Review of vulnerability indicators for fire risk assessment in cultural heritage

Indicator-based methods are able to provide a simple and reliable way to assess the level of fire risk of existing constructions. While many of these methods were not developed for cultural heritage assets, those that were often involve indicators connected to provisions defined by standards that are only valid in certain countries. As such, a method with the required versatility to analyse the fire safety of cultural heritage assets is still needed. Developing a method with the necessary characteristics requires a prior review of existing approaches to understand their strengths and weaknesses. A review of existing indicator-based methods for fire risk assessment is, therefore, presented, covering methods applicable to built cultural heritage assets and other types of constructions. In addition, the review also analyses existing fire safety guidelines and recommendations dedicated to cultural heritage assets. As an outcome, the review proposes twenty-two vulnerability indicators grouped into four categories that can be used to develop a fire risk assessment method dedicated to built cultural heritage assets. The review also establishes a classification of cultural heritage assets according to four classes that focus on their fire vulnerability and discusses the applicability of the proposed indicators.