A fire in an informal settlement can affect thousands of people. Fires take lives, cause serious injuries, destroy property and have a long-term impact on livelihoods. Recovery from fire is a long and difficult process, which can be exacerbated in informal settlements where a lack of insurance, financial instability, and insecure tenure are common. But this global fire problem remains largely neglected.
The Framework for Fire Safety in Informal Settlements has been developed to facilitate collaboration and alignment of global efforts to create safer and more resilient informal settlement communities.
Communities that are resilient to fire can withstand, respond to and recover from severe fire incidents, thereby contributing to residents’ broader wellbeing and long-term development. This requires action throughout the entirety of the disaster management cycle – mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Improvements in fire safety may be realised through direct investments in fire risk reduction or as co-benefits from investments in informal settlements more broadly. The most effective investments will require holistic consideration of the physical and social nature of fire risk and fire safety.