Fire Safety in Informal and Humanitarian Settlements

Around the world, an estimated 1.6 billion people live in inadequate shelter, many in refugee camps, shelters, and other informal settlements. A single fire in an informal or humanitarian settlement can displace tens of thousands of people. For example, in 2021, a fire in Bangladesh displaced over 40,000 people. However, the risk of fire in these settings has historically been neglected. There are significant challenges to fire safety due to the complexity of the issue and gaps in knowledge, experience, and construction guidance for the range of shelters found in informal and humanitarian settlements. 

When fire safety interventions are implemented, they tend to fail because they primarily adopt top-down, one-size-fits-all approaches that overlook the nuanced realities of community experiences in managing fire risks. In addition, humanitarian and development efforts in these settlements often operate in isolation, missing opportunities for collaboration, cross-disciplinary learning, and a comprehensive understanding of the risk of fire.

To address this complex issue, the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), part of UL Research Institutes, is partnering with the non-profit organization Kindling. Kindling is dedicated to connecting fire safety knowledge to local and global humanitarian and development efforts to reduce the unequal impact of fire on people, property, and livelihoods in vulnerable communities around the world.

Kindling FLAMES is a multi-pronged initiative that encompasses both fire dynamics and social research, as well as education and amplification, to activate the research findings. Kindling is leading this project, with sponsorship by FSRI and expertise from FSRI’s research and amplification experience. The project’s goal is to understand the root causes of fire risk in informal and humanitarian settlements so communities and practitioners can be better supported by fire safety and risk reduction systems, ultimately preventing fire incidents and reducing the impact of fire. 

Three-Phase Structure of the Project

To holistically address the risk of fires in informal and humanitarian settlements, Kindling is executing three work packages: 

1. Conducting full-scale fire experiments of purpose-built residential structures specific to the humanitarian sector designed to understand fire spread within humanitarian settlements; 
2. Collaborating with a community in Cape Town, South Africa, to co-create a contextualized fire risk assessment and reduction methodology and process; and
3. Exploring practices and approaches to enhancing learning and education around fire, activating the learnings and driving impact.

As depicted in the theory of change below, these activities are expected to lead to both immediate results and long-term improvements.

“People in informal and humanitarian settlements face a heightened and unequal risk of fire that can impact their properties, livelihoods, and health. Understanding the interwoven technical and sociocultural factors that influence the spread of fires in these communities is essential. This project delves deeper into the issue and generates contextualized data critical for aiding humanitarian agencies and other key actors in making more-informed decisions.” - Danielle Antonellis, Founder and Executive Director, Kindling

While there is no quick fix for fire risk in informal and humanitarian settlements, an evidence- and community-based approach is essential. The findings from this research contribute to a body of fire risk data and can inform evidence-based policy making, guidance, and programming for both the humanitarian and development sectors. These insights aim to enable fire safety and risk reduction systems to better support communities in informal and humanitarian settlements, ultimately preventing fire incidences and reducing the impact of fire.

This project leverages collaborations with several academic and community-based partners to compound the impact of this investment. These partners include the Instytut Techniki Budowlanej (ITB), University of Edinburgh, and Stellenbosch University, which are advising on the fire experimentation phase.

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