A personal perspective on research, consulting and codes/standards development in fire‐related human behaviour, 1969–1999, with an emphasis on space and time factors

Abstract

Four phases of work in the fire-related human behaviour field are described. Falling into the first phase was the author's early research into human behaviour in fire (which was most well known for its focus on evacuation); it began several years before the first international meetings were held in the USA and Britain on fires and human behaviour. Later, when research funding in this field was almost eliminated, work was performed in a private-sector consulting capacity in the USA. Here insights were applied from earlier research as well as being drawn from specific fatal fire investigations performed to assist with litigation. Two case studies from such litigation after apartment building fires are described; one in a high-rise building, the other in a low-rise building. A continuing theme in this history of nearly three decades of personal professional interest in fire-related human behaviour is the importance of documenting — at a minimum — the spatial and temporal aspects of human behaviour in fire incidents and related egress activity. Such descriptive information on space and time factors is a key to understanding eventually why certain behaviour occurs and how it can be more safely accommodated in building regulation, management and design, including performance-based design. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.