Operations Research and Management Science in Fire Safety

Like OR/MS, fire safety incorporates many different types of problems: sociological, technical, and managerial. This article describes some of the broad areas of fire safety that have been the subject of OR/MS work or that have potential for application. These areas include wildland fires, process industries, and fire safety in buildings. A detailed example of the use of OR/MS tools and techniques in the development of a fire risk index for buildings is presented. It is concluded that fire safety provides unique challenges that await the more sophisticated OR/MS practitioner. Keywords: fire; fire safety; fire risk indexing; wildland fires; industrial fires; building fires; multiattribute evaluation