Heritage Safety in the Age of Compound Risk
Historic buildings and cultural sites are no longer exposed to one dominant threat at a time. In recent months, this...
Insights
This category includes in-depth posts on new topics or problems that are still open
Why Cultural Heritage Safety Engineering Still Struggles to Be Recognised
Why universities, heritage institutions, and project governance still fail to treat it as a discipline in its own right In...
Temporary use and events in heritage buildings: hidden fire risks before, during, and after opening
Why temporary use is a distinct fire-risk phase The Cappella della Sindone fire is the clearest case to quote because...
BIM/GIS Fire-Risk Models for Heritage: Why Interoperability Is Still the Core Problem
Recent research on BIM and GIS for heritage fire-risk assessment has produced promising results, but one issue continues to dominate...
Fire Risk during Renovation of Historic Buildings
Historic buildings under renovation are often at their most fragile the moment we believe they are being “made safer.” Several...
Fire Safety in Cultural Heritage Buildings: Beyond Compliance, Toward Protection
Fire is arguably the greatest single threat facing cultural heritage. From the catastrophic 2018 fire at the National Museum of...
Mitigating Water Damages to Cultural Heritage: Strategies and Firefighting Solutions
Water remains the most pervasive threat to cultural heritage, as outlined in our previous analysis "Water: the Most Common Enemy...
When Historic Spaces Become Event Venues: The Fire Risk Hidden Behind Special Occasions
From the Braidense controversy to Turin’s lesson, why dinners, catering, and temporary setups can turn a heritage interior into a...
Why Cultural Heritage is Still Missing from Too Many Civil Protection Plans
Emergency and civil protection planning is undergoing a significant transformation. Public authorities and response agencies are increasingly supported by digital...
Buffer Zones: War vs. Wildland Fire Protection
The UNESCO-listed Golestan Palace sustained damage from airstrikes, which shattered precious mirrors. This occurred despite the target of the attacks...
Hidden Fires: The Unseen Cultural Heritage Losses in Latin America, Asia & Africa
Latin America, Asia, and Africa together hold over 60% of UNESCO World Heritage sites, yet fire damage reports from these...
Germany’s KulturGutRetter: Pioneering the First UCPM Cultural Heritage Response Unit (CHRU)
Summary Germany’s KulturGutRetter pioneers the first UCPM Cultural Heritage Response Unit (CHRU)—a self-sufficient team for rapid protection of cultural assets...
Comprehensive FireRiskHeritage Guide for Historic Timber Structures Safety
Historic timber structures represent one of the most vulnerable yet essential components of architectural heritage. From medieval cathedral roofs spanning...
Fire Effects on Heritage Stone: Temperature Thresholds and Assessment
Introduction Stone has long been considered one of the most fire-resistant building materials in architectural history, providing inherent protection to...
The Reconstruction of the Glasgow School of Art following the Second Fire
In the evening of June 15, 2018, a catastrophic fire engulfed the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School...
Wildfires in Chile Damage Historic Heritage
Large-scale wildfires and other widespread emergencies are usually narrated in terms of hectares burned, people evacuated, houses destroyed and victims....
Review: A Study about Guangzhou Fire Protection Strategies and Technologies for Heritage Buildings
In an era when historic city centres across the globe are at risk—not only from large-scale redevelopment and neglect, but...
Fire in Historic District in Netherlands
A major fire broke out in the historic centre of Leeuwarden (West Frisian, Netherlands) between 12 and 13 January 2026....
Fire Resilience for Heritage in a Changing Climate: Priorities for Site Managers
International bodies such as UNESCO warn that climate-driven factors including heatwaves, droughts and extended fire seasons are intensifying fires at...
The Hidden Vulnerability: Fire Risk in Cultural Heritage Storage Facilities
On October 1, 2025, a devastating fire broke out at the main warehouse of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) in Bhiwandi,...
Attacks on Worship Sites: the Need for Specific Fire Design Scenarios
Attacks on churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship have become a worrying global trend, and they increasingly strike...
Christmas Markets under Pressure: from Terror Plots to “Ordinary” Disasters
Across Europe, Christmas markets are more than seasonal shopping events. They are recurring public rituals that each year re‑occupy historic...
