ISO 16733-1:2015

Overview

ISO 16733-1:2015 - Fire safety engineering - Selection of design fire scenarios and design fires - Part 1: Selection of design fire scenarios - defines a methodology for selecting credible but conservative design fire scenarios for fire safety engineering of any built environment (buildings, structures, transportation systems). The standard guides practitioners to reduce the very large universe of possible fires to a manageable set of scenarios for deterministic analysis using a qualitative or semi-quantitative approach. For full quantitative risk-based selection, ISO 16732‑1 is referenced.

Key Topics and Requirements

• Purpose and scope: Tailors selection to fire-safety objectives (life safety, property, environment, heritage) and the project scope.
• Design fire vs design fire scenario: Clarifies terms - a design fire is the quantitative description (e.g., heat release rate curve) used within a design fire scenario, the scenario chosen for deterministic analysis.
• Structured scenario identification: Stepwise procedure (Steps 1–9) to identify and select scenarios:
  • Step 1 - Identify specific safety challenges
  • Step 2 - Location of fire
  • Step 3 - Type of fire
  • Step 4 - Potential complicating hazards
  • Step 5 - Systems and features impacting fire
  • Step 6 - Occupant actions impacting fire
  • Step 7 - Selection and clustering of scenarios
  • Step 8 - Modify selection based on system availability/reliability
  • Step 9 - Final selection and documentation
• Scenario clustering and representative scenarios: Guidance on combining similar scenarios into clusters and choosing representative cases without undue calculation burden.
• Documentation and justification: Requires clear recording of assumptions, scenario selection logic, and demonstration that the scenario set is complete and commensurate with objectives.

Practical Applications

• Use ISO 16733-1:2015 to develop a defensible set of design fire scenarios for:
  • Performance-based fire safety designs
  • Deterministic CFD and zone model fire analyses
  • Fire safety strategy reports for building approvals and retrofits
  • Transport system fire safety planning (e.g., tunnels, stations)
• Outcomes include a documented portfolio of scenarios and associated design fires to support evacuation, smoke control, structural fire engineering, and active/passive protection design decisions.

Who Should Use This Standard

• Fire safety engineers and consultants performing deterministic fire analyses
• Risk assessors who need to link qualitative selection to quantitative methods
• Architects, building services engineers, transport planners, and regulators requiring a structured, auditable approach for scenario selection
• Facility owners and asset managers seeking consistent documentation of fire-safety assessments

Related Standards

• ISO 16732‑1 - for full quantitative fire risk assessment approaches
• ISO 23932 - overarching performance‑based fire safety engineering process
• ISO 13943 - fire safety vocabulary referenced by ISO 16733‑1

Keywords: ISO 16733-1:2015, design fire scenarios, design fires, fire safety engineering, fire risk assessment, ISO 16732-1, ISO 23932, performance-based fire safety, built environment.