Episodes
052 - More realism in evacuation modelling with Anne Templeton
May 25, 2022
You have seen these lovely evacuation simulations, the ones with a bunch of agents moving together or clumping at an exit. Ones that we use to determine ASET condition, and which are present in almost every large PBD project…
051 - Fire Science in eyes of a firefighter with Szymon Kokot
May 18, 2022
In this show, we often discuss how fire science can help firefighters. Today we drop the UNO reverse card and figure out what firefighters actually need from fire science. And for that, I've got a perfect person to talk to -…
050 - Wind, fire and a surprise
May 11, 2022
Episode 50! Time to celebrate, and for this one we have a surprise. A mysterious host takes over the show to interview a wind and fire modelling celebrity... Ok, this should be enough to not reveal everything once the show n…
049 - What burns inside a battery with Francesco Restuccia
May 4, 2022
So we all know batteries burn... but do we know what exactly does burn? What is inside this tiny metal cylinder that scares so many of us? We try to understand it a bit more with Dr Francesco Restuccia of Kings College Londo…
048 - Car parks, design fires and the broad world of fire science with Mike Spearpoint
April 27, 2022
Did you know first car parks were built for electric vehicles? Or what clever techniques can be used to model the spread of fire between vehicles? Or what challenges scientists meet burning vehicles, and why pneumatic suspen…
047 - Effective pressurization of compartments with Grzegorz Sypek
April 20, 2022
Pressurization is a common strategy for protecting spaces against the infiltration of smoke. However, the solution has a kind-of bad press as "not-working" or "incapable to meet its design goals". We know, that the systems a…
046 - Fire Code Tech crossover with Gus Gagliardi
April 12, 2022
This week we do something funny - a crossover episode with the host of the Fire Code Tech podcast - Gus Gagliardi. We end up discussing the paths of fire safety engineers, from school to specialized roles in engineering comp…
045 - Foundations of fire safety with Ruben van Coile and Danny Hopkin
April 6, 2022
How does one decide when a building is fire safe? That is a real hell of a question to answer! Is it when no harm can occur? But such a condition can never be fulfilled... there is always a meteor waiting around the corner t…
044 - Improving fire safety of battery systems with Ofodike Ezekoye
March 30, 2022
Since Episode 6, the fire safety of battery systems was not very much visible in the show - a good time to change that! And we do this with a true legend of fire safety - Ofodike Ezekoye. In the last year, I have learnt a l…
043 - Some neglected areas in fire science with Vyto Babrauskas
March 23, 2022
It is always a pleasure to interview a true legend of fire safety. And when the topic of the interview is their thoughts on neglected areas of our discipline, based on almost five decades of experience? This must end up grea…
042 - Unsafe environment of post fire scenes with Gavin Horn
March 16, 2022
We all understand the dangers of smoke inhalation in fires. But what about the site of the fire a few days after it was put out? It looks clean, maybe even lost the smell... Is it something to worry about, or you can rush st…
041 - Sprinkler and safety systems reliability with Arnstein Fedoy
March 9, 2022
How reliable are sprinkler systems? Is it 100%? Is it 95%? Maybe it is 88%... actually, whatever the number is, do we truly understand what does it represent? What does it mean that a sprinkler has succeeded and what does it…
040 - Resilient road tunnel infrastructure with Ingo Reiss
March 2, 2022
This week I've invited a guest, that I was looking to talk to for a good while... Dr Ingo Riess from Riess Ingenieur-GmbH is someone I look up to in the field of tunnel fire safety, in which I am very active in the last few …
039 - The (near) future of modelling with a tool developer Bryan Klein
Feb. 23, 2022
What does the future hold? Probably no one knows. But what happens in near future with some of the most popular tools used by the FSE community? That is a great question to a tool developer - Bryan Klein of Thunderhead Engin…
038 - Fire resistance is not always enough for timber with Daniel Brandon
Feb. 15, 2022
It is the third time we talk about mass timber and fire in this show, and I hope every time the message gets even more refined. In this episode, it is clear - fire resistance is not enough. But why? You will learn that from …
037 - Human behavior misconceptions that lead to (mis)modelling with Enrico Ronchi
Feb. 9, 2022
If you were investigating phenomena and built your whole narrative around a flawed and debunked concept, would that get published? Would that get cited? Would that be recognized? Many of us would say an obvious *no*, but tha…
036 - Researching fire with firefighters - UL FSRI: Steve Kerber and Craig Weinschenk
Feb. 2, 2022
In this episode I was really happy to host two amazing researchers from UL FSRI - Dr Steve Kerber, the VP of Underwriter Laboratories and Director of UL Fire Safety Research Institute, and Dr Craig Weinschenk, research engin…
035 - Fire safety as cornerstone of sustainability with Margaret McNamee
Jan. 26, 2022
Building a fire-safe future is not an easy task. Including sustainability in that build, is even harder. But how hard is it to include fire safety in the discussion, when sustainability itself is a goal? Does sustainability …
034 - Fire safety as a human right, not a privilege with Danielle Antonellis
Jan. 19, 2022
There are topics in fire science that gain more attention than others. Timber in fire. Batteries. Facades. They are novel, complex, challenging and yet as engineers, we must handle them in our everyday job. But are they impo…
033 - Science, theatre or engineering? Polish take on hot smoke test with Piotr Smardz and Janusz Paliszek
Jan. 12, 2022
Have you ever heard about the hot smoke testing approach? If you had, there is a great chance you have not heard anything positive about it... From our experience, this method is often downplayed as useless, unrealistic and …
032 - Closing the year with a look back on 2021 and forward to the future!
Dec. 22, 2021
Welcome to the final episode of this year! I hope you all had a great year. For me, it was probably the most challenging, and the most rewarding year of my whole professional career. Join me in this episode recollecting the …
031 - Suppressing tunnel fires with water mist with Johny Jessen
Dec. 15, 2021
Can water mist be used in tunnels? I wondered that for a long time, and with every tunnel project, many questions around this issue were piling in my head. When dealing with large infrastructure projects you really need to w…
030 - Visibility Prediction Framework with Lukas Arnold
Dec. 8, 2021
If you ever had anything to do with Fire Safety Engineering, you have most likely touched the visibility in smoke. What's an easier way to explain how bad the conditions are inside of a building than saying how much smoke wa…
029 -Busses, flammability and an unknown force holding good solutions back... with Anja Hofmann-Böllinghaus
Dec. 1, 2021
This is not a fun episode. It starts with a tragedy, that fueled a whole field of research. Continues into disbelief, that one aspect of fire safety can be at the same chosen as the sole foundation of fire safety within a br…