Background: Fire behaviour in the built environment results from a coupled sequence of chemical and physical processes that begin at ignition and, depending on fuel, ventilation, and compartment geometry, may culminate in flashover, sustained fully developed burning, or extinction. A sound and up-to-date understanding of these processes provides the scientific basis for fire-safety engineering, regulatory development, and hazard reduction. This need is especially acute in India, where the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recorded 5,888 fire-accident deaths in 2024 alone, and where major fire incidents provide documented examples of interactions among fire dynamics, building conditions, emergency response, and fire-safety implementation. This review situates that Indian experience alongside major international fire disasters, including Grenfell Tower in London and the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Scope: This analytical review synthesises established and current (2018–2025) literature on fire initiation, compartment fire dynamics, smoke generation and toxicity, fire spread mechanisms, predictive modelling, and two fast-evolving application areas — lithium-ion battery energy storage fires and mass timber construction — where classical fire science is being actively extended. It further incorporates incorporates a dedicated literature review, a tabulated synthesis of the sources examined, statistical analysis of NCRB fire-accident data for India with accompanying bar-graph visualisations, and five real-world case studies (three Indian, two international) selected analytically to examine how established fire-science mechanisms interact with building design, materials, regulation, emergency response, and operational practice. The review also applies a structured qualitative cross-case framework to five incidents to identify recurring fire-safety mechanisms and implementation issues. Methodology: The review uses a transparent narrative-synthesis approach combined with structured qualitative cross-case analysis. Searches covered Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, major publisher indexes, standards databases, government repositories, and official inquiry/investigation records. Peer-reviewed literature from 2018–2025 was prioritised for rapidly evolving topics, while foundational texts and standards were retained where they provide established technical bases. Key findings: Flashover in typical compartments is associated with an upper-layer gas temperature of approximately 500–600°C and a floor-level radiant heat flux of approximately 15–20 kW/m²; fire severity is governed primarily by ventilation factor and fuel load rather than fuel chemistry alone; smoke exposure remains a major contributor to fire fatalities; mass timber compartments exhibit nominal char rates on the order of 0.6–0.7 mm/min for structural members (higher, up to approximately 1.2 mm/min, in some full compartment tests); lithium-ion battery thermal runaway, triggered at cell temperatures often in the 150–250°C range, remains a rapidly evolving fire safety research priority; and the cross-case analysis identifies recurring roles for combustible fuel load, smoke and egress constraints, external/cavity spread, battery-specific hazards, and ember-driven wildland-urban interface ignition. For India specifically, NCRB data show fire-accident deaths declining by roughly 35% between 2019 and 2024, yet 60.4% of 2024 fire deaths still occurred in ordinary residential buildings and roughly one in six fire deaths nationally is attributed to electrical short-circuits — a conventional and potentially preventable fire hazard. Conclusion: Continued research integrating experimental, computational (notably NIST's Fire Dynamics Simulator, the FDS 6.10-series releases), and performance-based approaches is essential to keep fire safety engineering aligned with evolving construction materials, energy technologies, and climate-driven hazard patterns. For India specifically, the evidence assembled here suggests that improved implementation and enforcement of existing fire-safety provisions may offer an important near-term opportunity for risk reduction.
fire dynamics; fire behaviour; flashover; heat release rate; smoke movement; compartment fire; fire modelling; lithium-ion battery fire; mass timber fire performance; performance-based design; facade fire spread; wildland-urban interface fire; fire incident case studies; India fire safety; National Building Code of India; NCRB fire statistics.
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