Climate change is one of the most pressing global issues of our time, and through affecting most aspects of human life, fire safety implications are becoming increasingly more apparent. Evolving green technologies and sustainable endeavours are of course key factors, however, taking time to ensure a robust fire safety framework to run adjacent to these developments is paramount.
We are witnessing increasing global temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns and weather extremities which have made wildfires and climate migration frequent occurrences that pose significant threat to human life and surrounding infrastructures. The rising temperatures and drought conditions are making forests and other natural habitats more susceptible to fires, making it more challenging to control them.
Extreme weather events were reported globally throughout 2022 with wildfires, floods, droughts and hurricanes and the UK recorded its first 40°c day. Spain has already experienced its first major wildfire of this year, a clear indication of climate change and a shift in the number of natural disasters across the globe. Many communities are having to flee their homes as result of climate-related disasters, and migration is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. The Institute for Economics & Peace have previously predicted that the number of environmental migrants could rise to 1.2 billion by 2050 due to climate change.
Fire safety within climate change
As a result of increasing extreme weather, we are witnessing more people being driven from their homes due to these climate disasters. Climate migration is the movement of a person or groups of persons who, predominantly for reasons of sudden or progressive change in the environment due to climate change, are obliged to leave their habitual place of residence, or choose to do so, either temporarily or permanently, within a State or across an international border (Key Migration Terms, Migration Glossary | IOM, UN Migration).
A major issue faced through climate migration is the struggle to find adequate housing. Communities often find refuge in remote areas, with no option but to build shelter from accessible materials, often flammable. We recently learned of the devastating fire that tore through a Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, destroying around 2,000 shelters. Through mass exodus, large numbers of people are forced to relocate and seek refuge in remote settings, creating shelter from accessible resources that are often flammable. In the event of a fire, fire spreads at an exceptional rate and fire and rescue services (FRS) often do not have access to key information of these new settlements or water supply.
This important aspect of fire safety and climate change is a huge threat to human life within these settings. The United Nations are currently working alongside other bodies to develop a strategy of best practises that seek to inform local fire and rescue services of new migration settlements. Ensuring adequate provision is available to respond to fires is crucial and with key information, from the number of inhabitants to shelter materials, this will significantly help local FRS in their responses.
Committed to developing sustainable endeavours
Climate change is having a significant impact on fire safety advances and sustainability remains key to the IFE’s global developments. As part of our journey to Net Zero, the IFE CAReS initiative (Climate Action, Resilience and Sustainability) is making active changes to drive advances to lower environmental impact and encourage our members to develop their knowledge relating to climate change.
Climate change related CPD in response to recent occurrences such as wildfires, is accessible to all members on our CPD Hub. Alongside this our emerging technologies working group is continuing to pool developments and update our members on newfound technologies and fire safety proceedings.
Our commitment to supporting our members on sustainable design and how this affects our sector remain vital. To learn more about membership and how it can benefit you click here.