Rita F. Fahy

Summary: A panel discussion considered life safety options for people with disabilities and their evacuation challenges, with a particular focus on buildings, such as small care facilities, group homes and nursing homes. Questions to be discussed included consideration of how well occupants in those types of facilities have fared in actual fires, and how well current regulations protect them. The panelists focused on three specific areas – the implications of changing demographics on code development; the factors important in fire safety in small care facilities; and real experiences and future implications for mixed‐ability evacuation. This paper details the presentations and the open discussion that followed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

SUMMARY: The word ‘panic’ is frequently used in media accounts and statements of survivors of emergency evacuations and fires, but what does it really mean, is it a phenomenon that actually occurs? This paper first examines the concept from the view of the general public, particularly the media. Definitions of panic behaviour related to emergency response are summarized and evidence of behaviour from actual fire incidents are presented through interview data and case studies. Despite the data demonstrating that panic is a very rare occurrence in fires, the idea of panic and the term continue to be used by the public as well as fire experts. It is therefore necessary to demystify the misconception that panic is an essential element of a fire and identify any scientific justification for continuing to use this concept. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.