NFPA 170 - Standard for Fire Safety and Emergency Symbols - 2006 Edition

Oct 23, 2026

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NFPA 170 (2006 Edition) establishes requirements and guidance for fire safety and emergency symbols, including symbols for fire safety communication across building design plans, investigation diagrams, maps, and public emergency contexts. The text describes the standard’s origin and consolidation of earlier NFPA symbol documents, the restructuring across editions, and key updates such as pre-incident planning requirements, added symbol sets, and alignment with international exit symbology. It also introduces Chapter 8 for emergency management mapping to support planning, prevention, protection, response, and recovery.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages72

Reading Time3 h 1 min

AccessFree to download

Origin and Development of NFPA 170

Consolidation of earlier NFPA symbol documents

Edition changes through 2006

Technical Committee scope and membership

NFPA 170 Standard for Fire Safety and Emergency Symbols 2006 Edition Copyright © 2005, National Fire Protection Association, All Rights Reserved This edition of NFPA 170, Standard for Fire Safety and Emergency Symbols, was prepared by the Technical Committee on Fire Safety and Emergency Symbols and acted on by NFPA at its June Association Technical Meeting held June 6–10, 2005, in Las Vegas, NV. It was issued by the Standards Council on July 29, 2005, with an effective date of August 18, 2005, and supersedes all previous editions. This edition of NFPA 170 was approved as an American National Standard on August 18, 2005. Origin and Development of NFPA 170 The 1994 edition of NFPA 170 represented the completion of an effort to combine four previously separate documents that covered fire safety symbols for different purposes. These documents included the following: NFPA 171, Public Firesafety Symbols NFPA 172, Fire Protection Symbols for Architectural and Engineering Drawings NFPA 174, Fire Protection Symbols for Risk Analysis Diagrams NFPA 178, Symbols for Fire Fighting Operations in one document made it easier for users of symbols to find the one(s) most appropriate for their application. It also eliminated duplication between these and eventually other NFPA documents. The first edition of NFPA 170 placed these four documents in one document but did not combine them, except for definitions that were in each document. For the second edition of NFPA 170, the Technical Committee on Fire Safety Symbols completely restructured the text into a logical and cohesive arrangement. The duplication of symbols that occurred during the aforementioned consolidation of documents was The Technical Committee on Fire Safety Symbols believed that placing all fire safety symbols Copyright NFPA eliminated. New symbols added included those for campfire prohibitions, smoke barriers, illuminated exit signs, and belowground tanks For the third edition of NFPA 170, changes included the following: (1) Upgrading recommendations on pre incident planning to requirements (2) Adding new symbols for pull station, area of refuge, and cooking prohibition (3) Clarifying the symbols for smoke detectors, battery powered emergency lights, and fire service/emergency telephone station (4) Recognizing the phaseout of Halon now taking place and the introduction of clean agents The fourth edition further recognized the introduction of clean agents by adding new symbols for clean agent and water mist systems. A new appendix (Appendix C) was added to include symbols that can be used for life safety planning. The fifth edition was reformatted to conform to the Manual of Style for NFPA Technical Committee Documents. Symbols for fire alarm system components were added for consistency with NFPA 72® , National Fire Alarm Code® In 2004, the scope of the committee was expanded to include emergency symbols to allow emergency mapping symbols in a new Chapter 8. The 2006 edition of NFPA 170 includes the refinement of exit symbology for better recognition of exit, arrow, and flame symbols that are consistent with international standards. A new Chapter 8, Symbology for Emergency Management Mapping, has been added to assist the user in the preparation for, prevention of, protection against, response to, and recovery from threats to the nation's population centers and critical infrastructure from terrorist, criminal, accidental, or natural origin. The symbols in Chapter 8 are the result of efforts by the Federal Geographic Data Committee—Homeland Security Working Group ([http://www.fgdc.gov/fgdc/homeland/index.html](http://www.fgdc.gov/fgdc/homeland/index.html)). The symbols have been included in this standard so that they can be processed through an accredited standards writing organization and made available to the public. Technical Committee on Fire Safety and Emergency Symbols . . Thomas R. Wood, Chair Boca Raton Fire R

FAQs

What is NFPA 170 and what does the 2006 edition cover?

NFPA 170 is a standard for fire safety and emergency symbols. The 2006 edition includes refined exit symbology and adds Chapter 8 for emergency management mapping.

How did NFPA 170 originate and why were earlier documents consolidated?

The 1994 edition combined four previously separate NFPA documents covering fire safety symbols for different purposes. Consolidation helped users find the appropriate symbols and reduced duplication across documents.

What major changes were introduced in later editions leading to the 2006 edition?

Later editions added or clarified symbol sets, including pre-incident planning recommendations becoming requirements, new symbols for pull station and area of refuge, and updates related to smoke detectors, emergency lighting, and fire service/emergency telephone stations. The 2006 edition further refined exit symbology and introduced Chapter 8.

Oct 23, 2026

Upload by Grenda