NIST Technical Note 1619 

Modeling Human Behavior during 

Building Fires 

Erica D. Kuligowski 

NIST Technical Note 1619 

Modeling Human Behavior during 

Building Fires 

Erica D. Kuligowski 

Fire Research Division 

Building and Fire Research Laboratory 

December 2008 

U.S. Department of Commerce 

Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

James M. Turner, Deputy Director 
Certain commercial entities, equipment, or materials may be identified in this 

 document in order to describe an experimental procedure or concept adequately. Such 

identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by the 

National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor is it intended to imply that the 

entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best available for the purpose. 

National Institute of Standards and Technology Technical Note 1619 

Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. Tech. Note 1619, 21 pages (December 2008) 

CODEN: NSPUE2 
Abstract 

Evacuation models, including engineering hand calculations and computational tools, are used to 

evaluate the level of safety provided by buildings during evacuation. Building designs and 

occupant procedures are based on the results produced from these models, including evacuation 

time results (i.e., how long building occupants will take to evacuate a building). However, most 

evacuation models focus primarily on calculating and predicting evacuation movement (i.e., how 

long will it take an occupant to move from his/her initial position to safety), almost ignoring the 

prediction of behaviors that occupants perform before and during evacuation movement that can 

delay their safety (e.g., searching for information, fighting the fire, and helping others). Instead of 

modeling and predicting behavior of simulated occupants, evacuation models and users often 

make assumptions and simplifications about occupant behavior (i.e., what people do during 

evacuations) that can be unrealistic and are likely to produce inaccurate results. 

A solution to this problem is to generate a robust, comprehensive, and validated theory on human 

behavior during evacuation from building fires. The social scientific literature can be gleaned to 

develop these theories, which can then be incorporated into the current evacuation models to 

accurately simulate occupant behavior during fire evacuations. These models can then achieve 

more realistic results which will lead to safer, more efficient building design. 

The purpose of this paper is to reevaluate our current egress modeling techniques and advocate 

for the inclusion of a comprehensive conceptual model of occupant behavior during building 

fires. The paper begins by describing the current state of evacuation modeling of human behavior 

in fires and identifying gaps in current behavioral techniques. The second part of the paper 

outlines a general process model for occupant response to physical and social cues in a building 

fire event. 

Keywords 

fire, evacuation, egress, evacuation models, building fires 
Acknowledgements 

Thanks to Kathleen Tierney, Liam Downey, William Grosshandler, Dennis Mileti, and Ross 

Corotis for their efforts. My appreciation to Richard Peacock, Jason Averill, Anthony Hamins, 

and Steve Gwynne for providing detailed and insightful suggestions.
Modeling Human Behavior during Building Fires 

Introduction 

In 2006, structure fires injured over 14 000 people and killed over 2700 people in the United 

States (USFA 2007). In many fires, there may be occupants who are not able to self-evacuate, 

such as disabled or intoxicated occupants. However, research on fire injuries and deaths shows 

that over two-thirds of the injured and over half of the dead in building fires could have 

evacuated; these people were performing activities that delayed their safety, including fighting 

the fire, attempting to rescue others in the building, and moving to safety under untenable 

conditions inside the building (Hall 2004). 

Evacuation models, including engineering hand calculations (Nelson and Mowrer 2002) and 

computational tools, can be used to evaluate the level of safety provided by buildings during 

evacuation. Building designs and occupant procedures are based on the results produced from 

these models, primarily evacuation time results (i.e., how long building occupants require to 

evacuate a building). However, most evacuation models focus primarily on calculating and 

predicting evacuation movement (i.e., how long will it take an occupant to move from his/her 

initial position to safety), almost ignoring the prediction of behaviors that occupants perform 

before and during evacuation movement that can delay their exit. 

Instead of modeling and predicting behavior of simulated occupants, evacuation models and users 

often make assumptions and simplifications about occupant behavior that can be unrealistic and 

can produce inaccurate results. For example, some evacuation models allow for the user to 

assume that building occupants immediately begin to move to the stairs or exits upon hearing a 

fire alarm or sensing a fire. This assumption and others like it can represent a scenario that is 

unlikely to occur in an actual fire event and thereby inappropriately influence the evacuation time 

calculated by the model. In cases in which assumptions lead to an unrealistic underestimation of 

evacuation results (i.e., shorter evacuation times), buildings or procedures are designed according 

to an inadequate life safety design; e.g., insufficient egress routes and/or unsafe procedures for 

staff and/or occupants. In cases in which assumptions can lead to an unrealistic overestimation of 

evacuation results (i.e., longer evacuation times), buildings or procedures are designed based on 

an overestimation of egress needs, which can raise the cost of buildings unnecessarily. 

A solution to this problem is to generate a robust, comprehensive, and validated theory on human 

behavior during evacuation from building fires. The social scientific literature and case studies 

from disasters and building fires could be employed to develop this theory, which could then be 

incorporated into the current evacuation models to more accurately simulate occupant behavior 

during fire evacuations. These models would produce more accurate results and benefit building 

design. Until a comprehensive theory on occupant behavior is developed for inclusion into 

evacuation models, costly or ineffective egress or procedural designs may be developed based on 

the unquantified needs of the evacuating population. 

Scope 

The purpose of this paper is to reevaluate our current egress modeling techniques and advocate 

for the inclusion of a robust, comprehensive, and validated conceptual model of occupant 

behavior during building fires. This paper begins by describing the current state of evacuation 

modeling of human behavior in fires and identifying gaps in current behavioral prediction 

6
techniques. The second part of the paper outlines a model that can predict occupant behavior in 

response to the interpretations and decisions made regarding physical and social cues in a 

building fire. Although similar work has identified the lack of behavioral simulation in evacuation 

models (Santos and Aguirre 2005), no work has been completed to systematically examine 

research from the evacuation of both buildings and communities to develop behavioral theory for 

building evacuations. 

Building Evacuation Models

How do building evacuation models work? 

Evacuation models quantify evacuation performance by calculating how long it takes for 

occupants to evacuate a building. In order to make this calculation, the model attempts to 

simulate two things: 1) the actions that people take and 2) how long it takes to perform each 

action. In addition to total building evacuation times, evacuation models can provide floor 

clearing times and the location of the congestion points throughout the building. However, due to 

the lack of data and theory on occupant behavior/actions, evacuation models significantly 

simplify the evacuation process and many focus primarily on how long it takes to perform one 

kind of action: the movement of occupants from their initial positions to the outside of the 

building. In other words, the current evacuation models primarily focus on the purposive 

evacuation movement of the occupants and do not simulate additional behaviors that may delay 

evacuation to safety*

. 

In addition to purposive evacuation movement, occupants are likely to engage in a variety of 

other activities throughout their evacuation from the building that can delay their movement to 

safety. Such activities can include information gathering, preparing for the evacuation by 

gathering their personal belongings, assisting or even rescuing others, alerting others in the 

building, changing stairs, and fighting the fire. These actions can take place during either period 

of a building evacuation, either during the pre-evacuation period or the evacuation period. The 

pre-evacuation period is labeled as the period from the point when the occupant is notified that 

there is something wrong until s/he begins to travel an evacuation route out of the building. The 

evacuation period then ends when the occupant has reached a point of safety or outside of the 

building. 

In the models that can account for occupant actions†

, there are two main methods used to 

simulate occupant behavior during a building evacuation. One method is for the user to assig

time period of delay/waiting (e.g., a specific period of time, a distribution of times, etc.) to 

individuals or groups in the simulated building to account for any actions that they might perform 

during the evacuation (e.g., Simulex

n a 

 

‡

 (Thompson, Wu and Marchant 1996; Spearpoint 2004), 

EXIT89 (Fahy 2000; 1996), GridFlow (Bensilum and Purser 2002)). Using this method, 

*

 Model exceptions to this include buildingEXODUS (Filippidis et al. 2006; Gwynne et al. 1999a) and 

CRISP (Fraser-Mitchell 1999). These models begin to address behaviors performed by occupants during 

building fires. 

†

 There are a number of models that do not simulate occupant behavior. These are labeled as movement 

models (Kuligowski and Peacock 2005). 

‡

 Certain commercial entities, equipment, or materials may be identified in this document in order to 

describe an experimental procedure or concept adequately. Such identification is not intended to imply 

recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor is it intended 

to imply that the entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best available for the purpose. 

7
simulated occupants remain stationary in their initial position for a set period of time and th

begin purposive evacuation movement once this time period is over. The other method is for the 

user to assign a specific behavioral itinerary (i.e., a sequence of actions) or a specific action to a

individual or group (e.g., CRISP (Fraser-Mitchell 1999), buildingEXODUS (Filippidis et al. 

2006; Gwynne et al. 1999a)). Action sequences can be used to simulate behaviors that may 

interrupt continuous movement, such as searching for information, leaving the stairs, assisting 

other occupants, and returning to initial locations to retrieve personal or work items. Each action 

performed is assigned a specific time for each occupant. An example of a behavioral itine

the following: Occupant A is assigned a “search and rescue” behavioral itinerary. To perform t

search and rescue mission, the model simulates that the occupant moves from Point A (Occ

A’s original position) to Point B (another room in the building where the rescue takes place), 

waits for an assigned period of time at Point B, and then begins purposive evacuation movem

from Point B to the st

en 

n 

rary is 

he 

upant 

ent 

airs. 

Both of these methods of simulating behavior during evacuation significantly simplify the 

behavioral processes that take place during the evacuation. In the first method, assigning a time 

delay, an emphasis is placed on the time delay itself rather than the decisions, actions, and 

interactions made by the occupants in response to conditions inside the building. The second 

method, assigning a behavioral itinerary, begins to simulate decisions and actions made in 

response to certain conditions during the evacuation, however, the entire behavior or behavioral 

itinerary is defined by the user before the simulation begins (rather than predicted by the model) 

and interactions among other simulated occupants is simplified or nonexistent. 

 

There are problems with the approaches used by models to simulate behavior during evacuation. 

First, no behavior is actually predicted by the evacuation models because behavioral information 

is provided as prior, pre-programmed assumptions. Behavior is determined by the user or 

probabilistically by the model based on prescribed information. More importantly, the user

prescribes the actions that will occur, or that s/he assumes may occur, in each fire scenario. There 

is no consistency associated with the prescription of behaviors; this method relies entirely on the 

user’s expertise in understanding occupant behavior in building fires. This is an unrealistic 

expectation of the user since there is no guidance, comprehensive data set, or theory provided to 

users about what people actually do during building evacuations. 

What are building evacuation models used for? 

Currently, there are over 40 different evacuation models (Kuligowski and Peacock 2005; Gwynne 

et al. 1999b) available for use in three main types of projects. These projects are safety 

assessment evaluations (SAE), experimental work, and incident re-creation (Gwynne 2000). Each 

project type is unique to the purpose of the project, the use of the evacuation model, and the 

approval process used to evaluate the accuracy of the results, all of which are described below. 

During SAE projects, an evacuation model is used to assess the safety of a particular building 

design and/or egress procedure for the occupants in a building. For these types of projects, the 

model user is most likely an engineer or a life safety consultant evaluating a new building design 

or a design from an existing building undergoing a change, such as a use or physical layout. For 

SAE projects, the user typically runs various evacuation simulations for the building (e.g., 

occupants travel via different building routes, occupants move at various speeds, etc.) and 

compares the evacuation simulation results with results from fire modeling simulations. A 

building is deemed to provide a sufficient level of life safety for occupants if the amount of time 

needed for evacuation of the building (evacuation modeling results) is less than the time when 

conditions become untenable for occupants inside the building (fire modeling results). As a final 

8
step in a SAE project, an authority having jurisdiction must approve the safety analysis made by 

the engineer, which is sometimes completed through a third-party review process. 

Evacuation models are also used in experimental projects. For these projects, the evacuation 

model is used to explore and investigate conditions that cannot be easily examined otherwise. The 

model user is often a consultant/engineer evaluating a variety of different designs for the same 

building or researchers and academics testing hypotheses on the impact of building conditions on 

results. For experimental projects, the user produces a variety of egress results from the same 

model from various input conditions. For example, the user can simulate a variety of different 

egress scenarios using the same model to test different aspects of the building design, such as the 

size of the stairwell(s), the number of stairs in the building, the width of the corridors, the width, 

location, and number of exits, etc. In this example, the user may be interested in which designs 

provide sufficiently fast evacuation times for building occupants. Other examples include the 

testing of hypotheses related to the impact of fire conditions on people movement through the 

building. 

Evacuation models can also be used in incident re-creation projects. The purpose of these projects 

is often to determine the cause(s) of actual incident outcomes (e.g., why so many people perished 

in a particular fire) and/or answer particular questions about the incident itself (e.g., what would 

have happened if the building was more densely populated during the fire event, if the building 

had more exits, etc?). Model users are likely to be fire investigators, researchers, engineers, 

consultants and others charged with answering questions about an actual event. In order to 

determine causes behind actual incident results, users will attempt to model the actual incident, 

which may include a series of modeling runs, as close to the actual conditions as possible by 

using all known conditions from the event. If additional questions are asked (e.g., what-if 

questions), the user can develop a base-line case and then alter specific conditions in the building 

to answer the appropriate questions (e.g., adding more people to the building and rerunning the 

simulation). Evacuation models were used in the investigations of the collapse of the World 

Trade Center Towers in 2001 (Galea et al. 2008; Averill et al. 2005) and the Rhode Island 

Nightclub fire (Galea et al. 2008; Grosshandler et al. 2005) to answer specific questions. 

A comprehensive theory of human behavior in fire can improve building evacuation models for 

all three types of projects. However, the generation of a comprehensive theory is most important 

for SAE and experimental projects. Whereas the user attempts to model behaviors that are already 

known in incident re-creation project, the user relies on the model for accuracy in simulating an 

event that has not yet occurred for SAE and experimental projects. Data and theory on human 

behavior during evacuations is necessary for accurate evacuation modeling results. 

What is needed to improve building evacuation models? 

A comprehensive theory of occupant behavior in evacuations from building fires is needed to 

improve the current building evacuation models. The theory should be able to predict individual 

behavior and group dynamics that are likely to occur in a building fire, rather than relying on adhoc user-prescription. This would take the burden away from the user to prescribe actions, which 

can lead to inconsistency and inaccuracy, and actually allow the model to predict behaviors that 

emerge from situational conditions. 

More specifically, a theory should simulate the variety of behaviors performed by occupants in a 

building fire (e.g., seek information, warn, rescue, and prepare). In mass crowd events, where 

occupants are densely located in the same area and receive cues together as a group, occupants 

are likely to respond in similar ways to the cues presented (Purser and Gwynne 2007; Santos and 

9
Aguirre 2005). In these types of events, most occupants are likely to be influenced by the group 

throughout the entire evacuation. However, in most building fires, occupants are located in 

different places throughout the building, many times receiving different instructions or cues from 

the event. Occupants respond in a variety of ways based on the different cues that are presented to 

them; and even occupants presented with the same cues are likely to act in different ways (Mileti 

and Sorensen 1990). This is because occupants’ actions vary based on the cues that they perceive, 

their interpretations of the event and risk, and the decisions that they make about next steps. With 

this in mind, it is crucial to develop a theory of occupant behavior in building fires based on 

social/behavior processes. 

Theory of Occupant Behavior during Building Fires 

Social scientific theory has acknowledged for over 70 years (Mead 1938) that human action or 

response is the result of a process. Instead of actions based on random chance or even actions 

resulting directly from a change in the environment, an individual’s actions are frequently the 

result of a decision-making process. Research in disasters, based on social scientific theory, has 

led to the development of social-psychological process models for public warning response 

(Mileti and Sorensen 1990; Perry, Lindell and Greene 1981; Mileti and Beck 1975). These 

models specify that people go through a process of specific phases, including hearing, 

understanding, believing, and personalizing the warning, in which they consider aspects of their 

response before performing an act (Mileti and Sorensen 1990). Additionally, researchers of fire 

evacuations (Bryan 2002; Feinberg and Johnson 1995; Tong and Canter 1985; Edelman, Herz and 

Bickman 1980; Breaux, Canter and Sime 1976) have shown that a process involving the phases of 

recognition and interpretation of the environment influence occupant actions. In these process 

models, there are specific cue- and occupant-related factors that influence the outcome of each 

phase of the process (e.g., whether the person hears the warning or interprets the situation 

correctly). Cue-related factors are described later in this paper and occupant-related factors 

include demographics (e.g., gender, age, income, education, race, and marital status), previous 

experiences, and knowledge. An understanding of the behavioral process and the influential 

factors of each phase can be developed into a conceptual model to predict the types of individual 

behaviors that are likely to occur in building fires. 

The behavioral process for the pre-evacuation or evacuation period of building fires is shown in 

Figure 1. This process suggests that an occupant’s actions are a result of his/her perceptions, 

interpretations and decisions made based upon the external and internal (occupant-based) cues 

presented in the fire situation. During a building fire, occupants or groups will begin a behavioral 

process only when presented with event-related information that interrupts their daily routine. A 

new behavioral process begins each time an occupant/group receives new information relating to 

the fire event, and a specific action is likely to occur based on whether the information is 

perceived, the interpretations of the cue, the situation, and the risk are developed, and the 

decisions are made on what to do next. 

Disaster and fire theory (Mileti and Sorensen 1990; Perry, Lindell and Greene 1981; Edelman, 

Herz and Bickman 1980; Breaux, Canter and Sime 1976; Mileti and Beck 1975) suggests that 

individuals engage in a sequence of phases during each behavioral process. In other words, in 

building fires, interpretation of the cue is possible only if the cue is perceived; an accurate 

interpretation of the situation is more likely if cues are interpreted accurately; the interpretation of 

the risk to themselves and others is more likely if the situation is interpreted accurately; and the 

occupants are more likely to decide on a certain type of action if they perceive cues and formulate 

10
accurate interpretations of the event and risk. Each phase will be described in further detail in the 

following section. 

Phase 3: Decision-making 

Phase 2: Interpretation of 

the cue, situation, and risk

Cue- and 

occupantrelated factors 

Phase 4: Actions 

Phase 1: Perception 

of the cue(s)

Figure 1: A conceptual model of the behavioral process for building fires 

Phase 1 of the behavioral process involves occupants perceiving or receiving external physical 

and social cues from their environment. In a building fire, occupants are constantly presented 

with external cues (Brennan 1999). These cues can be physical or social in nature, meaning that 

they arise from the physical environment or the social environment, respectively. Examples of 

physical cues in a building fire include flames, smoke, breaking glass, debris, tone alarms, and 

automatic warnings. Examples of social cues in a building fire include attempted communication 

from others inside or outside of the building, unofficial or authority-given warnings, and actions 

taken by the building population. These cues can be presented one by one or several at a time, 

depending upon the event. The perception phase involves an occupant receiving or noticing cues 

that makes him/her aware that something in his/her environment has changed (Weick 1995; 

Starbuck and Milliken 1988; Canter, Breaux and Sime 1980). Physical and social cues produced 

in a building fire can be perceived by occupants through hearing (e.g., an alarm or authority 

warning), smelling (e.g., smoke), seeing (e.g., others running), tasting (e.g., sulfur dioxide or 

hydrogen chloride), and/or touching (e.g., heat). 

 

In the interpretation phase, Phase 2, the occupant or group attempts to interpret the information 

provided by the cues perceived during the perception phase (Weick 1995; Canter, Donald and 

Chalk 1992; Turner and Killian 1987). Interpretation can be seen as the process of organizing 

perceived cues into a framework (Weick 1995); constructing a meaningful story based on an 

outcome (that is, the cue itself) (Weick 1993); and/or making sense of a situation by imagining 

what is going on (Rudolph and Morrison 2007; Klein 1999). Interpretation methods include the 

recall of previously developed behavioral scripts (or a sequence of expected behaviors based 

upon a situation) (Gioia and Poole 1984), mental simulation (Klein 1999), the use of mental 

models (Burns 2005), sensemaking (Rudolph and Raemer 2004; Weick 1995; Weick 1993), and 

collective behavior processes such as milling or intensified interaction (Dynes and Tierney 1994; 

11
Marx and McAdam 1994; Goode 1992; McPhail 1991; Miller 1985; Berk 1974; Smelser 1962; 

Turner and Killian 1957). Occupants engage in such methods during fires and other emergencies, 

because these events create the need for interpretation by interrupting and disrupting normal 

interaction patterns and creating uncertainty. Behavioral scripts, mental simulation and modeling, 

and individual sensemaking are interpretation processes performed internally by an occupant to 

mentally formulate an interpretation. Occupants use behavioral scripts to interpret an event when 

the cues evoke memories of a previous situation in which a previous interpretation was formed 

(Gioia and Poole 1984). Mental simulation and modeling allows the occupant to develop 

cognitive images of what is going on in his/her environment based on the cues that s/he has 

received. Essentially, the occupant begins to paint a mental picture or story of the event based on 

the outcome (e.g., the cues). 

Group sensemaking and collective behavior involve interaction among occupants to collectively 

develop an understanding of the emergent situation. In new and/or ambiguous situations (Turner 

and Killian 1987) and times of urgency (Aguirre, Wenger and Vigo 1998), occupants are likely to 

interact with others around them. This type of interaction, which is intensified in densely 

populated buildings, has been documented in a variety of different incidents (e.g., Averill et al. 

2005; Bryan 1983) as a means to establish what is going on, define the new situation at hand, and 

propose and adopt new appropriate norms for behavior (Aguirre, Wenger and Vigo 1998; Turner 

and Killian 1987). It is through individual and group-based reasoning strategies that occupants 

can begin to construct meaning from the cues that they perceive in fire situations. In these types 

of situations, leaders can emerge that suggest interpretations of the event, which can then be 

incorporated into the occupant’s interpretation. 

In fires and other extreme events, there are three main interpretation stages: interpreting the cues 

received, interpreting the situation (i.e. as a fire), and interpreting or defining the risk to the self 

and/or others. This process is shown in Figure 2. These three interpretation stages do not follow a 

linear, ordered pattern; instead, interpretive stages can overlap and inform one another in various 

ways. In fire events, however, it is likely that if occupants interpret a cue correctly (e.g., as a fire 

alarm, smoke, or an explosion), they are likely to interpret the situation correctly (e.g., as a fire 

situation), which in turn makes it more likely that they will interpret the situation as risky to 

themselves and/or to others (Wiegman et al. 1992; Perry and Greene 1983). 

Cue Situation Risk

Interpretation

Figure 2: The interpretation phase involves interpreting the cue, the situation, and the risk 

If the occupant recognizes the cue, defines the situation correctly, and understands the risk, s/he is 

likely to perform protective actions in order to begin the evacuation process. Initially, however, 

occupants are predisposed to interpret the situation as if nothing is wrong, known as normalcy 

bias (Okabe and Mikami 1982), and that they are not at risk. In a state of normalcy, inaction or 

waiting is likely to occur. The interpretation of the risk phase is essential to understand, because 

in order for people to act, they must interpret a situation as dangerous (Aguirre 2005). 

12
Phase 3 of the behavioral process, decision-making, involves occupants or groups making 

decisions on what to do next based on their interpretations of the cues, situations, and risks. The 

decision-making phase is a two-step process in which occupants initially search for options of 

what to do and then choose one of the options (Gigerenzer and Selton 2001). 

The first step in the decision-making phase is to search for options of what to do based on 

interpretations of the event. Research literature suggests that occupants develop their options by 

performing mental simulation (Gwynne et al. 1999a; Thompson et al. 1997), similar to the 

methods of developing interpretations. Mental simulation (Klein 1999) allows an occupant to 

mentally structure scenarios on what s/he would do and how s/he would do it in the current 

situation. The search for options becomes the process of mentally developing scenarios of action 

before actually performing the act. 

The search for options of what to do can also occur collectively in groups (Turner and Killian 

1987). In addition to interpreting an event, groups work together to plan a coordinated action that 

will solve the problem presented by the interpretation, if any. Suggestions for actions can come 

from any member of the group, although leaders are likely to emerge with suggestions of next 

actions (Connell 2001; Turner and Killian 1987). In the face of uncertainty and time pressure, 

people are likely to come together, share their interpretations, and define plans for collective 

action in an event.

Occupants or groups are unlikely to search for a large number of options during the decisionmaking phase. Research suggests that individuals and groups are likely to develop a very small, 

even narrow range of decision options due to the following conditions: 1) perceived time pressure 

(Karau and Kelly 1992; Zakay 1993; Janis 1982; Ben-Zur and Breznitz 1981); 2) limited mental 

resources (Simon 1956; Gigerenzer and Selten 2001; Vaughan 1999); and/or 3) training and 

knowledge of procedures (Klein 1999; Thompson et al. 1997). Time pressure, likely in a fire 

event, causes occupants/groups to perceive a fewer number of cues, process the information less 

thoroughly and in turn, to consider a narrow set of options (Karau and Kelly 1992). Also, people 

do not expend large amounts of intellectual resources, but rather are likely to envision only the 

scenarios that they believe are necessary to reach a goal (Gigerenzer and Selten 2001). Finally, 

research suggests that occupants who are highly trained and/or know of specific procedures will 

be guided by training and will likely not develop more than one option at a time (Klein 1999). 

 

The second stage in the decision-making phase is to choose one of the options to perform. 

Rationally-based research claims that occupants will optimize their decision-making by 

considering all options developed and choosing the best one – known as rational choice strategy 

(Slovic, Fischhoff and Lichtenstein 1977; Peterson and Beach 1967). In a fire situation, weighing 

of multiple options is unlikely to occur. Research on decision-making under uncertainty indicates 

that occupants use a variety of heuristics to make this choice (Klein 1999; Kahneman, Slovic and 

Tversky 1982). Heuristics are simple rules to explain how individuals make decisions. Whereas 

some research might view the use of heuristics as a source of bias in decision-making (Tversky 

and Kahneman 1982), other researchers see heuristics as strengths based on the use of expertise 

(Flin et al. 1997). Examples of heuristics that occupants employ in choosing options include 

anchoring or focusing on the first option developed (Kahneman, Slovic and Tversky 1982), 

choosing the most available option (the easiest to develop or recall) (Kahneman, Slovic and 

Tversky 1982), comparing all options with each other and choosing one based on the evaluation 

criteria (Orasanu and Fischer 1997; Janis and Mann 1977; Hammond and Adelman 1976), and 

satisficing (Simon 1956). 

13
Satisficing (Slovic, Kunreuther and White 1974; Gigerenzer and Selten 2001) is a method in 

which an individual chooses the first option that seems to work, though not necessarily the best

option overall (Klein 1999). The satisficing heuristic actually combines the processes of option 

development and option choice together in one step. As the decision-maker develops options, s/he 

evaluates each one as it is developed and stops developing options when one is deemed to satisfy 

the search criteria. Whereas the rational choice strategy is more likely to be used when people 

attempt to optimize a decision (Klein 1999), satificing is more likely to be used in situations with 

a greater time pressure, dynamic conditions, and ill-defined goals (Klein 1999). 

In Phase 4 of the behavioral process, occupants may perform the action that they decided upon in 

the decision-making phase. If new information/cues are presented before an action is performed, 

the occupant will discard the current action and begin the behavioral process again. The action 

involves performing some type of physical act, although the act could be waiting or even 

inaction, that takes some amount of time to complete. Both summary research (e.g., Bryan 2002; 

Proulx 2002; Tong and Canter 1985) and research on specific incidents (e.g., Averill et al. 2005; 

Isner and Klem 1993; Bryan 1982; Best 1977) highlight certain actions in which occupants are 

likely to engage. These actions, depending upon the situation, can include seeking information, 

waiting, investigating the incident, alerting others, preparing for evacuation, assisting others, 

fighting the fire, and searching for and rescuing others. For general purposes, labeling these 

activities as actions would be appropriate; however, when developing a behavioral model and 

eventually a computer model, it is important to distinguish between the goals and actions that 

occupants undertake (Ozel 1985). A goal is an overall objective of the occupant (e.g., fighting the 

fire) which translates into a series of actions that lead toward achieving that objective (e.g., 

occupant will travel to the location of the fire extinguisher, then the location of the fire, etc.). 

Discussion 

The current evacuation models, as shown in Table 1, either do not simulate occupant behavior at 

all (Table 1a) or simulate occupant behavior by relying on the user to pre-determine the types of 

response delays or occupant actions that are likely to occur (Table 1b). In both instances, 

occupant behavior is simplified in such a way that may inappropriately influence the evacuation 

time(s) calculated by the model. In one case, occupant behavior is ignored (Table 1a) and in the 

other case, occupant behavior is simulated either as a distributed delay time or as an imposed 

action or action sequence that involves isolated movement and delays rather than occupant 

interaction and group dynamics (Table 1b). In addition, the current behavioral models (Table 1b) 

require users to provide a large amount of input data on occupant delays and/or action sequences. 

Most of this information would be impossible to provide since it is required before the evacuation 

simulation begins, i.e., before the conditions of the scenario are established by the model. 

Therefore, this paper proposes the development of a conceptual model (shown in Table 1c) that 

relies on data and theory imbedded in the evacuation model to predict occupant actions. In the 

proposed conceptual model, occupant actions are a result of the developing conditions of the 

simulation (the fire, the building, and the actions of other occupants) which become input into the 

occupant decision-making process. There are many benefits to the development of a 

comprehensive conceptual model for the field of human behavior in building fires. The inclusion 

of a conceptual model into computer evacuation tools will enable a comprehensive model that can 

actually predict occupant behavior in a building fire and require the user to provide only initial 

input for the scenario (i.e., information about the fire scenario, the building and the characteristics 

of the people). A computer model that incorporates a complete behavioral conceptual model 

would be able to predict situations rather than engineer an outcome based heavily on user input. 

14
A conceptual model will reduce the burden placed on users of evacuation models and rely on the 

model to simulate behavior during an event. Additionally, a comprehensive behavioral model of 

building evacuations illustrates where more data needs to be collected in order to truly understand 

human behavior in future fire evacuations. 

Table 1: Diagrams representing three different evacuation model types 

a. Current NonBehavioral Model b. Current Behavioral Model c. Proposed Behavioral 

Model 

No behavior is simulated. 

The population or the 

individual begins to 

evacuate via the defined 

route as soon as the event 

begins. 

The user determines the types of 

responses that occupants are likely 

to take during the model 

configuration stage and these 

actions are carried out during the 

simulation. A group or individual 

in the simulation can either delay 

and/or perform an action or series 

of actions during the evacuation 

based on initial, user-defined 

inputs. 

The model’s underlying data 

and theory predict the 

behavioral responses taken 

by the occupants based on 

their perceived cues and the 

interpretations/decisions 

made. An individual in the 

simulation develops an 

interpretation of the cue, the 

situation and the risk and 

then makes a decision on 

what to do next. This can 

occur for an individual each 

time a cue is received. 

Movement 

to Safety 

Event is 

Initiated 

Event is 

Initiated 

Event is 

Initiated 

Cue 

Interpretations 

Response 

User 

Delay Action(s) 

Future Research – How Can We Use This Theory?

The next step in developing a comprehensive theory is to analyze qualitative data from actual 

events to identify the various cue-related and occupant-related factors that influence each phase 

of the behavioral process. An example is provided here: data from an actual event could show 

that certain cues, for example, a fire alarm, influence a “false alarm interpretation” for certain 

types of occupants and “only a low amount of perceived risk,” which leads to the performance of 

certain longer-delay activities: e.g., continued working, continued sleeping, milling behavior; 

whereas instructions to evacuate provided by a member of the fire department produce a 

15
completely different behavioral process and eventual set of actions. Once these influential factors 

are linked to specific interpretations, risk perceptions and activities, a behavioral model can be 

developed. Then, the behavioral theory could be translated into programming language that can 

be tested and used in current evacuation models. This model will need to be validated, however, 

with behavioral data from other fire evacuation events. 

Conclusion 

Evacuation models are incomplete and oversimplified – they do not account for actual occupant 

behavior during buildings fires. A solution to this problem is to generate a comprehensive, robust, 

and validated theory on human behavior during evacuation from building fires. 

Behavior during a building fire evacuation is the result of a behavioral process. Each process 

begins with new cues and information from the physical and social environment. First, cues need 

to be perceived, then they are interpreted, and then a decision is made as to what action (including 

inaction) is undertaken. During an evacuation, individuals repeat this process several times as 

they engage in a variety of different activities both before and during purposive evacuation 

movement. 

The social scientific literature and case studies from fires and disasters can be gleaned to develop 

this theory, which can then be incorporated to update the current evacuation models to more 

accurately simulate occupant behavior during fire evacuations. With more accurate and realistic 

evacuation models and results, engineers and sociologists can develop safer and more costeffective procedures and building designs in the future.

16
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