Progress and problems of fire protection in China

Since the foundation of the new China, lots of achievements have been made in fire protection. However, in recent years, the fire situation in China has become severe and fire losses are increasing rapidly. Based on fire statistics from the mid-1980s to 1994, in this paper the characteristics of fire accidents in China are analyzed and new trends of fire accidents in last few years are discussed. By investigating lots of fire cases, the causes leading to the new trends are also pursued. It is concluded that specific work on fire protection should be enhanced from now on, so as to meet the demands of the society in fire services and keep up with the fast growing economy. It is also suggested that some ahead-of-time research in aspects of fire protection and prevention should be carried out, in order to cope with new challenges of the future. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.