Deaths and damages from fire have been declining steadily for decades, and in no small part that is because of improved fire detection and alarms. However, the core technologies behind modern detection have been around for decades, so what is driving the improvement in safety, and will new technologies be able to accelerate those gains?
When looking at the evolution of fire detection technology, we need to consider how far the industry has come in terms of effectiveness. In a typical European country such as Germany, the number of fire-related deaths per 100 000 people has fallen from around one in 1980 to just
While building standards have played their part, NFPA figures suggest detection is likely responsible for most of this drop. Recent research by the NFPA in the USA found that the death rate per 1000 home structure fires is approximately 60% lower in homes with working smoke alarms than in homes with no alarms or none that operated. If both smoke alarms and automatic extinguishing systems (AES) were installed, the rate was 90% lower.
How fire detection is evolving
The main technologies used to detect fire today have, therefore, been around for over 40 years in most cases, but they have been steadily improving and becoming more affordable, and therefore more widely adopted. Increased adoption of fire detection and fire suppression has partly been driven by the evolution of regulations, but in many countries, tight rules have also been in place for decades.
So, how have we got so much better at saving lives in fires, and also at preventing or minimising property loss? Both these goals come down to detecting early and acting decisively. Detecting a fire at an incipient stage – which modern early warning devices, such as aspirating smoke detectors, are capable of doing – gives staff the chance to verify the incident and very often, simply
to put it out. If necessary, evacuations can be started in an orderly manner before smoke impedes visibility and creates a danger, and fire brigades can arrive at the scene at a point where the building can still be saved.
The sensitivity required for early detection is always balanced against the problem of false alarms. Although the staged response approach helps mitigate against this, false alarms are still highly undesirable. Throughout the 80s and 90s, systems such as ASD and linear heat became better at recognising a real fire incident, but the process has accelerated in the last couple of decades as data processing became good enough to analyse the patterns of real fires. For example, advanced linear heat detectors such as SecuriHeat ADW are programmed to discern the heat plume of a door opening to the outside in a hot country, waiting just long enough to check if this is the case before alarming. Similarly, aspirating smoke detectors such as SecuriSmoke ASD have got much better at discerning smoke from dust or other airborne particles.
Improving technology and increased affordability of detection systems mean good quality fire detection is far more common today than it was a few decades ago, both in homes and commercial premises. This accounts for the significant fall in deaths from fire seen in almost every country in the world, and just as deaths have fallen, we can safely say that property damages are also down, although increased values make the financial dimension hard to compare.
Data and connectivity driving further improvements
Like many industries, fire detection technology’s most recent evolutionary steps revolve around data and connectivity. When coupled with machine learning algorithms or AI, this could underpin the next real step change.
Fire detection devices have also become much more connected in recent years: the ability to get detailed information not just to a central fire alarm panel, but potentially to phones and computers; and even the more visual, intuitive displays that are now available for many fire detection devices; all help to ensure they are used effectively. Potentially, interconnectivity is an area that can deliver even more in the years to come, although with it come security fears. Manufacturers will likely be able to leverage even more feedback from their devices, learning lessons and making improvements faster than ever before. Just as the bank of data is growing, the tools to analyse that data are becoming much more formidable.
AI can deliver a step-change even with existing hardware
Even if a detector itself does not evolve in the next ten years, it is easy to imagine that AI-powered systems will be able to improve the effectiveness of a smoke or heat detector significantly. That could be by improving system design and detector positioning, through to recognising patterns that indicate an incipient fire with a high degree of certainty. Therefore, even if no new detection technologies disrupt the market in the years to come, we can expect continued improvement in efficiencies and detection abilities, especially the capacity to detect early and to filter out false alarms.
In the short term, the growing adoption of high-quality fire detection on the African continent will likely continue driving safety improvements. The modernisation of legacy systems and buildings means the rate of death from fire should rapidly drop as the gap with Europe and the US closes. At the same time, intuitive interfaces such as Securiton’s FidesNet make fire detection easier to understand for non-technical staff on site, which is another key area that helps save lives and protect property. By the time countries such as South Africa have caught up with European levels of fire safety, AI and data should already be powering those safety levels even higher.
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