ABSTRACT
As defined in Section 3.7.3.2, the total time taken by an occupant or group of occupants to evacuate a building involved in a fire is the sum of three periods demarcated sequentially by four critical events: ignition, discovery or detection of the fire; commencement of evacuation and reaching a safe place. The first period is the elapsed time from the start of ignition to perceive or discover the existence of the fire. This time period can be long if the building is not equipped with automatic fire detection systems. In such a building, the occupants have to rely on fire cues such as unusual smells or noises, e.g. breaking glass, which are generally ambiguous or misinterpreted (Canter, 1985).
