The Associated Press interviewed Professor Nick Dembsey, fire protection engineering, for this article. Dembsey told the AP that the goal of the new risk assessment tool known as the Risk Evaluation Matrix is to enable fire marshals, building owners and others to make their structures safer through a rational and scientific approach. 

International Fire Protection Magazine featured an article regarding an extensive literature review of fire safety codes conducted for the National Association of State Fire Marshals Fire Research & Education Foundation by Nick Dembsey, professor of fire protection engineering.