It is never just one problem that makes responding to high-rise fires so challenging. It is a series of them: radios don’t work in over 140 degrees, water pressure is insufficient, smoke spreads, and human responses are unpredictable—according to Dr. Guido Calcagno of the Chicago Fire Department. And new challenges are always emerging.
The North American Building Alliance held its third annual Fire Safety Symposium in Chicago in early September, bringing together a diverse array of fire safety experts from across the country. Code officials, manufacturers, testing labs, fire departments, and other stakeholders came together to explore how the Five Common Principles of Fire Safety—Prevention, Detection and Communication, Occupant Protection, Containment and Compartmentation, and Extinguishment—apply to the rapidly changing built environment. Throughout the symposium, speakers examined how emerging technologies, new construction methods, evolving building designs, and changing fire risks affect each layer of protection.
Fire safety must evolve with new technologies
New technologies are transforming how buildings are constructed, but they can also introduce new fire risks.
Electric vehicles and other battery-powered mobility devices are creating concerns about thermal runaway, particularly in below-grade parking areas where firefighting and the drainage of contaminated water are difficult. Rooftop and plug-in balcony solar systems present different challenges, including electrical hazards and fires that can develop between panels and the roof, where water may not reach them effectively.
Tall wood buildings, modular construction, 3D-printed structures, lower-global-warming-potential refrigerants, vegetative roofs, and new fire suppression technologies are also changing the built environment. Many offer benefits, but their ubiquity reinforces the need for testing, standards, and codes to keep pace with innovation.
Sustainability and fire safety can go hand in hand
Buildings and construction account for approximately 28% of global energy consumption and 37% of global emissions, according to Dwayne Sloan, Technical Director of the Built Environment at UL Solutions. We need more efficient buildings, renewable energy, increased insulation, electrification, retrofits, and other innovations.
Sustainability goals do not have to come at the expense of fire safety. In many cases, the same building practices can advance both safety and sustainability. For example, airtight building assemblies can improve energy efficiency while helping keep dangerous embers out of attics in wildfire-prone areas. Durable and adaptable buildings can conserve resources while also improving resilience.
The challenge is to evaluate potential tradeoffs early. Sustainability claims in the built environment involving recycled content, bio-based materials, energy performance, and environmental impacts must be supported by credible testing and verification and fire performance integrated into the process from the outset rather than treated as an afterthought.
Materials and products must be evaluated as part of complete systems
One point surfaced again and again: Building products do not perform in isolation.
NFPA 285, for example, evaluates how exterior wall assemblies perform together rather than testing individual components separately. The same systems-based thinking applies to rooftop solar, where the interaction among the panels, mounting system, roofing materials, and underlying structure influences fire performance.
The debate over allowing taller apartment buildings with a single exit staircase illustrates the same principle. European buildings may rely more heavily on compartmentation to contain fires, while U.S. buildings generally place greater emphasis on sprinklers and occupant evacuation. A single design feature cannot be compared across countries without considering the complete safety system surrounding it.
Codes should account for how materials, products, installation practices, building design, and emergency response work together. Focusing on one component in a vacuum can obscure the layers of protection already built into modern structures.
Early industry engagement and stronger enforcement are essential
Manufacturers have an important role to play well before a new code or regulation is finalized. Plant visits, job-site tours, testing demonstrations, and other hands-on educational opportunities can help policymakers and code officials understand how products are made, tested, installed, and used.
That engagement is especially important as officials consider unfamiliar materials and technologies. Without it, decisions may be based on incomplete information or assumptions about how a product performs.
At the same time, even the strongest codes provide little protection if communities lack the personnel and resources to enforce them. Effective fire safety requires sound standards, informed officials, qualified installers, and consistent enforcement. The code-development process must remain deliberate and grounded in evidence, but the people responsible for applying those codes also need the knowledge and capacity to make them work.
As the world changes, so must we
This year’s symposium again demonstrated that fire safety depends on looking at the whole system and adapting as buildings, technologies, and risks evolve. As an example, wildfire risk is also reshaping how buildings and communities are designed. The symposium included a look at the 2027 International Wildland-Urban Interface Code update and emerging issues affecting buildings and communities in wildfire-prone areas. As wildfire exposure grows, fire safety increasingly requires consideration of not only the building itself, but also its surroundings, site design, materials, and the ability to limit wildfire spread into and through communities.
These important conversations will continue when the Fire Safety Symposium reconvenes in Denver in 2027. We hope to see you there!
