Fire Risk Management for SMEs in Cultural Heritage: The Critical Role of Vulnerability Assessment
In the world of fire safety, there is often a gap between high-level engineering and day-to-day management. While it is...
historic buildings
Nine Japanese Shrines and Temples Lost to Fire in First Five Months of 2026: Context and Ongoing Protection Efforts
Complete Timeline: 9 Fires (January–May 2026) Note: Most of the 2026 fires remain under investigation by local authorities. Confirmed causes should...
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...
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...
The Cappella della Sindone Fire in Turin: When Restoration, Temporary Uses, and Fire Load Turn a Masterpiece into a Catastroph
The 1997 Turin fire shows how fragile heritage buildings become when temporary installations, electrical uncertainty, and delayed detection meet a...
How Smart Technologies Improve Historic Buildings Safety
Preserving historic buildings means safeguarding not just architectural masterpieces—but the collective memory and cultural identity of communities. Today, smart technologies...
Challenges and Solutions for Emergency Egress Simulation in Historic Buildings
Assessing fire safety in historic buildings requires a careful examination of occupant evacuation procedures, with a particular focus on the...
Protecting Historic Buildings from Wildfires – Interventions on facades and roofs
Historic buildings can be exposed to risk by wildfires like any other building. In their case, though, vulnerability assessment should...
Funding the Retrofit of Historic Buildings with a Focus on Safety
Built heritage conservation is not only about the aesthetic and historical preservation of buildings, but increasingly includes the need to...
The New Emergency Plan of St Peter in Vatican
St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican is a building whose construction lasted several centuries and was completed around 1667. Famous...
Fire Behaviour of Ageing Wood
In recent years the scientific literature on wood combustion has seen a considerable number of new important studies. Among these,...
The Singularity of Italian Fire Safety Regulations for Historic Buildings
In a previous post, we outlined a general framework for safeguarding historic buildings from fire while preserving their cultural significance....
Water Mist in Historic Heritage. Pros and Cons
Fireriskheritage.net has already covered the use of water mist systems in historic and heritage buildings. The recent reopening of Notre...
Grenfell Fire Report – the Key Lessons for Existing Buildings Safety
The Grenfell Tower fire occurred at the 24-storey skyscraper, in the North Kensington district of London, on the night of...
Upgrading Fire Behaviour of Wooden Doors in Historic Buildings
When it comes to fire safety in many buildings, including apartment buildings, old wooden doors often represent a weak point....
Fire Threats to Archaeological Sites: an Unexpected Theme
Can fires of all vegetation damage archaeological or cultural resources? Actually, fire always poses a threat to every human artefact,...
Historic Artifacts: Choosing the Fire Extinguisher
Fire extinguishers are an essential tool in protecting cultural heritage buildings and artefacts from the damaging effects of fire. Their...
Historic Manila Post Office Damaged by a Car Battery
The Manila Central Post Office, a cherished historical landmark in the heart of the Philippine capital, fell victim to a...
Notre Dame Fire: What we Know About
The fire at Notre-Dame de Paris on 15 April 2019 remains one of the most significant heritage losses of the...
Complexity of Rescue in Historic Towns Operations after Earthquakes
A scene after seismic events of a USAR operation in a historic town in Italy (credits: National Fire Service -...
