An Overview of Behaviour in Fires

The major differences between fires in the patterns of behaviour that are associated
with them are not due to variations between the personalities of the people present
or to particular physical details of the design of the buildings involved. Rather they
relate to the type of 'place' in which the fires occur. The term 'place' here is used
in the sense discussed by Canter (1977), implying a combination of social and
physical processes that give any setting its particular qualities. In the parlance of
the fire brigades a place is very similar in meaning to a 'building occupancy',
because each occupancy has its own characteristic physical structure as well as its
own type of organisation and associated fire risk. The following summaries will
therefore consider fires in relation to the type of setting in which they occur.
In order to clarify and elaborate these aspects, details of behaviour in various
types of buildings are worthy of closer consideration.