Fire evacuation training: Perceptions and attitudes of the general public

This article presents an online survey with 323 respondents and 28 semi-structured interviews performed to investigate people’s perceptions of fire evacuation training and their attitudes towards it. The survey results showed that respondents with experience in fire evacuation training judge a fire in buildings that feature non-combustible materials to be more severe than other people, but no effects towards the willingness to live on higher building floors are observed in the data. Significant positive training effects are found towards individual perceived familiarity with safety procedures and perceived personal responsibility in fire safety. Inductive thematic analysis of the interviews resulted in the identification of four main themes that participants reflected in connection to evacuation training, namely 1) risk perception, 2) aspects that would improve fire evacuation training, 3) perceived benefits and challenges of fire evacuation training, 4) experience and anticipated behaviours during a fire evacuation scenario. Evidence of positive effects on participants’ perceived preparedness through fire evacuation training are found in the quantitative and qualitative data alike. Results from the survey show a positive correlation between perceived preparedness and perceived training quality which should thus be considered further (e.g., lack of perceived urgency and seriousness of the simulated training situations). Interviewees reported early-age education in fire evacuation training to play a crucial role in retaining knowledge. These findings suggest the importance of considering the general public when designing fire evacuation training to ensure effectiveness and acceptance of training in practice.