Firefighting on spacecrafts is an ongoing research project. Smoke detectors that work on earth don't work well in zero gravity because dust particles float freely in the air. Fire extinguishers need to have extinguishing agents to suppress fire and not contaminate the enclosed environment inside a Shuttle or The Space Station. Astronauts can't just open a window to let the smoke out. If there is a fire on-board it must be detected and extinguished quickly. As new composite materials are developed and used to build spacecraft , new 
detection and extinguishing equipment must be developed to 
safeguard the astronauts in future spacecraft.
As space travel forges
forward to far away uncharted regions, space
continues to be a research center for future fire
safety and new extinguishing technologies for
space age materials.
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/index.html
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