How do you tackle a risk built into the systems we rely on every day?
Together.
Fire risk does not just appear; it builds up over time as systems intersect and everyday needs are met in unsafe ways.
We all need housing. We need to cook. We need light. We produce waste. But when these everyday needs are met through systems that are fragile, broken, or even oppressive (or when choices are simply limited) they can create dangers like fire.
That means no single solution will ever be enough. Fire safety must connect across systems, linking science with social practice and community ingenuity with policy.
At Kindling, our work moves through four pathways.
Each has impact on its own, but their strength lies in how they connect, turning evidence into action and learning into systems change.
Our work ignites understanding
Research
Learning
Advocacy
Practice
That sparks change in others
Ideas and evidence spread through networks, inspiring others to act, collaborate, and invest in fire safety.
Shared evidence
Safer practices
Investments in fire safety
Leading us closer to fire safety for all
A world where fewer lives and homes are lost to fire, and communities can build secure futures.
Fewer fires
Fewer deaths and injuries
More secure futures
Research
We bring a research lens to risks that are often overlooked.
Our work reveals how fires spread, how risks take hold, and how design and policy choices shape the lives of the world’s most vulnerable communities. The evidence we generate is open and shared so researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and residents can act on it.
Learning
We make fire risk understandable and actionable.
We build learning opportunities for residents, practitioners, policymakers, and fire services to see risks more clearly and act more effectively. This work makes invisible risks visible and ensures strategies reflect how people actually live and work.
Advocacy
We put fire safety on the agenda where it is too often missing.
Despite the scale of the problem, fire safety remains underrepresented in disaster, humanitarian, and development agendas. We ask difficult questions, amplify community voices, challenge assumptions, and push for policies and practices that make fire safety a priority.
Practice
We put evidence into practice where it matters most.
From guidance development for humanitarian settlements to community-led fire risk assessments, our practice work applies research in real-world contexts. It is where ideas are tested, solutions are refined, and safer systems take shape.
What ties it together
Kindling’s work is not about one quick fix.
Fire risk is complex, but it is not intractable.
By weaving research, learning, advocacy, and practice together, we bring the expertise and knowledge needed to work with partners on this complexity.
Our goal is clear: fire safety should no longer be an afterthought, but a foundation for safer, more just communities.
