Purpose: Informal settlements are inherently unstructured in nature, lack adequate services, regularly have high population densities and can experience social problems. Thus, fires can easily propagate rapidly through such areas, leaving thousands homeless in a single fire. The purpose of this paper is to present an appraisal of various interventions and strategies to improve fire safety in informal settlements in South Africa (globally, similar settlements are known as slums, ghettos, favelas, shantytowns, etc.), considering aspects of both technical suitability and social suitability. Design/methodology/approach: This paper focusses on three specific aspects: ignition risk management, active fire protection interventions and passive fire protection interventions. These are presented within a framework to outline how they may mitigate the impact of fires. Findings: Often “solutions” proposed to improve fire safety either lack a sound engineering basis, thus becoming technically inefficient, or do not consider social circumstances and community responses in settlements, thereby becoming practically, socially or economically unsuitable. It must be understood that there is no “quick fix” to this significant problem, but rather a combination of interventions can improve fire safety in general. A broad understanding of the various options available is essential when addressing this problem, which this paper seeks to provide. Practical implications: This paper seeks to provide an overview to guide policymakers and organisations by illustrating both the advantages/benefits and disadvantages/challenges of the interventions and strategies currently being rolled out, as well as potential alternatives. Originality/value: A broad but succinct appraisal is provided that gives insight and direction for improving fire safety in informal settlements. It is hoped that the challenges associated with the fire safety interventions discussed can be addressed and improved over time.

While fire-related injuries and deaths decreased in the global north over the past few years, they have increased in the global south. With more than one billion people residing in informal settlements (sometimes known as slums, ghettos or shantytowns), it is necessary that greater effort be placed on addressing and developing means for improving fire safety in these areas. As a result of advances made in computer technologies, emerging performance-based regulations and an increase in building complexity in the global north, the use of computer models simulating enclosure fires have increased dramatically. In this work an experimental investigation is presented for (a) a full-scale corrugated steel sheeting clad informal dwelling experiment and (b) a full-scale timber clad informal dwelling experiment. The experimental results are then compared to numerical models consisting of both simple two-zone (OZone) and computational fluid dynamic models. Currently, there is negligible literature available on Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) modelling of informal settlement dwellings (sometimes known as shacks or shanties) fires. This paper evaluates the plausibility of using FDS v6.7 and zonal models to predict certain fire parameters (i.e. ceiling temperatures, heat fluxes, etc.) for Informal Settlement Dwellings (ISDs) and to study the plausibility of using FDS to estimate the probability of fire spread. In this paper an introduction to ISDs is given with details pertaining to construction materials and considerations needed for numerical modelling of informal dwellings (i.e. thin permeable boundaries or combustible boundaries). Models are based upon (a) a prescribed heat release rate per unit area in FDS using data obtained from a Fire Propagation Apparatus test, and (b) an empirical two-zone model using OZone. The FDS validation guide was used to quantify the model uncertainties in order to give a critical separation distance at which fire spread between dwellings will not occur. It was found that at 3 m spacing between ISDs there is a 6% chance (based on the model uncertainties) that fire spread can occur. This is an important finding that highlights the danger associated with these closely spaced dwellings and the hope is that it can guide local government and Non-Governmental Organizations in future decision making. Three meters spacing between dwellings, however, may not be possible due to the socio-cultural-political-economic issues associated with informal settlements. This is one of the first papers to demonstrate FDS models against full-scale ISD experiments.

Informal settlements (ISs) are a high-risk environment in which fires are often seen. In 2019 alone, 5544 IS fires were reported in South Africa. One of the main problems, when investigating an IS fire, is determining the fire cause. In the last 15 years, approximately 40% of the fire causes were classified as ‘undetermined’ in South Africa. Furthermore, the cases where the fire causes have been determined, do not provide the necessary information to comprehend why the fire started. This paper seeks to gain better insight with respect to fire causes by analysing the fire risk perception of IS inhabitants. To this end, a survey that was conducted in 2017, consisting of data from 2178 IS households, that were affected by a large-scale fire, was analysed. The survey consisted of questions relating to the fire risk perception with regards to the settlement in general, to the inhabitants’ own household, and about measures that could reduce fire risk. The analysis suggests that (a) the survey’s risk target had a strong influence on risk perception, (b) the inhabitants’ fire risk perception of their settlement is similar to that of firefighters in previous research, (c) the risk mitigation demands are more focused on decreasing the consequences of the fire than on the occurrence of a fire event, (d) the national fire statistics are not capturing the causes of real fire incidents, and (e) improvements to the documentation process after a fire event could provide critical information for the implementation of prevention measures.

Globally, the number of informal settlement dwellings are increasing rapidly; these areas are often associated with numerous large fires. Unfortunately, until recently, very little research has been focused on informal settlement fire issues leaving any attempts to improve their fire safety lacking the evidence base to support effective-decision making. However, over the past 4 years, a limited number of researchers have looked at better understanding these fires through full-scale experimentation and numerical modelling; starting to provide the necessary evidence base and future research directions. It is with this background in mind that this paper seeks to provide a more fundamental understanding of the effect of dwelling separation distance on informal settlement fire spread based on full-scale experiments and analytical equations. In this paper two full-scale experiments were conducted. Both experiments consisted of multiple dwellings, with the main difference between the experiments being the separation distance. Fire spread times, heat release rates, door and window flow velocities, ceiling temperatures and incident heat fluxes were recorded and are reported for both experiments. Theoretical neutral planes are derived and compared to the experimental neutral planes, which show relatively good correlation. The paper continues by calculating the expected incident radiation and time-to-ignition, using the flux-time product method, of the two fire scenarios (i.e., the two experiments) through means of analytical equations, and these findings are compared to the experimental results. Through configuration factors, the paper shows the effect of separation distance, dwelling height and dwelling length on the times-to-ignition, where it is clear that the heat flux received by an adjacent dwelling decrease approximately exponentially as the distance between dwellings increases, and consequently, the time-to-ignition increases exponentially as the separation distance between dwellings increases.