Resilient Steel Structures: Lessons from Fire Incidents and the Path Forward

Abstract Fire incidents in steel structures have repeatedly demonstrated the vulnerabilities of traditional design approaches, particularly when the temperatures reach very high levels. At these temperatures, over 500°C, the strength and stiffness of the material reduces significantly, causing excessive deformations, changes in loading, loss of stability and so on. This paper reviews major structural fires, including multistorey car park fires, high‐rise building fires, and industrial infrastructure failures, to extract key lessons on fire resilience. A critical analysis of these incidents highlights recurring weaknesses such as inadequate redundancy and poorly‐estimated fire loads. This paper summarises key learnings from real fires in steel‐framed structures, including high‐rise buildings and open‐sided car parks, both of which are highly topical. Novel strategies to improve fire resilience are discussed, as well as key areas requiring future research focus. By integrating lessons from past failures with advancements in material science and structural fire engineering, this paper advocates for a more performance‐based resilient approach to designing fire safe steel structures.