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• 691 WoS publications on building fire risk assessment over 30 years were analyzed. • Yearly publications show a fluctuating rise and distinct multidisciplinary character. • Collaboration networks lack breadth, with a quantity-impact imbalance in output. • Four major research themes and three persistent hotspots are identified. • Research fronts evolve in three phases, driven by technological advancements. The frequent occurrence of building fires in recent years has resulted in elevated casualties and property losses, underscoring the significance of building fire risk assessment research. The present study conducted a bibliometric analysis of relevant literature from the Web of Science database (1996-2024) using VOSviewer and CiteSpace to systematically exploring research progress, collaborative features and cutting-edge trends in this field. The results show that the number of publications has fluctuated upward over the past three decades, and the publications are multidisciplinary, dominated by engineering and materials science. China’s preeminence in terms of publication volume is indisputable, while England and the United States have assumed pivotal roles as transnational collaboration hubs. The institutional collaboration is regionally clustered, in which the University of California System performs a bridging role internationally. Authors have formed several close but isolated research groups, with minimal cross-team collaboration. The research themes encompass modelling analysis, building safety, fire protection design and risk management, and hotspots focusing on fire mechanism, innovation of assessment methods and risk prevention and control. The research frontier has undergone a transition from the initial phases of system construction and theoretical integration to the mid-term safety design and multi-hazard coupling stages, and further extended to emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, high-precision simulation, and full-cycle fire protection design. This study employs a multi-dimensional perspective to reveal the evolution of the knowledge structure and development potential in this field, providing a scientific basis for subsequent research on building fire risk assessment, prevention, and management.