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A Global Plan for a Decade of Action for Fire Safety
By: Brian J. Meacham, Meacham Associates, USA
Fire is a global hazard – it impacts all people, all cultures, all countries and all businesses. Increasing population, urbanization and densification, and the increase in wildland fire frequency and magnitude, portend significant future losses to societies, cultures, economies and the environment. Concerted, global action is needed to stem these impacts. A Global Plan for a Decade of Action for Fire Safety has been developed by the IFSS Coalition to facilitate and guide action to tackle the global fire challenge.[1]
Magnitude of individual, economic and community impacts
The human toll of fire is immense. Globally, each year more than 150,000 people die, and more than 7,000,000 people sustain non-fatal injuries, from burns associated with fire and other sources. This translates to a staggering global average of more than 400 deaths and 19,000 injuries from fire each day, which results in great physical, emotional, psychological and financial suffering to those directly impacted – as well as to society as a whole. A particular challenge is informal construction and settlements, which are often prone to rapid fire growth and spread, and which can displace thousands of people, even if casualties are low.
Informal homes consumed by fire. ©Justin Sullivan (2018)
The cost of fire in terms of impact to business and property is also massive. In the US alone, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) estimated the 2014 annual costs associated with direct property loss caused by fire at US$13.2bn and insurance costs at US$23bn. In addition, analysis of over 470,000 global insurance claims from 2013 to 2018 by the insurer Allianz revealed that fire and explosion incidents cause the largest claims for insurers and the businesses they cover, resulting in an excess of US$17bn worth of losses. Fires were also responsible for more than half (11) of the 20 largest non-natural catastrophe events analysed.
Accelerated by climate change-induced drought conditions, increasing temperatures, and increasing winds, the global wildland fire situation is stark. Globally, loss due to wildland fire is presently greater than at any time in the past. In 2016, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimated the total annualised economic burden of wildland fire in the US alone to be between US$71bn and US$347bn. In 2020, the wildfires in the Western US were estimated at $16.5bn, and by the end of the 2019–2020 bushfire season in Australia, the estimated impacts were staggering: 18,983,588 hectares were burned, 3,113 houses and 33 lives were lost in 15,344, and damage was estimated to have had an A$20 billion impact on the economy.
A Framework for the Decade of Action for Fire Safety
To facilitate concerted, global activities aim at reducing fire threats and increasing fire safety, a framework for a Decade of Action for Fire Safety has been developed. The framework sets out a challenging but important goal, a set of 15 objectives to be achieved, and a set of actions that can be implemented at the local, national, regional and/or global level to increase fire safety.
The goal of the Decade of Action for Fire Safety is to stabilise and then reduce the forecast level of fire fatalities, injuries, economic cost and environmental impact around the world by 2032 as global population increases. The 15 objectives including calls for education, training, healthcare and support resources for people, controls on high-risk construction products and building contents, increased government and private-sector management controls for building fire safety, enhancing firefighting resources and infrastructure, and facilitating sustainable and fire resilient communities, both urban and those within the wildland-urban interface.
To help countries and jurisdictions meeting the objectives of the Plan, a set of more than 60 actions have been suggested that can be implemented and supported at one or more levels. The actions are grouped into five pillars of action:
Pillar 1 offers a set of actions that can be implemented to help individuals and groups (people) to: increase their understanding of fire, learn what they can do to reduce their exposure to fire and flames, reduce their vulnerability to unwanted fire if it occurs, gain access to emergency medical care in the case of burns, smoke inhalation and other fire impacts to persons, gain access to post-fire counselling and support services and obtain just and fair settlements.
Pillar 2 presents a set of actions that can be implemented to help reduce fire hazards and risks associated with appliances, contents and building components (products). This set of actions is focused on identifying and reducing: the use of open flame devices and appliances for heating, cooking, and related functions, hazards associated with potentially unsafe electrical devices and appliances, and hazards associated with the improper use and installation of building contents, materials and assemblies (e.g., construction materials, wall linings, etc.).
Pillar 3 presents a set of actions that can be implemented to help reduce fire hazards and risks associated with structures, including their planning, design and operation. This set of actions is focused on: building fire safety legislation and regulation, material, design, inspection and test standards, deployment of improved fire safety technologies for both passive and active fire safety, robust fire safety management schemes, adequately educated, qualified and certified professionals, and adequate resources for building and fire inspection and control.
Pillar 4 presents a set of actions that can be implemented to help enhance firefighting infrastructure. This set of actions is focused on support for: the fire service, emergency medical response services, apparatus, and critical firefighting infrastructure, such as water supplies and distribution systems.
Pillar 5 presents a set of actions that can be implemented to facilitate sustainable and fire resilient communities. This set of actions is largely focused on promoting the concept of integrating fire safety issues into planning and zoning of buildings and infrastructure in a sustainable and resilient manner, as well as addressing wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire threats.
For each pillar of action, a small set of representative resources has been provided, to illustrate the numerous resources already exist to help governments, non-governmental organisations, and the provide sector begin to tack action to meet the stated objectives. It is envisioned that progress towards achievement of the Decade of Action for Fire Safety goals and objectives will be monitored through tracking of indicators and milestones linked to the Decade of Action, and mid-term and end-term evaluation of the Decade of Action. Some potential indicators that can be captured to monitor process and evaluate outcomes are presented in the Annexes.
Summary
A Global Plan for a Decade of Action for Fire Safety has been proposed by the IFSS Coalition. The guiding principles underlying the Plan are those included in a sustainable and fire resilient approach for society, buildings, infrastructure and communities. It reflects a socio-technical systems approach that considers people, technologies, institutions and their interactions, and is therefore able to accommodate:
- the complexities of human behaviour and vulnerabilities
- technical opportunities in fire risk mitigation
- impacts of technology failure in the causes of fire and
- the building and fire regulatory system and the support infrastructure that is in place.
The goal of the Global Plan for a Decade of Action for Fire Safety is to stabilise and then reduce the forecast level of fire fatalities, injuries, economic cost and environmental impact around the world by 2032, even as we see an increase in global population over this period. A Decade of Action for Fire Safety would provide a timeframe for action to encourage political and resource commitments to fire safety both globally and nationally. Donors could use the Decade of Action for Fire Safety as a stimulus to integrating fire safety into their assistance programmes. Low-income and middle-income countries can use it to accelerate the adoption of sustainable and cost-effective fire safety programmes and standards. High-income countries can use it to make progress in improving their fire safety performance as well as a platform to share their experiences and knowledge with others.
Acknowledgements
The Global Plan for a Decade of Action for Fire Safety was drafted by Brian Meacham, with significant input from Gary Strong from RICS, and contributions from IFSS Coalition Standards Setting Committee members Daniel Joyeux, Birgitte Messerschmidt, and Dwayne Sloane. Helpful comments were also received from numerous IFSS Coalition representatives during the review period. The contributions and helpful input from all participants is graciously acknowledged.
References
[1] Meacham, B.J., A Global Plan for a Decade of Action for Fire Safety, published by the International Fire Safety Standards Coalition (IFSSC), https://ifss-coalition.org/, available for free download at https://www.rics.org/globalassets/rics-website/media/knowledge/decade-of-action-for-fire-safety_oct2021.pdf