Abstract
High-rise buildings present fire safety challenges that differ significantly from low- and mid-rise structures, including extended vertical evacuation distances, stack-effect-driven smoke movement, restricted accessforfirefighting equipment, and greater consequences of detection or suppression failure. This reviewpaper criticallyexamines the performance of fire detection and suppression systems used in high-rise buildings, drawingonrecentempirical, computational and bibliometric studies. The paper synthesizes evidence on conventional detectiontechnologies (smoke, heat and flame detectors), emerging artificial-intelligence-enabled detection approaches, andsuppression technologies including automatic sprinklers, standpipe systems, gaseous agents and smokecontrolmeasures. Performance evaluation criteria such as response time, detection accuracy, reliability, and evacuationadequacy are discussed, along with the operational, regulatory and infrastructural challenges specifictotallbuildings. A comparative summary of key reviewed studies is presented in tabular form to consolidate findingsacross different geographic and technological contexts. The review concludes that while conventional systemsremain the backbone of fire protection in high-rise construction, integration of smart sensing, predictive analyticsand improved maintenance regimes offers the most promising pathway toward measurable improvements inlife-safety outcomes.
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