If you are in a tall building when the fire alarm goes off, is your first thought to get into a lift? Probably not, but research by the BRE shows that in certain cases, using lifts and escalators in a fire or other emergency may – far from being dangerous – actually help people get out of a building faster.

Of course, such a policy has to be carefully thought out and executed, but our feature Express Elevators makes fascinating reading, not just on the subject of evacuation by lift, but also on some of the general considerations needed for safe and effective escape from a building.

Strongly linked to the subject of evacuation is emergency lighting. Our special feature starting on page 20 presents the latest guidance and standards in this sometimes overlooked area, and also highlights some of the technical developments which are available to make life easier.

Survivors of some of the worst natural and man-made disasters on our planet are often house in emergency, temporary camps. Yet some of these people go on to suffer a second time because of fire destroying their shelters. In Fire Safety in Tsunami Camps, Martin Shipp and Kelvin Annable discover that although the causes of these fires are often quite obvious, doing something to limit their incidence and severity is a far more difficult proposition.

Finally, even though death and injury from fire has shown a steady decline in the past 25 years or so, there is no room for complacency. In Counting the Cost, a leading insurer highlights the nationwide increase in fire losses during the first half of the decade, and examines some of the possible causes of and solutions to this worrying trend.