Episodes
July 17, 2024
160 - Fire Fundamentals pt 10 - Flame Spread with David Morrisset
In the episode 10 of fire fundamentals together with David Morrisset, a nearly graduated PhD student from the University of Edinburgh, we explore the intricate dynamics of flame spread and its crucial role in fire safety engi...
July 10, 2024
159 - The WUI Problem with Michele Steinberg and Birgitte Messerschmidt
With two Directors at NFPA - Michele Steinberg and Birgitte Messerschmidt, I'm trying to find an answer to a burning question - " what really is the WUI problem?" The WUI is not just a line on a map with an X distance from th...
July 3, 2024
158 - Fire Fundamentals pt. 9 - Know you boundaries (in CFD)
In today's Fire Science Show, we talk about how boundary conditions can make or break your fire simulation models. We'll explore boundary conditions' fundamental role in defining how simulations interact with their environmen...
June 26, 2024
157 - Revising Critical Velocity with Conrad Stacey and Michael Beyer
A critical velocity episode... who would have thought? Even though I'm not an enthusiast of this approach, I have to admire the new science and researchers striving to improve it. This week I welcome Conrad Stacey and Michael...
June 19, 2024
156 - Trigger Boundaries with Harry Mitchell and Nick Kalogeropoulos
What if you could predict the last possible time to evacuate your community before a wildfire wreaks havoc? What if you had that knowledge years before the wildfires happened and built up your preparedness based on this knowl...
June 12, 2024
155 - New Guideline for PV Fire Safety with Grunde Jomaas
Misconceptions in fire science are a strange thing. You present countless proof, publish research papers, and carry conversations, and yet… they live their own lives—spreading with no control and cluttering communication. One...
June 4, 2024
154 - Fire Fundamentals pt. 8 - Compartment Fire
Happy birthday, Fire Science Show! On the 3rd Anniversary of the podcast launch, I'm thrilled to deliver an episode on one of the most fascinating aspects of fire science - the compartment fire. Instead of going through the u...
May 29, 2024
404 - Short technical break
I'm very sorry, but I could not finalize the episode to air this week in time, and in consequence, I have chosen to have a short technical break in the podcast. We will return next week with a (hopefully) really exciting epis...
May 22, 2024
153 - Fire Safety Engineer of the Future is a Great Communicator
A few weeks ago in Copenhagen, stepping onto the stage to open the SFPE Fire Safety Conference and Expo on Performance-Based Design, I took a bit of a gamble. I was invited to give an opening keynote, but instead of talking a...
May 15, 2024
152 - Why we need good standards with Björn Sundström
In this episode, we dive into standardization efforts for fire safety. An entire universe of testing laboratories, committees, auditors, and certifiers work together to provide product end-user fire safety classification. So,...
May 8, 2024
151 - Elevator evacuation with Axel Mossberg
The fire is detected in the building. Please evacuate. Do not use the elevator. I’ve heard this emergency message perhaps a thousand times. It is deeply engraved in my mind to the extent that the moment I hear the first beep ...
May 1, 2024
150 - Wind Turbine Fires with Guillermo Rein
Wind turbine fires - are they an issue, or are they not? In this episode, I am joined by Prof. Guillermo Rein of the Imperial College London, who raised this issue 10 years ago at the IAFSS conference, and I believe we still ...
April 24, 2024
149 - CROSS UK with Neil Gibbins and Peter Wilkinson
CROSS UK is Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures in UK. CROSS is a confidential reporting system which allows professionals working in the built environment to report on fire and structural safety issues. These are th...
April 17, 2024
148 - Building Integrated Photovoltaics with Reidar Stølen
In this episode of the Fire Science Show we go in depth on the Building Integrated Photo-Voltaic systems (BIPV). It is a topic relevant to many fire engineers, and one on which it is very difficult to find a lot of informatio...
April 10, 2024
147 - Wildfire Industrial Interface and risk assessment with Eulàlia Planas
In this episode, we explore wildfire's impact on industrial fire safety with Professor Eulàlia Planas from Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya. Eulalia defines the term Wildland Industrial Interface (WII), a realm where the...
April 2, 2024
146 - Take care of your mental health with Ann Jeffers
Depression and anxiety are on the rise in both academia and engineering consultancies. Everyone is constantly stressed and pushed to their limits. The system is built this way... And imagine that on top of the inadequate ment...
March 27, 2024
145 - Fire Safety Engineering in South Africa and Beyond with Richard Walls
In this episode, we discuss the stark realities of fire safety engineering in South Africa (and beyond) as we sit down with Professor Richard Walls from Stellenbosch University. Our journey through the recent history of devas...
March 19, 2024
144 - Design fire generator with Greg Baker
Imagine if we had a tool that we could use to design a design fire. Instead of simply assuming fire growth characteristics by slapping the alpha-t2 function, use a tool that could tell us which items in a compartment burn and...
March 13, 2024
143 - Fire Fundamentals pt 7 - CFD simulations of fires
In today's fire fundamentals episode, I have chosen a difficult job: explaining how CFD modelling works without the ability to put a single equation out there! It's much tougher than I thought! I hope I've done a decent job, ...
March 6, 2024
142 - Uncertainty in fire measurements with David Morrisset
If the word 'uncertainty' sounds extremely boring to you, this episode will prove you wrong. I have invited David Morrisset from the University of Edinburgh to discuss his research on the subject. Whereas in fact David is est...
Feb. 28, 2024
141 - Smouldering in Mass Timber with Harry Mitchell
This week, I am meeting up with Imperial Hazelab's Harry Mitchell, who is finalizing his PhD thesis on mass timber fires and, quite uniquely - including the smouldering phenomena in those fires. As a part of Code Red experime...
Feb. 21, 2024
140 - Development and implementation of the SBI test with Rudolf van Mierlo
Tests in the world of reaction to fire are supposed to be representations of real fire scenarios, allowing us to grasp the characteristics of building products against them. While for the worst scenario (flashover fire) or th...
Feb. 13, 2024
139 - Wind and Fire Interactions for Safer Open Car Park Design
I've finished my first large research grant! I guess that makes me a 'real' scientist now. Came here today to share some most interesting aspects of this project with you. Not going to bore you all about the wind and fire int...
Jan. 30, 2024
138 - Getting ready for the Wildfires in Northern Europe with Nieves Fernandez-Anez
It is interesting to see changes in our profession that happen directly in front of our lives. Climate change and in consequence the changes in the wildfire patterns are one such obvious shift. In Poland, we do not ever have ...