Urban fire scholarship on the global south is scarce. Despite the majority of the 180,000 annual global fire deaths (World Health Organization, 2023) being from low- and middle-income nations we know very little about their characteristics and dynamics. At a time where most current and future urban growth is being experienced in the global south, the need to understand urban fire dynamics has never been more pressing. The current study seeks to empirically capture the antecedent conditions that bring about elevated levels of fire in Kathmandu, Nepal using a spatial analytic approach. Findings reveal elevated levels of fire during winter, weekends, during evening hours and related to extreme weather events. There were strong associations in areas characterised by low socio-economic areas, higher populations of children and locales with no school attendance. Findings are important in their capacity to directly advise both in a strategic capacity (policy design such as a campaign to check electrical equipment before the onset of cold spells) and for operational activities, such as optimal fire resource location based upon the observed patterning in the historical data. Our hope is that the current study acts as a new point of reference to encourage other similar studies of urban fires in the global south through which we can assemble a more complete and robust understanding.
