Demand for the energy storage is as high as ever, and is about to triple-quadruple. The development of technology is at unprecedented phase, and even within a single project you may face different cell, battery or container generations. This pace reshapes how we think about battery energy storage safety, from enclosure design to emergency response. We sat down with Noah Ryder from the Fire and Risk Alliance to unpack how BESS has evolved from walk-in containers to dense, modular “refrigerator” units—and how the move to liquid cooling, tighter layouts, and higher amp-hour cells impacts both opportunity and risk.

We explore the real jobs batteries do for the grid: shifting solar and wind, replacing peaker plants, stabilizing frequency, and powering microgrids. Then we zoom into the fast-growing edge case: AI-hungry data centers integrating batteries at the rack level for modularity and speed. That flexibility has a cost. Less free airspace and larger cells mean faster gas accumulation, higher heat flux into insulated enclosures, and a credible explosion hazard from a single failure. We walk through the failure timeline—monitoring anomalies, venting, immediate versus delayed ignition, sustained fire, and potential propagation—and identify practical interventions at each step.

Noah lays out the tradeoffs many teams avoid: accept that a damaged unit is a write-off, or try to save modules at all costs? Should we prefer a known flame over an uncertain blast by using intentional spark ignition? How should NFPA 855’s push toward gas-triggered mechanical ventilation and deflagration venting influence spacing, panel placement, and vent direction? We also dig into enclosure construction—non-combustible insulation, steel skins, coolant flammability—and how better insulation can safely cut spacing by slowing heat penetration and reducing internal temperature rise.

Looking forward, stacking feels inevitable. The smarter approach is to treat batteries not just as a cause but as a fuel, borrowing tested methods from high-rack storage: quantify heat release and radiant exposure, model gas evolution and overpressure, orient vents to manage flame jets, and define acceptable loss before design begins. If you care about real-world energy storage—utility sites, microgrids, or data centers—you’ll leave with a clearer framework to make informed, defensible choices.

If you would like to learn more about Noah and the Fire and Risk Alliance, you can find them online here: https://fireriskalliance.com/

Enjoy the conversation, then subscribe, share this episode with a colleague, and leave a review to help more engineers find the show.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

This week, in the Fire Science Show, we host a roundtable discussion on complexities in fire safety science and engineering.

Most safety failures don’t come from a single mistake—they emerge when people, technology, and institutions misalign. In an ever-changing field in which complexities just go up, we open up a debate on how to cope with that so that the entire field goes in the right direction. For this podcast roundtable debate, I've invited Steve McGuirk, who represents Fire Sector Confederation, and Professor Brian Meacham from Crux, a lifelong contributor to understanding systems in fire safety. 

The conversation starts with Grenfell as a case study in systemic breakdown, then stretches into the “fire chain” of policy, design, construction, occupation, incidents, investigation, and remediation. Along the way, we confront the half-life of crises, the overload of regulations, and the real-world trade-offs that shape housing, affordability, and risk.

We push beyond “add another rule” and ask better questions: How do incentives drive design decisions? Where does culture—of fire services, engineers, and politics—help or hinder outcomes? What would it take for standards bodies, professional institutions, and regulators to speak with a more unified voice? We explore convergence research as a practical method to break silos, inviting small, diverse teams to co-create solutions instead of defending old paradigms. From single-stair mid-rise housing to lithium-ion hazards, we dig into how to balance life safety, property protection, and community needs without freezing progress.

Technology shows up as both a tool and a trap. AI and modelling can map complexity and test scenarios, but they cannot replace critical thinking or ethics. We share grounded advice for practitioners: define the problem before you simulate, involve the right stakeholders early, make risk choices explicit, and design for how people actually behave. Competence, mentoring, and integrity are not nice-to-haves; they’re the core of public safety.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

The devastating 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California serves as a haunting reminder of how rapidly wildfires can overwhelm communities. We have not known anything like it - the flames raced through Paradise at four miles per hour, 30,000 residents had mere minutes to evacuate, and many couldn't escape in time. What happens when the fire goes worse than worst case scenario, but still people need to escape? How do we protect lives when escape routes are blocked by fire or gridlocked traffic?

Dr. Eric D. Link, NIST's researcher in the groundbreaking ESCAPE Project, takes us deep into these critical questions. The project's findings reveal how temporary refuge areas saved over 1,200 lives during the Camp Fire when people couldn't outrun the flames. These ad-hoc safe zones – parking lots, road intersections, and open spaces with reduced fuel loads – provided crucial protection when primary evacuation plans collapsed.

The conversation explores how communities can prepare for these worst-case scenarios by pre-identifying Temporary Fire Refuge Areas (TFRAs) throughout their neighbourhoods. Unlike traditional wildfire safety zones that require enormous clearance, TFRAs offer practical, achievable alternatives that acknowledge the realities of wildland-urban interface communities. The key insight? Even perfect evacuation plans can fail when fires move too quickly, so communities need backup options.

We also delve into the concept of "decision zones" for evacuation planning, the challenges of "no-notice fire events," and the potential for developing dedicated fire shelters that could protect large groups during extreme fire conditions. With climate change intensifying wildfire behavior and more communities at risk, these lessons from Paradise provide crucial guidance for protecting lives when evacuation isn't possible.

Read further on the ESCAPE project findings at the amazing NIST repository (in general, reading the NIST repository is a good life advice :)): https://www.nist.gov/publications/wui-fire-evacuation-and-sheltering-considerations-assessment-planning-and-execution-0

NIST dedicated webpage with more resources, especially for community managers: https://www.nist.gov/publications/wui-fire-evacuation-and-sheltering-considerations-assessment-planning-and-execution-0

Trigger boundaries podcast episode: https://www.firescienceshow.com/156-trigger-boundaries-with-harry-mitchell-and-nick-kalogeropoulos/

Cover image credit: On the morning of November 8, 2018, the Camp Fire erupted 90 miles (140 kilometers) north of Sacramento, California. By evening, the fast-moving fire had charred around 18,000 acres and remained zero percent contained, according to news reports. The Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 acquired this image on November 8, 2018, around 10:45 a.m. local time (06:45 Universal Time). The natural-color image was created using bands 4-3-2, along with shortwave infrared light to highlight the active fire. Officials evacuated several towns, including Paradise. They also closed several major highways.
NASA, Joshua Stevens - https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144225/camp-fire-rages-in-california 

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Dear friends, I am building something new for you. Something that should be very useful, something that I wish I had when I started my journey as a fresh fire safety engineer. And I’ve reached a point where I’m comfortable sharing it is being built and that the first useful version will be available by the end of the month.

So what is this mysterious thing?

I’ve named it “The Book of Fire” (please let me keep the origin of the name story for another occasion 😊) and it will be an online collection of resources for fire safety engineers. It will be built as an online course, with different types of material spread over different “modules” and “lessons”. This approach allows me for flexible management of the content, and for you - it means easy access to any module at any time you want.

Oh, and did I mention the cost? Thanks to JVVA Fire and Risk cooperation, this resource will be freely available for anyone, as long as it is maintained.

In the podcast episode, you will hear the reasons behind building this resource, as well as some technical aspects of it. And most importantly, the dates. The open beta access is planned to open on November 27th, and the tentative launch date is December 20th. During the beta period, I hope to receive some critical feedback so that the final product is the best version of the course I can make. And hopefully, The Book of Fire will become a handy companion to many fellow fire engineers out there.

If you want to sign up for the beta launch, please use the form at https://thebookoffire.com

Fire Science Show podcast is produced in partnership with OFR Consultants.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

I'm known for my rant about critical velocity concept in tunnel ventilation systems, and I tried to really control myself and not go into podcast with it :) But in recent weeks, when I was enjoying sake at IAFSS in Tsukuba two important things happened. We have received the PASCAL award from the Polish Ventilation Association for the best ventilation design in Poland - our S2 Warsaw Ring tunnel project. The second was the invitation from the Conference of European Directors of Roads to talk about my view on challenges in tunnel ventilation. So it seems our design in this space gets some appreciation, and people want to listen to this...

Here we go. In order to train for my talk in front of Road Administrators of Europe, please let me outline some challenges related to smoke control in tunnels. What are we designing for? How does air travel in the tunnel and what makes it move? What components do we need to consider, and how to turn it into a risk-based approach? And finally, what do we need to advance into the future?

I hope the episode is nice not just for tunnel engineers, but everyone who has to deal with ventilation or design fires, as it has some very fundamental concepts in it. I also promised some links, so make sure to check:
- The car park and tunnel podcast episode collection, where you can find episodes I've been mentioning in the show
- A study on airflows induced by vehicle movement in road tunnels by the analysis of bulk data from tunnel sensors - a grand study with my friends Aleksander & Gosia Król, which gives an explanation for many forces acting on the flow in the tunnel. The good news is that a much more advanced paper is now submitted and pending review. Fingers crossed!!!

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Today we go deep into how statistical data about fires is gathered, processed, and used around the world, and what are the ideas on how to improve this in the future. My guests represent the EU FireStat Project - Dr Mohamad El Houssami from Effectis and Dr Martina Manes from the University of Liverpool.

EU FireStat is a groundbreaking initiative that aims to fill data gaps and foster cross-European collaborations in the field of fire safety. The conversation takes a deep dive into the necessity for comparable fire statistics across Europe, illustrating the challenges that come with harmonizing terminology and data collection methods. We bring to light how these discrepancies between countries can influence the way we interpret vital definitions, like fires,  fire deaths, or injuries. We also discuss the role of the quality assurance process in shaping the data and dissect the eight variables identified as a tier one priority in the EU FireStat Project survey.

If you would like to read about the EU FireStat Project, all the reports (including the final report) are available here.

If you would like to read the peer-reviewed version of their findings, please go for the papers:

• Closing Data Gaps and Paving the Way for Pan-European Fire Safety Efforts: Part I—Overview of Current Practices for Fire Statistics
• Closing Data Gaps and Paving the Way for Pan-European Fire Safety Efforts: Part II—Terminology of Fire Statistical Variables

And while we wait for the pan-European fire statistics database, you may want to look into statistics gathered by the CTIF Center for World Fire Statistics.

Fire Science Show is produced in partnership with OFR Consultants.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

In today's episode, I have invited dr Eleni Asimakopoulou from the University of Central Lancashire to discuss her extensive expertise on fire behaviour of facades. In the talk, we will go through Elenis' experiments on ventilated facades (and clear out what they are and why we use them). We do discuss the complexities of testing facade systems. We traverse through the global testing landscape, comparing diverse methods ranging from the German DIN4102 to its American NFPA counterpart. We discuss the role of air entrainment related to test geometries, the implications of whether there's an opening, and the potential effects of a fire barrier in proximity to the fire load. 

Our discussion takes a heated turn as we broach large-scale fire testing and modelling. We go into how tiny details can dramatically impact a facade system's performance and whether we will be able to reliably capture that with large-scale tests, small tests or modelling. We'll also discuss the future - machine learning, CFD, and finite element analysis which are revolutionizing fire testing. Lastly, we delve into the newest research and developments in facades, discussing the advent of tools for material properties analysis, and more. 

Here is the link to the paper discussed in the episode: https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85085977558

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Balancing the cost and the potential to change a system in the future is a difficult act. Discover a new perspective on this aspect of fire safety systems with our guest, Jaime Cadena Gomez. We discuss the significance of longevity and sturdiness in these systems, bringing examples of technologies that have not withstood the test of time such as PFAS firefighting foams, and technologies that will rapidly enter our buildings such as Li-Ion storage for energy backups. Jaime offers intriguing insights into how engineers can future-proof designs without adding excessive burden to the design process, considering device lifecycles and their implications for a sustainable future.

In the talk, we break down the responsibilities and trade-offs in designing equipment that stands the test of time. We delve into the importance of the potential need for upgrades and modifications and evaluate that from the eyes of a fire safety engineer responsible for a strategy and a fire protection engineer responsible for choosing equipment.

We also take a deep dive into the intersection of compliance and innovation in fire prevention systems. We'll uncover the importance of creating a pathway for innovation within the frameworks of compliance—a conversation that promises to be both enlightening and engaging. Finally, reflect with us on the role of the safety engineer, the education they require, and the immense importance of understanding the technology they work with and its maintenance. 

The inspiration to do this talk came from the "Mars Habitats" talk, which you can re-listen here: https://www.firescienceshow.com/qa5-brainstorming-fire-safe-mars-habitats-with-ruben-van-coile-jaime-cadena-gomez-and-szymek-matkowski/

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

When I heard that two legends of firefighting training  Shan Raffel and CFBT Roy will be visiting my friend Szymon Kokot, I packed my stuff and went to meet them with a microphone and a ton of questions. What I received was a brilliant discussion on how firefighting instructors are trained - from the history of CFBT (Compartment Fire Behaviour Training) to modern approaches. Shan introduced his method for reading fire (BE SAHF - Building Environment Smoke Air-track Heat and Flame) and how it helps the decision-making process in the most stressful settings. Along the way, we discuss the critical soft character traits that make a fire instructor exceptional, and how the art of decision-making and critical thinking can be integrated into the complex realm of fire science.

As we wrap up, we emphasize the significant role of understanding fire behavior in handling emergency situations. We will also broach the topic of cold, gray smoke, a seemingly harmless phenomenon but one that poses a formidable danger. Learn why experienced instructors are key to imparting this knowledge and how Poland, under Szymon's leadership, has made significant strides in fire instruction.

Also, if you would like to read more, here is the most amazing collection of resources you can find online: https://eurofirefighter.com/downloads

Shan's book can be found at https://cfbt-int.com/manuals/ or at Amazon, or perhaps you may want to find the CFBT people in your country to make a worthy connection?! Through his website, you can also connect to organize instructor training in your country.

Cover picture credit: CFBT Intl https://cfbt-int.com/

Fire Science Show is sponsored by OFR Consultants, huge shoutout for their long-lasting support to our mission!

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Have you ever wondered how the understanding of AI can revolutionize the field of civil engineering? Today I am discovering this together with our own AI trendsetter, MZ Nasser. His latest book "Machine Learning for Civil and Environmental Engineers: A Practical Approach to Data-Driven Analysis, Explainability, and Causality" is the focal point of our conversation, illuminating the significance of explainable AI and the concept of causality. 

Our discourse with MZ dives straight into the practical applications of AI, and how it already has been used with a high degree of success. We go deep into the case study of understanding concrete spalling, perhaps one of the most complicated phenomena in structural fire engineering. 

We also delve into the limitations of AI in engineering and fire safety, and how coding-free software and AI principles could potentially usher in a new era for civil engineers. We navigate the concept of causality and its application in diverse fields, from social sciences to fire statistics.

If you would like to learn more, MZ Naser runs his blog where you can find all of his work and a ton of bonus resources. Check it out here: https://www.mznaser.com/

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

What happens when fire meets a green facade? Tune in as we journey through the unexpected world of green facades and their interaction with fire. For the first time, I am sharing the story of how we built up an interest in this subject, first by my PhD student Jakub's burning question and a client's unique request for an office space resembling a jungle. For this job we have put green facades to the test with full-scale experiments, including the Polish facade method and Single Burning Item tests, considering the unique environmental conditions that buildings and their facades are exposed to.

In the episode, I walk you through our research and reasoning, as well as the design considerations. We'll explore the potential risks involved with green facades. Neglected maintenance and environmental factors can significantly affect the safety of these structures. We discuss the results of our full-scale experiment and the dangers of a neglected green facade.

If you wish to learn more, please follow here:

• <here will be the link to the FSJ paper once its out>
• A brief summary of our findings on linkedin
• Plastics and cavities.
• Recommended read from Prof Ed Galea's team

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

If someone ever tells you they have modelled fire spread for a commercial project, with 20 cm grids and using generic materials from (old) FDS database, please do me a favour and redirect them to this episode. Because modelling fire is a seriously challenging thing. And by modelling, I really mean it.  Not to apply a surrogate source based on a statistical overview of how fires looked like in the past for fuels of this kind. Not to omit half of the phenomena because they are too hard and in cone they did not matter anyway... To really model the fire.

I have invited prof. Lukas Arnold from Bergishe University Wuppertal and Juelich Forszungszentrum to tap into how challenging modelling even simple materials may be. What are the feedback loops and phenomena one must account for, and how do different scales give us different parts of the answer we need?

If you would like to know more about Lukas efforts in modelling, please check two recent papers:
- Paper on cone calorimetry of different types of PMMA (the material we have discussed in the podcast episode)
- Paper on inverse modelling the pyrolysis kinetics - giving insight into how one obtains the material data you may need for modelling. 

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

In this episode dr. Francesco Restuccia from  Kings College London takes me on a journey through different types of batteries, and what fire challenges relate to them.
We discuss how the batteries burn, and how internal systems (Battery Management System) influence that behavior. From the size and type limitations to the potential perils of a cell thermal runaway, the fire spread in the whole batteries, and feedback loops that we need to understand to create safer systems. We'll also shed light on the contrasting battery lives of consumer electronics, laptops, and cars, as well as some challenges in the second life of batteries.

In the final leg of our journey, we will tackle the complex world of modeling batteries and their management systems, touching on the challenges of over-constraint equations and calculating heat release rates from off-gassing.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

The world looks entirely different through a thermal camera lens, especially in a fire scenario. These devices reveal harsh temperature gradients between hot and cold surfaces, adding another dimension to how fire safety professionals understand and navigate dangerous environments.

Thermal cameras have transformed firefighting operations with astonishing effectiveness. Studies show that in smoke-filled buildings, thermal cameras have significantly improved the changes to identify victims. This technology dramatically reduces search times and increases survival chances, making it an essential tool for modern fire services around the world.

Martin Veit, who recently completed research for the Fire Protection Research Foundation, takes us deep into the science behind these life-saving devices. He explains how thermal cameras detect long-wave infrared radiation (7-14 micrometres) emitted by objects based on their temperature, creating images that reveal what smoke would otherwise conceal. The technology works because many combustion gases are relatively transparent in this part of the spectrum, giving firefighters a crucial advantage in zero-visibility conditions.

We explore the fascinating distinction between "measuring" precise temperatures (which requires understanding factors like surface emissivity and a bit of physics) and simply "observing" temperature differences (which can be sufficient for navigation and victim location). This distinction proves crucial when evaluating how thermal cameras should be tested and certified for firefighting applications.

The conversation delves into the challenges of current testing methods under NFPA standards, which sometimes yield inconsistent results that don't align with human perception of image quality. Martin's research investigates alternative approaches from the field of image processing that could provide more reliable and relevant evaluations, potentially improving both camera certification and opening doors to AI-assisted applications in firefighting.

Read the Martin's report here: https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/research/fire-protection-research-foundation/projects-and-reports/measuring-thermal-image-quality-for-fire-service-applications

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

In the midst of horrible wildfire season around the globe, I have reached out to Prof. Albert Simeoni from Worcester Polytechnic Institute for some hands-on commentary on what is happening around, and why fires all over the globe are constantly on the front pages of mainstream media. I am not sure if I was ready for all the answers received (especially how media are biased to fires in certain parts of the world and pretty silent about others)... But they certainly are great food for thought in considering the current situation and where it may be heading.

In the episode, we have discussed what promotes disastrous wildfires, how one can estimate their damage, and how vanity metrics like the historical return period for fire may not be good enough for future preparedness. Changing climate, human expansion, popular "close to the wilderness" lifestyle, industrialization and abandonment of traditional agriculture - all are somewhat responsible for the "new normal". 

Among the disappointing summary of current events, we have also found a bright light with Fire Protection Engineers being the missing link in the wildfire-urban interface and protecting homes and communities from fire disasters. And for this reason, this episode is well worth a listen for any FPE - you are more important than you think!

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

It is time for some engineering fundamentals in the show. This time in the fire fundamentals series we delve into the details of natural and powered smoke ventilators - what they are, how they work, how they are tested and what interesting mechanics impact their performance in fire.

I hope this episode is valuable for all engineers who would love to know how the devices they place in their design are tested and qualified for use in fire safety. It should also be a great way for fire scientists to broaden their horizons and learn about very intricate details of natural and powered vents, which you learn only through experience in the design.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may want to jump into:

• Episode 50 - Wind, fire and a surprise
• Episode 47 - Effective pressurization with Grzegorz Sypek

Some of the papers advertised in the episode:

• Aerodynamic study of a city and its impact on the smoke control system
• Influence of wind on the performance of natural vents
• Roof obstacles and the performance of natural vents
• Smart smoke control concept paper (a more approachable one :))
• Smart smoke control concept paper (a more technical one :))
• Smart smoke control implementation paper

Fire Science Show podcast is produced in partnership with OFR Consultants

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

in Episode 39 I had the pleasure to interview Bryan Klein from Thunderhead Engineering on some views and predictions for the near future of fire modelling. Even though it was only 1,5 year ago, some major things have already happened (release of Ventus - CONTAM GUI by Thunderhead) or snuck on us unseen as the large language model revolution.

In this episode we discuss mostly the things that have happened in recent months, and how they can change the potential for fire engineering. The list of talking points includes:

• the release of CONTAM GUI - Ventus and a brief summary of CONTAM origin,  capabilities and use in fire engineering
• new updates to FDS with external sources for parameters
• GPT revolution and how API's can revolutionize work of fire engineers - code compliance, design exploration, CFD management
• GPU revolution and a new era of GPU based solvers for fluid mechanics (and FDS development in this direction) 
• cloud computing update and making it a user-friendly experience

If anything on the list sounds interesting to you, I bet the whole episode will be fun for you!

This episode is a very nerdy catch-up between two fire engineers, but I also want you to be a part of this conversation. Let me know what you think are the things that will happen in next few years that will change the way how we engineer?   

If you want to check out the trial of Ventus and see for yourself if CONTAM is something useful for your fire engineering routine, you can find the trial here: https://www.thunderheadeng.com/ventus

Fire Science Show is sponsored by OFR Consultants.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Most fire engineers would be aware of how openings like doors and windows, the stack effect, and even wind can significantly alter fire outcomes. But there is a considerable difference between knowing that it does, and knowing how much that changes fire growth, size and the internal building environment. I've invited FSRIs dr Craig Weinschenk to discuss his years of full-scale research on fire flows.

In this episode, we discuss different conditions that occur once the flow is established at windows, doors or through HVAC systems. How it affects the fire's growth and spread, and what firefighters need to consider when taking decisions on venting a burning building. We underscore the importance of compartmentalization, discussing how a simple action like leaving a door open can drastically impact fire behaviour and smoke movement.

Although it is a side topic in the episode, perhaps a very interesting discussion is on the battery-initiated fires, discussing the various failure modes that can trigger an overpressure event or a jet flame. We also explore what batteries change in the fire environment when they are victims and participants of the fire (rather than the source). I know many will be interested in this, here is also a good read by Craig on the subject.

As with every episode with FSRI, there is A TON of resources to go through. Our recommendations:

• Public live stream of a fire experiment similar to the one I was invited to watch - this is the same series of experiments in the exact same building
• Search and rescue training course
• FSRI Materials Database
• Github - materials
• Github - public repositories

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

My knowledge about fire safety at sea was pretty limited, at best. I was planning this episode for a long time, and then the disastrous fire happened at a car carrier near the Netherlands coast. In light of these events, I've reached out to Bogdan Racięga of the Baltic Fire Laboratory, a Polish maritime fire safety expert to discuss this particular incident and to delve into the intricate aspects of fire safety regulations on marine vessels.

Bogdan explains and highlights the critical role of the International Maritime Organization in setting and enforcing fire safety standards, and the role of Class Societies in classifying and certifying these solutions for ships. 

Ever wondered about the unique challenges of protecting specific areas on ships? In the episode, we discuss protection strategies for machinery, cargo spaces, cabin balconies and galley areas. We unpack those challenges and discuss the differences between separation and extinguishing systems, including the necessity for perfect cooperation between passive and active solutions.  Discussing some tragic fires we consider what are the consequences of a delayed response when activating firefighting systems. And how does fire testing play into all this? Bogdan shares his expertise on these subjects, delving into the potential misuse of fire suppression systems and the importance of collaboration between manufacturers. 

I've had a blast recording this and I hope you will also enjoy learning about the maritime fire safety!

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Energy storage systems are vital systems in fuel transition and as a part of technology responding to the challenges of climate change. Not only for their capability to store energy but also for exploring strategies like peak shaving or allowing for more distributed energy generation. In this discussion, we consider them as fixed storage systems but also recognize that moveable load such as vehicles poses similar challenges.

Even though fire safety energy storage is still a part of academic discussion, at the same time it is a part of real-world projects, where fire safety strategy must be proposed with the scarce data and knowledge available. To discuss how this is delivered I have invited two Thornton Tomasetti engineers - Ali Ashrafi and Paweł Woelke.

We unpack the available sources of data, discuss the variability of energy storage device test results, and underscore the need for a risk-based approach. Discussing the approval process for new technologies, calling for adaptability and stakeholder engagement to define acceptable risk levels. An interesting topic is the balancing act between fire and explosion risks as well as the suppression strategies. 

Even though we do not know everything about the fire safety of energy storage systems yet, we need to act to the best of our capacity. I hope this discussion helps you in working out a fire-safe solution for your building.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

In this week's series covering experimental fire science, we venture into a recently finished Code Red project by ARUP, led by my today's guest Dr Panos Kotsovinos. The project was carried out in CERIB with the collaboration of the Imperial College London. History will tell if this experiment will change fire science, but I truly believe it is at least worth sharing!

The research was carried out on a large open-plan office (350m2) with a combustible CLT ceiling. It was a continuation of previous X-One and X-Two experiments on travelling fire behaviour carried out by Imperial College London in Poland (referred to here as the "Obora" experiments, listen to episode 27 of the show) but with an important difference - this time the ceiling was combustible. They were looking into how the introduction of the combustible ceiling will change the travelling fire behaviour, investigating variables such as the opening factor, the introduction of a low-pressure water mist system and partial encapsulation of the ceiling. The findings include observations related to fire spread, persistent smouldering fires, effects of the partial encapsulation and many many more which are discussed in detail in the show.

To learn more, please read the press release about the experiments here and most important - the papers:
- Fire dynamics inside a large and open-plan compartment with exposed timber ceiling and columns: CodeRed #01
- Impact of ventilation on the fire dynamics of an open-plan compartment with exposed timber ceiling and columns: CodeRed #02
- The Effectiveness of a Water Mist System in an Open-plan Compartment with an Exposed Timber Ceiling: CodeRed #03
- Impact of partial encapsulation on the fire dynamics of an open-plan compartment with exposed timber ceiling and columns: CodeRed #04
- Review of fire experiments in mass timber compartments: Current understanding, limitations, and research gaps
- Structural hazards of smouldering fires in timber buildings
- Flame spread characteristics in large compartments with an exposed timber ceiling

If you have any further questions to Panos please let me know, and I will gladly pass them on to him!

Fire Science Show is produced in partnership with OFR Consultants.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Ever wonder how scientists measure the intensity of a fire? Join us on this episode as we invite Dr. Matt Bundy from NIST. We discuss the intricacies of heat release rate, calorimetry, and how NIST is championing open data with their astonishing database.

You can learn more about the database here: https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/new-nist-fire-calorimetry-database-available-answer-your-burning-questions

And find the database here: https://www.nist.gov/el/fcd

I've tried to make this conversation for everyone. If you never saw a calorimeter or have no idea how to measure fire, from this episode you will learn probably all you need to know. If you know everything about calorimetry, there is a ton of golden nuggets on how NIST runs their experiments, that are absolutely worth listening too.

In the podcast episode, we start deciphering the art of measuring fire characteristics - from using heat flux gauges, oxygen and mass loss calorimetry and what are the challenges to each of them.  We then explore the NIST Fire Calorimetry Database, unveiling its evolution from a humble set of data to an open-access resource. Dr. Bundy shares invaluable insights into the development of this enriching database, which has metamorphosed into an extensive video collection system that records fire experiments. He also whets our curiosity about the potential expansion and collaborations lying on the horizon for this unique database.

Rounding off our discussion, we delve into the inner workings of the hosting process of the NIST Calorimetry Database, its data storage methods, and how it facilitates easy access to experiments. We also glimpse the future of fire studies as Dr. Bundy calls on the Fire Science Show community to suggest objects to burn for their calorimetry.

Cover image: frame extracted from this calorimetry supercut video credit to NIST and Matt Bundy

This podcast episode is sponsored by OFR Consultants.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

In this episode, we uncover the intricate process of fire investigations with renowned combustion scientist and fire investigator, Dr. Richard J. Roby from Combustion Science and Engineering. With over five decades of experience in the field, Dr Roby helps us navigate the critical role of the scientific method in fire investigations.

From the analysis of burn scars to the testimony of eyewitnesses, we explore the fascinating world of fire investigations, where data, evidence, and hypotheses come together to reveal the truth. We'll delve deep into the NFPA 921 standards, which keep fire investigations current with the latest scientific discoveries. We also delve into fire modelling, a tool that allows us to test different hypotheses and explain the spread of a fire. We also tackle the complexities of fire investigation and the crucial factors that can influence the process, such as expectancy and confirmation bias. Dr Roby provides invaluable insights from his vast experience, discussing the changing materials used in buildings and how they affect fire investigation processes. Finally, we explore the importance of recorded evidence and eyewitness testimony in fire investigations, and how to identify and understand biases to produce reliable results.

If you would like to learn more, I believe the best place to look would be NFPA 921, which you can find and access here: https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/all-codes-and-standards/list-of-codes-and-standards/detail?code=921

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

This time we try out something new! Instead of interviewing experts on subjects of their expertise, this time I took world-class risk specialists for a brainstorming session. And while sitting together, we discussed something out of this world - the fire safety of Mars habitats. 

This podcast episode is literally a recording of the conversation between the panellists, it is very unscripted and lightly edited. I really hope you will feel like a part of this conversation, and if you would like to voice your ideas - share them on socials or mail them directly to me. If you have ideas on future brainstorming sessions and who you would like to see at the table. please let me know!

In today's brainstorming session, the discussion is held between:

• Ruben van Coile - professor at Ghent University and renowned expert in risk and structural engineering. Listen to his previous and previous episodes on risk, and his new project to shift the paradigm of fire safety. 
• Jaime Cadena Gomez - risk specialist, an expert at Transurban with practical experience in tunnelling,  has a background in chemical engineering. Listen to Jaimes' episode on Maximum Allowable Damage method he was developing in his PhD.
• Szymek Matkowski - an architect whose passion is to design Mars habitats, involved with Nexus Aurora and known for his research on evacuation in low-G
• yours truly Wojciech Wegrzynski - in this case, space enthusiast and advocate for risk and performance-based approach to fire safety

Background of the discussion: Our exciting and exploratory discussion revolves around the concept of a Mars habitat, examining the unique challenges of maintaining resources on Mars and unpacking how these factors influence the longevity of the structures. Fire can become a catastrophic disaster, especially in a volatile environment like Mars. Our conversation dives into the expense of safety solutions, and the potentially devastating implications of a fire on Mars. 

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

The AI revolution has arrived, but fire safety engineers face a critical dilemma: how to leverage powerful AI tools while protecting confidential project data. 

Professor Ruggiero Rino Lovreglio from Massey University and Dr. Amir Rafe from Utah State University join us to explore the world of local Large Language Models (LLMs) - AI systems you can run privately on your own computer without sending sensitive information to the cloud. While cloud-based AI like ChatGPT raises serious privacy concerns (as Sam Altman recently admitted, user prompts could be surrendered to courts if requested), local models offer a secure alternative that doesn't compromise confidentiality.

We break down things you should know about setting up your own AI assistant: from hardware requirements and model selection to fine-tuning for fire engineering tasks. Our guests explain how even models with "just" a few billion parameters can transform your workflow while keeping your data completely private. They share their groundbreaking work developing specialized fire engineering datasets and testing these tools on real-world evacuation problems.

The conversation demystifies technical concepts like parameters, temperature settings, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), and fine-tuning - making them accessible to engineers without computer science backgrounds. Most importantly, we address why fire engineering remains resilient to AI takeover (with only a 19% risk of automation) while exploring how these tools can enhance rather than replace human expertise.

Whether you're AI-curious or AI-skeptical, this episode provides practical insights for integrating these powerful tools into your engineering practice without compromising the confidentiality that defines professional work. Download Ollama today and take your first steps toward a more efficient, AI-augmented engineering workflow that keeps your data where it belongs - on your computer.

Further reading: https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/9780784486191.034

Ollama: https://ollama.com/

Hugging face: https://huggingface.co/

Rino's Youtube with guide videos: https://www.youtube.com/@rinoandcaroline

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

If you ever wondered how to capture fires in photographs and videos so it is a real science, not just pretty pictures, this episode is for you. With dr Matt Hoehler we explore the world of visualization in fires - from just shooting the pictures, through composition and what is your target, to fancy techniques - water-cooling, blue light illumination and 360-degree shoots. We also discuss the role of audio in the further use of these pictures.

To watch for yourself how the magic works, check this NIST website:
https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2018/07/nist-unblinded-me-science-new-application-blue-light-sees-through-fire

And to see how BOB was applied, check it here:
https://www.nist.gov/el/fire-research-division-73300/national-fire-research-laboratory-73306/360-degree-video-fire

If you would like to learn more, here are some resources:

• Developing 360 camera setups
• Imaging through flames with narrow-spectrum light
• Use of narrow-spectrum in the char study

And one of our own:

• Measuring fire HRR with cameras

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

And so we have reached the fourth and final episode featuring  Professor David Purser, a leading expert in fire toxicity. In this episode, we explore the complexities of nitrogen in fires, the impact of fire retardants on fire atmospheres, and the long-lasting hazards related to the consurgents and carcinogenic properties of smoke. 

We'll be discussing the different hazard zones associated with fire smoke and the potential risks they pose to people, buildings, and the environment. Discover how fire retardants can lead to higher yields of toxic products, and learn about the acute and chronic exposure risks of fire smoke in various scenarios. Professor Purser also shares his knowledge on the dangers of hazardous materials released in fires, such as organic nitrogen phosphorus materials, metals, mineral fibers, and radioactive polonium.

Lastly, we'll delve into the carcinogenic substances found in fire smoke and their classification by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). From hydrocarbons to ethylene oxide, we'll reveal the potential risks of these toxic compounds and their impact on our health. 

If you would like to first catch up on previous episodes (highly recommended!):

•  https://www.firescienceshow.com/096-smoke-toxicity-part-1-why-fires-used-to-be-less-toxic-in-1950s-with-david-purser/
• https://www.firescienceshow.com/097-smoke-toxicity-part-2-asphyxiants-and-irritants-with-david-purser/
• https://www.firescienceshow.com/105-how-much-smoke-is-made-in-fires-and-how-we-measure-that-with-david-purser/

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

In this show, we have already ventured into the fascinating world of toxicity in fires, and I have promised you more. So today, I fulfil my word and invite you to another conversation with renowned fire toxicity expert Professor David Purser, who shares invaluable insights on measuring smoke and toxic products created in fires. From understanding mass loss concentration in a CFD analysis to exploring various test apparatus, discover how we can determine the yields and concentrations of toxic products in different fuels and conditions. Learn about the significance of the fuel/air mixture ratio (the equivalency ratio) and the need for defined combustion conditions to measure toxic product yields accurately. 

On a practical side, you will learn about prof. Purser's experience working on the Mont Blanc tunnel investigation, where he used CFD analysis to study toxic product concentrations and yields in real-life fire scenarios. Professor Purser emphasizes that while exact solutions may not always be available, science and research can provide valuable insights into the toxic effects of fires.

Another, final episode on smoke toxicity with David Purser coming out next week. If you want to catch up on the previous episodes, you can find them here:

• https://www.firescienceshow.com/096-smoke-toxicity-part-1-why-fires-used-to-be-less-toxic-in-1950s-with-david-purser/
• https://www.firescienceshow.com/097-smoke-toxicity-part-2-asphyxiants-and-irritants-with-david-purser/

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

What makes an experiment truly groundbreaking, and how can researchers plan and execute such experiments in fire science? Join us as we chat with Professor Arnaud Trouve from the University of Maryland, a co-chair of the MaCFP group at the IAFSS, to uncover the answers to these burning questions. Arnaud offers valuable insights into the creation of a structured, repeatable, and accessible database of knowledge, and how to design experiments that will revolutionize fire science.

We dive into the challenges of gathering data from manufacturers who don't share their information and the difficulties in modelling phenomena like underventilated fires, flame spread, radiation and soot. Arnaud also emphasizes the importance of well-controlled, well-instrumented experiments in fire research, and the need for computer power to solve fundamental problems in fire science. Moreover, we discuss the MaCFP Workshop and the three different solvers that make up a fire model, touching on the importance of IAFSS's endorsement of MaCFP and the resources available to access the discussions from past workshops.

The main MaCFP repository can be found here and the GitHub here.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Ever wondered how scale modelling can provide invaluable insights into fire science? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Professor James Quintiere, as we delve into the fascinating world of scale modelling and its applications in both fire science and fluid mechanics research. You will discover how this powerful experimental technique has been used to develop correlations, understand complex phenomena, and even predict outcomes of full-scale experiments.

Together with prof. Quintiere we go from plume research to exploring the potential of scale modelling in investigative fire science, touching on its role in understanding smoke movement, pressurization effects, and venting strategies in buildings. Learn how a deep understanding of the underlying physics can lead to successful scale modelling, and how this technique can complement modern computational tools like CFD.

For resources:

• Scaling realistic fire scenarios paper
• Scale modelling in fire reconstruction (a book) and a direct link
• WTC scale modelling

And for simply some fun - the mentioned Mercedes-Benz museum smoke control - designed with scale modelling!

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

We all agree competencies are key to fire safety. We have discussed this. We have argued about this. We have come up with decent sets of core competencies, course curricula and numerous courses and modules that help us be competent in what we are doing. This podcast is to keep me and you competent in what we are doing.

But this is insufficient in the modern world. Because it is not just us who need to be competent. Today I've invited Dr Michael Woodrow from UCL to talk about what fire competencies mean for FSEs and for other stakeholders in the design process, with a very very strong emphasis on the architects. What is the difference between an architect that understands the fundamentals of fire safety, and one that wants to complete a box-ticking exercise?  What those fundamentals actually are for someone who is not (and is not expected to be) an FSE? And how the changing UK post-Grenfell environment makes this discussion today more relevant than ever.

You need to listen to this episode and share it with your architect friends. And once you are done with it, you are probably interested in all this Fire Safe Design MArch discussed in the show. Here it is!

And while we are searching for great resources, here is Michael's paper on competencies, enjoy.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

What is the Society of Fire Protection Engineers? I just got a really good answer from the Interim CEO Chris Jeleniwicz. It is our profession. It is us.

With this important definition sorted, we dig into what SFPE is doing (and more importantly - how it is doing). If you ever wondered what the SFPE Handbook writing process looks like and what will you find in the next edition, we may have some answers for you. If you wonder why SFPE is turning its guidelines into standards and how this future ecosystem will work - tune in. What is the role of the SFPE Foundation and how SFPE participates in building fire science? And by the way, you will also find out how society builds a holistic system of competencies, curricula, courses and educational resources.

I'm deeply connected with SFPE for many years, and it gave me a lot of joy to hear about the plans of CJ in how to guide this organization to success. And by the way, this success is OUR success, as SFPE is us.

If you would like to learn more about the history of SFPE, please check this website and the brilliant paper by David Lucht.

SFPE Events can be found here.

If you are interested in the activities of the SFPE Foundation, learn more here.

Fire Science Show is brought to you in partnership with OFR Consultants. 

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

This week we cover the fundamentals of smoke flow (proliferation!), entrainment and smoke plumes. All the basics that impact the spread of the smoke in our buildings. You will learn:

• the ideal gas assumption for a smoke mixture
• turbulent nature of fire-induced flows
• axisymmetric plume models and their origins
• spill plumes
• window and door plumes
• basics of smoke control

If you would like to read up more, please resort to:

• Review of plume models
• Enclosure Fire Dynamics - Karlsson, Quntiere, Johansson
• Fluid Mechanics Aspects of Fire and Smoke Dynamics in Enclosures - Merci and Beji
• Probably the best thing about visibility in smoke I ever did

This podcast is brought to you in collaboration with OFR Consultants.
Thank you for sticking up to Fire Science Show for its 100th episode!!!

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Do you have any idea how bad the tunnel fire will be if there is an EV involved?

That is a question I hear a lot, way more often than I would like. And usually, my answers do not get approval. I guess telling people "doesn't matter, passenger vehicles are not a concern" does not rank very well against all the media chaos related to challenges with these new energy carriers. Even today I've witnessed a random conversation of my father with a friend, where they discussed the future, EVs and how bad they may be in fires. It is hard to break through with some of the messages. Unfortunately, for those simple and reasonable claims, we need extraordinary proof.

Luckily, there are people who bring those proofs to us, so we finally can not only participate in meetings armed with data but also refer the peer-reviewed research and close the arguments. My today's hero is Prof. Peter Sturm from TU Graz, the leader in the BRAFA project on fires with new energy carriers (more about the project here). In their recent paper Fire tests with lithium-ion battery electric vehicles in road tunnels, they dive deep into fires of EVs in a road tunnel setting. We discuss why this setting is important to understand the consequences of the fire in the tunnel environment, and how their main conclusions were reached. You will also learn some about the new methods of extinguishing fires, as working alongside the firefighters was an important part of this project. Finally, in the podcast episode, we discuss how the results of this research may scale to larger vehicles, and what the consequences of low-probability high-consequence events such as an electrical bus fire may be.

If you would like to learn more about the crazy research facility Zentrum am Berg, you can do that here: https://www.zab.at/

Cover image by TU Graz, Lunghammer, reproduced from 10.1016/j.firesaf.2022.10369

Fire Science Show is produced in partnership with OFR Consultants.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

This week in place of a normal episode I would like to share an interview I gave to my friend Kevin Sofen in his podcast. In this episode I am interviewed by Kevin on the science of fire, how I understand the built environment and the challenges it brings. Kevin asks me some really tough questions, like what the fire-safe world is, and how to innovate in space of the fire engineering. I have highly enjoyed this discussion, and if you have not heard it at the Smart Firefighting Podcast, I hope you will enjoy it as well here!

This podcast episode is the original  content of the Smart Firefight Podcast, which was originally posted here: https://www.smartfirefighting.com/podcast/episode/351c46ad/episode-151-playing-with-fire-to-create-a-fire-safe-world-with-wojciech-wegrzynski

The episode is posted with the approval from Kevin, thank you so much for making this interview available for the Fire Science Show audience!

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

When experts from different disciplines attempt to collaborate on complex problems, such as evacuation modelling, we often discover that we're not speaking the same language. Even seemingly simple terms like "density," "velocity," and "distance" carry dramatically different meanings across physics, psychology, engineering, and computer science.

In this episode, we present the "Glossary for Research on Human Crowd Dynamics," a remarkable community effort that brought together over 60 researchers to create a shared vocabulary for those studying human movement in crowds. In this episode, I speak with two key contributors to this project: Professor Enrico Ronchi from Lund University, who helped organise the original workshop that spawned the first edition, and Ezel Üsten from Jülich Forschungszentrum, the corresponding author of the newly released second edition.

They reveal the fascinating process behind creating consensus among diverse scientific perspectives – from the intensive week-long workshop at the Lorentz Centre where the first edition was born, to the year-long online collaboration that produced the expanded second edition. We explore how the glossary handles controversial terms like "panic" (often misused in media and research alike), unpack the nuances of seemingly straightforward concepts like "fundamental diagrams," and discuss why the absence of citations was a deliberate choice to prevent territorial disputes.

What emerges is not just a practical resource for evacuation research but a blueprint for how scientific communities can build collective understanding across disciplinary boundaries. As we face increasingly complex challenges in fire safety engineering, this kind of "community wisdom" becomes invaluable. Whether you're a researcher, practitioner, or simply curious about how experts bridge communication gaps, this conversation offers rich insights into the power of shared language in advancing our understanding of human behaviour during emergencies.

And here is the link to the glossary: https://collective-dynamics.eu/index.php/cod/article/view/A189

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Innovation is a big world. A digital innovation sounds even bigger. But it is in fact our reality - we live in a world of constant change and "improvements". Many of those come to us in form of digital technologies, information processing or simply computer codes and tools. And I would say more often than not, these are not very helpful... If you share this point of view with me, you will rejoice in this podcast episode.

I have invited Michael Strömgren who is the Chief Innovation Officer at BRIAB to discuss his long experience with experimenting with the newest digital trends in the construction market. While investigating BIM, digital twins, IoT sensors and machine-interpreted codes we try to seek the reason why the construction industry is improving its efficiency only by 1-2% a year, and how those new tools and technologies could break the paradigm. Why we need to communicate more, and how the new tools allow for that. Finally, why systematic thinking is the way forward in the new 'normal' of modern civil engineering.

This podcast episode is produced with the support of OFR Consultants, the diamond sponsor of the Fire Science Show.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

This episode is the 2nd part of interview with Professor David Purser, this year recipient of IAFSS'14 Emmons Plenary Lecture. If you have not seen it, I would highly encourage you to first listen to the Part 1, which sets the context of the discussion here.

In Part 1 we have talked a lot about the toxic hazards and how the production of toxicants has evolved together with fire loads. We have also gone quite deep into the toxicity of CO. In part 2, we cover the combined effects of asphyxiant gases and some of the HCN toxicity. We also distinguish between asphyxiants and irritants, discussing in depth how each of those work on the human body, and what are the physiological and pathological consequences of exposure. We also go quite deep into how tests on animals were carried, in consequence - what we know about the effects of these toxicants on the human body (and what we just assume...). We finish the episode with quite an engineering take on building useful models and progressing the toxicology further.

These two episodes. Seriously, maybe it is just me, but I feel this is some sort of pinnacle of how informative an informal chat in a podcast may be. I have just learnt more about toxicology than in 13 years of my professional career and in my formal education (maybe it was just bad, dunno...). Please apologize me if I am over-hyping this, but I am absolutely thankful to David for spending some of his time with me and teaching me all of this. I hope this will be useful for generations of fire engineers!

If somehow, you want more. There is more. I highly recommend reading David's chapters in the SFPE Handbook, as they are the most condensed pill of knowledge and references on toxicity that you can find anywhere. Here are the links:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_62

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_63

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

I have to start with a word of warning, I am extremally hyped about this and upcoming episodes. I think for the first time I have recorded a podcast episode with a ratio of my commentary to the guest 1:5. This is because when you get Prof. David Purser to tell you about toxicology, there is not much to add. It is a story of the history of fire science, difficult discoveries and how a fire scientist had to combine knowledge from multiple fields into useful models. All of this is so that engineers like us won't break their heads trying to cope with the chemistry of fires, but can rely on sound models and simplification which make our professional judgement possible (I won't call it easy...).

Please join me in celebrating Prof Pursers' achievements, including his IAFSS'14 Emmons Plenary Lecture invitation - the biggest honour a fire scientist can achieve. In this episode, you will learn about the differences between material toxicity and toxicity of fires, and how that changed from the 1950s to modern times. You will learn how we have established some rules on the toxic effects of smoke and how the research on this was performed. You will also learn what the FED model is and how it came to life.

This is Part 1 of the interview. In Part 2 (next week) you will learn more about asphyxiant and irritant gasses, specific molecules that are created in fire smoke and how this knowledge translates to engineering projects. Can't wait for that one too...

If somehow, you want more. There is more. I highly recommend reading David's chapters in the SFPE Handbook, as they are the most condensed pill of knowledge and references on toxicity that you can find anywhere. Here are the links:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_62

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_63

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

It is the newest Internet craze. In my opinion, maybe even be the most disruptive tech since bitcoin or the Internet itself. And suddenly, we got a lot of very interesting conversations around, but I've lacked on oriented on the craft of Fire Protection Engineering.

I'm obviously talking about generative AI and "chatbots". If you don't know this term, you should definitely read OFRs paper on that in recent SFPE Europe! 

Discussions on chatbots are in abundance, but people having first-hand experience are scarce. I was lucky enough to find one, dr Michael Kinsey during his time in ARUP China was leading the development of tools, including a responsive "chat-bot" to read Chinese fire code. Here we talk about the opportunities and struggles they have encountered. It was not exactly "GPT" style chatbot, but one that follows a very similar logic and similar user experience. Plus, you have to admit - Mike did chatbots before they were cool!

Tune in to hear how this tech may disrupt our space and if there is a future for us in it (spoiler - there is).

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

In the fifth episode of mini-series 'Experiments that changed fire science' we cover the compartment fire experimental campaigns carried at NBS (now NIST) in 1970's and 1980's, with the maybe most famous of them all - the Steckler's room experiment. My guest - prof. James Quintiere touches on the experimental design, design choices and most importantly - the technology available to measure and how they made it work.

If you would like to read more on this science, start up with these pieces

• Stecklers room experiment paper
• Corridor fires
• Wall fires and upward flame spread

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

It's finally here, the episode many of you were waiting for! Discussing the history of US fire movement with prof. James Quintiere from the University of Maryland.

I often wondered what it felt like in the 1970's and 80's when some of the greatest discoveries of fire science were made. I mean discoveries like the instabilities that lead to flashover, the role of radiant heat transfer in compartment fire dynamics or the definition of the flows through openings... things so fundamental to us today, that we maybe sometimes forget that someone had first to discover and describe them. This is what I've tried to learn from prof. Quintiere, had an enormous impact on the research carried in the US in that period, and was also one of the key people fostering international collaboration and exchange of experience. These are the elements of today's story. There is no point in explaining more of the episode contents, you should simply tune into what James has to say!

Keep your eyes open, next week we will run a second episode with prof. Quintiere, this time with more of the technicalities of the experiments carried at NBS in his time there! 

Episode artwork image credit - NIST Digital Archives, read the story of fire testing at NIST here https://www.nist.gov/feature-stories/trial-fire-look-nist-fire-testing-through-years

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

It seems we will not have EU Fire Code for at least a few more decades... Why is that? Because the people in power found out that it is not the most efficient thing to do it right now. And they found it through the power of research carried out by the European Commissions Joint Research Centre. I have invited Dr Adamantia Athanasopoulou from JCR to talk about their most recent report on the state of fire engineering (or performance-based fire engineering) in Europe, and it turned out to be a discussion also on how the law is created and spread in the EU and what can we do with the knowledge we've found.

If you would like to learn more about the findings of the JCR, they the report is available at their website: https://eurocodes.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/status-and-needs-implementation-fire-safety-engineering-approach-europe

(or you can just use this direct link)
 http://eurocodes.jrc.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2023-01/JRC131689_01.pdf

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Welcome to Fire Fundamentals pt. 2 with Rory Hadden. This episode is focused on the concept of ignition and its role in fire safety - as an event leading to fires, as something often investigated post-fire, but also as a vehicle to understand and measure general concepts of flammability of materials.

In this episode we cover:

• ignition of gases, liquids and solids
• flammability limits
• flashpoint and fire point
• open and closed cup methods for ignition of liquids
• a little bit of pyrolysis and heat transfer

Hope you enjoy this mini-series - more of those will be coming!

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

1 year. 

This is insane the war is still going on and people are still hurt. This war in Ukraine significantly affected everyone in here, and in this episode, I get a chance to share some of my thoughts and background to the story (at least from my perspective). The story of this episode is that professor Dix was visiting Poland, and he was absolutely astonished by the situation here which did not match his expectations. On the conference he went literally 'I need to interview you on what is happening in here', and I'm always carrying a mic you know :). So this was a very spontaneous interview, completely unplanned and unprepared - just the state of the heart at that particular point in time. I guess it makes it a bit genuine, maybe a bit overdrawn in some points, but still a snapshot of how I feel about the things being discussed.

I know many friends from outside of Poland are curious about first-hand reports, so here is my attempt on telling you my story. I'm not exceptionally courageous or generous - we've just sacrificed a bit of our comfort. There were and are people in Poland who do A LOT more. People who really sacrificed a lot, and I hope their stories get shared and collected too.

Thanks to all for supporting Ukraine. Thanks to all for supporting us. I hope the war ends soon...

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

If you want to design a suppression system for a certain application, you have a lot of technical solutions to choose from and most likely a handful of codes to follow. It seems pretty straightforward for most applications, right? Well, it certainly was not like this for my today's guest and his application. The guest is Ulf Lundström of the Swedish Road Administration and his application was for road tunnels. But it is not that he just needed a sprinkler for that - he had a very specific section parameter in mind, limited water availability and precise expectations towards the system use and maintenance. Something that did not exist on the market. In normal cases, customers and lawmakers would not agree to not follow the book, and Ulf would have to adjust his expectations... But being the administration - the law and a customer - he had the privilege to just try and build up a system for his needs.

And boy, he did just that.

This is an odd story. A story of someone thinking purely in performance-based objectives, willing to accept the shortcomings of his technology as long as his primary goals are met. He is someone who has placed a lot of faith in fire science and believed that through careful testing and experimenting they can get the exact solution he is looking for. And someone, who truly succeeded with this, and his tech is now present not only in his tunnels but available worldwide.

You can read about the developed system here:
- https://tunnelingonline.com/new-system-developed-combat-tunnel-fires/
- Water sprays and spillage in tunnels - full report
- Large Scale Tunnel Fire Tests with Large Droplet Water-Based Fixed Fire Fighting System - research paper
- System presented to Polish professionals in 2019

Fire Science Show is sponsored by OFR Consultants.

OFR Consultants is a multi-award-winning independent consultancy dedicated to addressing fire safety challenges. OFR is the UK’s leading fire risk consultancy. Its globally established team has developed a reputation for pre-eminent fire engineering expertise, with colleagues working across the world to help protect people, property, and the planet. 

 Established in the UK in 2016 as a start-up business of two highly experienced fire engineering consultants, the business has grown phenomenally in just six years with offices across the country in seven locations – from Edinburgh to Bath. Colleagues are on a mission to continually explore the challenges that fire creates for clients and society, applying the best research, experience and diligence for effective tailored solutions.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

In episode 17 of the Fire Fundamentals, we delve into the fire detection technology. Fire detection forms the critical foundation of all active fire protection measures, serving as the prerequisite for any fire safety engineering solution to work effectively. Following key points are discussed:

• Detection systems must balance sensitivity with reliability to avoid false alarms that disrupt building operations
• False alarms lead to serious business continuity issues and may eventually cause systems to be disabled
• Test fires methodology to assess sensor viability is discussed
• Optical smoke detectors use light scattering principles to detect smoke particles in their detection chamber
• Ionisation detectors utilise a small radioactive source creating an ionised environment in which an electrical current can be present, and gets disrupted by smoke
• Heat detectors operate based on absolute temperature thresholds or rate-of-rise measurements
• CO sensors complement other detection technologies to improve reliability and reduce false alarms
• Line detectors (both optical and heat-based) provide coverage for large areas like atria and tunnels
• Aspirating detection systems offer extremely early warning by continuously sampling air through pipes
• Future technologies include camera-based detection with AI processing and thermal imaging
• Strategies to reduce false alarms include multi-sensor devices, coincidence detection, and verification delays

Without detection, we're blind, and no automated systems may act—making fire detection critical for whatever application of fire safety engineering we implement.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

There is no universal answer to the question of how law and testing regimes should be set up. Sometimes, we build up our law after a huge tragedy, making sure that the same cause will not be of harm in the future. Sometimes, we act proactively, trying to build robust solutions so that all foreseen threats are minimized... But it is never without a flaw. And even if the system is flawless, one can hardly expect today's solutions to answer the problems of the future world.  But we need those laws, tests and methods in place, so how to create them in the best way? This is the theme of today's episode with Birgitte Messerschmidt. We venture through the creation and emergence of the Single Burning Item method (read more in this report) and reaction to fire Euro-classes. The challenges they were supposed to solve (and largely solved), as well as aspects that went out of the scope of this new ladder. It is an amazingly rich case study, filled with a bit of out-of-science issues like fighting for power, maintaining the status quo within some nations or maybe even simple lobbying (which you can read more about in this amazing paper).

What we hope to achieve with this talk is to make engineers reflect a bit more on the applicability of the test methods used every day to ran products. From understanding differences between material, assembly and product tests to questioning if a method is truly representative of the end use of the tested product, and is the threat is representative of the conditions the product will be exposed to. It is not about a revolution and tearing down existing codes and rules, but curiosity and a science-driven quest to ensure, that what we know is the fire characteristics of products installed in our buildings.

This is not the first Fire Science Show episode with doubts about the system. These talks are difficult, and I would also like to highlight:

• 029 Busses, flammability and an unknown force holding good solutions back... with Anja Hofmann-Böllinghaus
• 038 Fire resistance is not always enough for timber with Daniel Brandon
• 070 Fire resistance is whatever you want it to be with Piotr Turkowski

and for the very end, one recent episode with Ruben van Coile, where a decent pathway forward is presented. Btw. Ruben is currently recruiting for this project. Lemme know if you are interested and I can connect you!

Fire Science Show is sponsored by OFR Consultants.

OFR Consultants is a multi-award-winning independent consultancy dedicated to addressing fire safety challenges. OFR is the UK’s leading fire risk consultancy. Its globally established team has developed a reputation for pre-eminent fire engineering expertise, with colleagues working across the world to help protect people, property, and the planet. 

 Established in the UK in 2016 as a start-up business of two highly experienced fire engineering consultants, the business has grown phenomenally in just six years with offices across the country in seven locations – from Edinburgh to Bath. Colleagues are on a mission to continually explore the challenges that fire creates for clients and society, applying the best research, experience and diligence for effective tailored solutions.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Modelling ignition and fire of a tree branch with some leaves can't be that much different from modelling burning timber, right? Well, that is the kind of ignorance that can backfire on you... It certainly did on me! I have honestly not imagined how complicated fires of living (and dead) vegetation may be. How different heat transfer phenomena will have the leading impact (convective heating and cooling!) and how some of the assumptions I'm very used to may be useless. I guess I should have paid more attention to the episodes with Sara McAllister and Mike Gollner!

Anyway, today I'm treating my ignorance with the best cure I know - talking to an expert, who really knows his craft. This guest is Dr Eric Mueller from NIST, who has done his PhD at Edinburgh on modelling natural fuels, and now continues this research at NIST. Eric is responsible not only for researching this field, but also implementing and improving models and routines of FDS that relate to natural fuels. As such, he is a priceless knowledge resource. In this episode, you will learn a lot about convective heat transfer, porosities and drag coefficients - some concepts that were a little alien to me before... at least not at the level of importance that I would assign to them now. So if you feel you may learn this and that about burning living fuels, please join me in this episode. And if you feel it is useless... well yeah, thought the same and got reality checked pretty hard on this! 

If you somehow missed it, make sure to check the video from IAFSS20 where Eric received the best thesis award, and astonished everyone with his magnificent presentation. It is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHif1bh5o2g

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Performance-based engineering or the use of probabilistic methods in building design are not inventions of Fire Safety Engineering. But we sometimes tend to act like we need to 'discover' and work out everything on our own. I strongly believe this is not the best way forward. And certainly not the cheapest one...

Where I see a lot of potential is the adaptation of methods and models that work in other parts of civil engineering, that could act as solutions to issues related to fire. Such a case is with The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center’s Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) - brought to the fire safety engineering community by David Lange (a previous guest on the show) and Asif Usmani in 2014, and now is championed by my today's guest Dr Negar Elhami Khorasani. Negar gives us a very in-depth view of the status of Structural Fire Safety Engineering and shows an inspiring framework in which probabilistic inputs at different stages of the analysis can be used to build up a model of safety in a building, that is much more informative than whatever we assume through design with prescriptive rules. A step up from the structural fire safety engineering framework, but one that feels very smart and natural. 

The best part of this episode is reading this framework between the lines. Yes, it is adopted for structural design. But it does not have to. It can be adapted to many different areas of fire science, and in my case, we will definitely seek an implementation in wind-fire coupled modelling. So, no matter if you are dealing with the most impressive structural designs crafted for fire, or if it is something not very relevant to your current tasks, please have an open mind and try to understand the workflow and ideas behind this framework, it seems really worth it!

And here are some resources I received from Negar, that may be relevant to you, if you find this topic interesting: 

•  2014 paper by Lange et al. on the application of performance-based earthquake engineering framework to structures in fire
• 2014 paper on a probabilistic model for fire load
• 2015 and 2020 papers on probabilistic material models
• 2016 paper on fire fragility curves
• 2020 paper on probabilistic models for permanent and live loads
• 2022 on the reliability of US prescriptive standard for steel column 

Fire Science Show is sponsored by OFR Consultants.

OFR Consultants is a multi-award-winning independent consultancy dedicated to addressing fire safety challenges. OFR is the UK’s leading fire risk consultancy. Its globally established team has developed a reputation for pre-eminent fire engineering expertise, with colleagues working across the world to help protect people, property, and the planet. 

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.