A study of assistance of lighting indicators to assist wayfinding for firefighting and rescue services

Most existing research discusses way-finding from the view of building occupants, and seldom is the issue explored through the viewpoint of firefighting and rescue. If the time firefighters spend for way-finding can be decreased during a fire, it would reduce loss of life and properties effectively. Thus, in order to analyze possibilities for enhancing way-finding efficacy in an actual fire, this study employed a full scale real space for fire rescue experiments to investigate relevant issues such as firefighting and rescue crews’ wayfinding, behavioral characteristics and addition of supplementary indicator fighting. The results are as follows: 1. Existing rescue models indicate that gender, search sequence and search and rescue training affect way-finding the most. 2. Addition of fire location indicator fighting can reduce way-finding time greatly and there is no significant difference between firefighters with varying backgrounds. 3. Way-finding sequence is the main reason for the length of rescue time, thus existing training programs should strengthen graphic reading training to increase the ability to establish search and rescue plans.