Awareness analysis via Weibo social media data of major fire disasters

Fire, a globally significant hazard, has a detrimental impact on lives, property, and socio-economic development. Public attention to fires is crucial for building fire safety under the current disaster-driven regulation development. This study employs Chinese social media (Sina Weibo) data to analyze several major domestic and overseas fire incidents and explore the corresponding public awareness, including the 2010 Shanghai Jing’an fire, the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire of London, the 2014 Shangri-La fire, and the 2019 Notre-Dame de Paris fire, as well as the 1987 Daxing’anling wildfire and the 2025 Southern California wildfire. The results show that these fires attract varying levels of attention due to factors like fire location, losses, associated social issues, and subsequent developments. Comparison between fire events in China and overseas reveals that the Chinese internet pays more attention to overseas fire events. Compared to disasters such as earthquakes, major fire incidents generally receive less attention due to the scale of their influence and the intensity of media coverage. Social media data and analysis also suggest that measures such as publishing articles and conducting educational activities can increase public attention to past fires and pre-disaster fire safety awareness. This work helps understand the impact of major fire incidents on social media and the public’s evolving reactions and offers practical measures and suggestions for stakeholders to improve fire safety and mitigate fire losses.