is an example of cultural innovation in our field.
Innovative fire prevention technology has kept pace with the changes described above. Examples include cooking fire prevention technology which has been enabled by recent big advances in sensor technology for both electric and gas-powered cooking. Cooking fires remain the most prevalent and deadly of all fire types so innovation which prevents the occurrence of these fires has a major impact. Electrical safety has also benefited from sensor development, and arc fault circuit interrupters or equivalent are now a widespread fire prevention device.
In-Event (mitigation)
Residential smoke alarms are recognized as the most significant innovation in fire protection. Beginning with the battery-operated single-station smoke alarm, innovations in this technology have continued rapidly, moving to more reliable power, interconnected alarm function, and the emerging generation of multi-sensor detection algorithms. Other innovations which link smoke alarm and carbon monoxide sensing, and innovations in the waking effectiveness of alarms using distributed frequencies and other waking technologies, have further increased the effectiveness of this life-saving technology. On the fire suppression side, while the invention of fire sprinklers goes back to the 1800s, their innovative adaption to residences is still in the early stages of implementation. Finally, the development of fire-safe and environmentally friendly interior materials (e.g., in upholstered furniture, mattresses, textiles etc.) and their integration into consumer products are innovations which, through product regulation, have also had a major impact on fire safety.
Underlying the development of each of these innovations, and the measure of their impact, are fire science and engineering tools, which in themselves are important fire safety innovations. The development of oxygen consumption calorimetry as a measurement technique has enabled many innovations in materials and furnishings safety. Computational fluid dynamics modeling, which enables the understanding of the spread of smoke and fire in buildings, is the other major fire engineering advance which, coupled with advances in our understanding of human behavior in fire, has enabled improvements in building design for fire safety.
Post-Event
Although fire protection engineers are not so directly engaged in this dimension of the innovation cycle, we can reflect on the major medical advances that have been made in burn care as important contributors to reducing the impact of fire on individuals and communities.
What’s changing around us that is driving innovation?
Panel members from Scandinavia and the U.S. used different language to describe a global focus on energy and the environment as a primary driver for innovation. Words like “the circular economy,” “sustainability targets,” and climate change” were mirrored across the pond with concerns regarding fire risks associated with new energy-saving technologies and increasing wildfires. Many panelists raised concerns about the environmental impacts of fire protection products and the questionable efficacy of their more environmentally benign alternatives as a strong stimulus for innovation.
How we live is also changing our fire risk. Our established cities, their infrastructure, and the people who live in them are aging. New cities in developing nations are dense and expanding rapidly, often without a fire safety and regulatory infrastructure to support them.
Anything Positive?
Panelists had a lot to say about innovations in technology that can be applied to fire safety systems. The internet of things opens a world of possibilities, connecting complementary systems and enhancing diagnostics and communication. The challenge for our profession is harnessing these new technologies to improve the effectiveness and reliability of fire safety systems. The potential to integrate our systems with others, the greater the potential for improving their effectiveness and reliability.
Where Do We Most Need Innovation? Where Will it Make the Most Difference?
Panelists named reducing cooking and furniture flammability hazards in the home as the top targets for innovation. To many, innovation goes beyond technology: it means using it to target fire safety solutions that are contextually appropriate. That means finding solutions for those who are most vulnerable, and to think about context and community when developing solutions.
Innovation Doesn’t Happen in a Vacuum – How Do We Improve the Climate/Environment to Stimulate Fire Safety Innovation?
Our panelists provided some big systemic ideas on this topic, as well as some practical solutions. On the practical side, an innovation contest (think about the Grand Challenges) was a frequent suggestion, as were micro-grants to seed high-risk explorations. But we need our way into the larger innovation discussion. We need to show that fire safety plays an important role in achieving a sustainable society and should be part of global initiatives to achieve these goals. We need to develop bigger ways to measure our impact – not just on the fire problem but on its related economic, social, and environmental context. Why not try to learn from other fields of safety? In the automotive industry, innovative safety systems are being developed at an astonishing pace - regarding driver performance as well as vehicles and the traffic environment. And safety is a key selling argument. How do we create a similar attitude towards fire safety?
And we need to celebrate. The DiNenno Prize was initiated in 2015 to recognize the innovations that have changed the fire safety landscape in the past 100 years. We need to shout this from the rooftops.
If there was one overriding message expressed by our panelists in many different ways, it was that fire safety innovation cannot occur in a bubble. We have to go beyond our profession and seek diversity in scientific disciplines and cultures which is the hallmark of all successful innovation. And we must integrate what we do with the rapidly changing world around us.