Rita Fahy

Rita Fahy (October 4, 1955-July 12, 2023) was an Irish American expert in evacuation modelling and human behavior in fire. She carried out pioneering work in the field by developing one of the first evacuation models in the history (Exit 89) of the myths surrounding the panic concept in evacuation. Fahy also made substantial contributions to data collection of human behavior in fires and running multiple evacuation investigations, developing one of the first evacuation databases for fire protection engineers. She worked on the NFPA investigation on the fatal firefighter injuries in the United States.

Given her contribution to fire safety science, Fire Technology journal published a special Issue to commemorate her life and work.

Education
Fahy earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees at Northeastern University, graduating respectively in 1978 with a degree in mathematics and 1989 with a degree in Industrial Engineering (Operations Research).

She earned her PhD in Human Behaviour in Fire at the University of Ulster, graduating in 2000.

Career
Fahy spent her career at the National Fire Protection Association. She was involved in lecturing in the IMFSE Human Behavior in Fire course at Lund University. She was involved in the development of new fire engineering standards with the International Organization for Standardization. She was appointed editor of Fire Safety Science News for the International Association for Fire Safety Science in 2014.

She retired from the NFPA around 2022.

Personal life
Fahy died on July 12, 2023, following the return of cancer.