Fires are an unwelcome but frequent hazard in most countries, and seem to go hand in hand with industrial and urban development. Overseas Building Note 129, published over ten years ago, drew attention to these problems and gave information on the 1967 English regulations. The present note gives a fuller background to fire protection principles and strategies, and refers more briefly to the UK regulations. Its intention is to improve the understanding of fire problems so that each country can evolve a system best suited to its own needs.