Combining Statistics and Case Studies to Identify and Understand Deficiencies in Fire Protection

Over the years, much information has been gathered about fires in fire investigation reports and statistics. This information may have been collected nationally by an agency or an insurance company, or locally by the local rescue service. The information thus gathered can be used to learn from these fires and thereby lead to improved fire safety in buildings. This paper describes a method for discovering technical deficiencies in the fire safety of buildings. The method offers a means of analysing several fires systematically with the aim of identifying factors characteristic of a problem in the system studied. In this paper, the method is illustrated through a study of severe fires in school buildings in Sweden. The aim is to discover the underlying factors that cause some fires to grow and become severe. The method is considered a useful tool for discovering the underlying factors to or causes of fires.