Definition
Fire protection is the methods and actions to reduce and mitigate the effects and damage caused by a fire event.
Fire prevention is the methods and actions taken to reduce the likelihood of a fire event.
Life safety is the primary goal in fire protection utilizing a method or system to protect the life of occupants.
Introduction
The United States and mankind in general have always had a fire problem. What was and has always been one of the most important tools to the human race can quickly become one of the deadliest. Humans learned to harness fire for many uses such as to cook food and stay warm. But just as fire has good applications, it has its bad sides as it burns down buildings and cities, destroys forests, and takes lives when out of control.
Fire protection has been seen as early as 300 B.C. by the Romans as a slave fire department. By A.D. 26 a full-time fire department in Rome was flourishing and was charged with enforcing fire prevention safeguards and punishing...
References
Cote, A. (2004). Fundamentals of fire protection. Quincy: National Fire Protection Association.
NFPA. (n.d.). About fire prevention week. Retrieved from National Fire Protection Association: https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Campaigns/Fire-Prevention-Week/About-Fire-Prevention-Week
Occupational Safety & Health Administration. (n.d.). OSHA at 30: Three decades of progress in occupantional safety and health. Retrieved from United States Department of Labor: https://www.osha.gov/as/opa/osha-at-30.html
Office of Communication. (2014, August 4). The story of Smokey Bear. Retrieved from U.S. Forest Service: https://www.fs.fed.us/blogs/story-smokey-bear
Robertson, J. (2005). Introduction to fire prevention (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.
United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cpsc.gov
XL Catlin. (n.d.). Fire walls, fire barriers and fire partitions. Retrieved from XL Catlin: https://xlcatlin.com/-/media/gaps/221____0.pdf.
Further Reading
Cote, A. E. Fundamentals of fire protection. Quincy: National Fire Protection Association.
Robertson, J. C., & Love M. T. Robertson’s introduction to fire prevention. Upper Saddle Ridge: Pearson Education.
Klinoff, R. Introduction to fire protection. Clifton Park: Delmar Learning.
Gagnon, R. M. Design of special hazard and fire alarm systems. Clifton Park: Delmar Learning.
NFPA 101. Life safety code. Quincy: National Fire Protection Association.
NFPA 221. Standard for high challenge fire walls, fire walls, and fire barrier walls. Quincy: National Fire Protection Association.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Reichert, J. (2019). Fire: Prevention, Protection, and Life Safety. In: Shapiro, L., Maras, MH. (eds) Encyclopedia of Security and Emergency Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_79-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_79-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69891-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69891-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Law and CriminologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
Fire: Prevention, Protection, and Life Safety- Published:
- 12 November 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_79-2
-
Original
Fire: Prevention, Protection, and Life Safety- Published:
- 31 August 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_79-1