Episodes
July 13, 2022
058 - Animal pyrocognition - a path to undestand our beginnings with fire with Ivo Jacobs
Have you wondered how fire science started? But I mean the real real start... not 1666 one, nor the one when we've started to build furnaces... The start when the first evolutionary ancestor of homo sapiens figured out this …
July 6, 2022
057 - Structural fire engineering with Thomas Gernay
The subject of structural fire engineering was long overdue in the podcast schedule. But once I finally got it on my agenda, I made sure to interview one of the very best there are - prof Thomas Gernay of John Hopkins Unive…
June 29, 2022
056 - Performance Based Fire Protection Engineer with David Stacy
How does being a volunteer firefighter improve your abilities to do Performance-Based Design (PBD) and how your knowledge in PBD may translate to firefighting? That is not a question you can ask to every fire protection engi…
June 22, 2022
055 - The future is exciting with Arnold Dix (part 2)
I once said the future looks stupid... but after this discussion with Arnold Dix, I know - future is exciting. And for Fire Safety Engineers and others involved in fire protection - the future seems to be super exciting! In …
June 15, 2022
054 - The sustainability talk, tunnels and fire safety with Arnold Dix (part 1)
A few episodes ago I called for better communication in fire safety. And in this episode, tunnel fire safety legend Prof. Arnold Dix is answering that, by teaching us the ways of the 'sustainability' talk - how to communicat…
June 8, 2022
053 - The number one skill to thrive as an FSE I've learnt in 1 year of podcasting
It has been one year since I started this show. I've promised you that we will learn Fire Safety Engineering together, and today comes a great time to reflect on some lessons learnt. In this episode, I will take you on a sho…
June 1, 2022
404 - Host not found, throat infections suck.
With this lifestyle, this was inevitable... due to a busy week I had to move the schedule a bit and was pretty sure I will get away with it by recording a solo episode... but my throat has decided otherwise and I kind of can…
May 25, 2022
052 - More realism in evacuation modelling with Anne Templeton
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…
May 18, 2022
051 - Fire Science in eyes of a firefighter with Szymon Kokot
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 -…
May 11, 2022
050 - Wind, fire and a surprise
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…
May 4, 2022
049 - What burns inside a battery with Francesco Restuccia
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…
April 27, 2022
048 - Car parks, design fires and the broad world of fire science with Mike Spearpoint
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…
April 20, 2022
047 - Effective pressurization of compartments with Grzegorz Sypek
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…
April 12, 2022
046 - Fire Code Tech crossover with Gus Gagliardi
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…
April 6, 2022
045 - Foundations of fire safety with Ruben van Coile and Danny Hopkin
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…
March 30, 2022
044 - Improving fire safety of battery systems with Ofodike Ezekoye
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…
March 23, 2022
043 - Some neglected areas in fire science with Vyto Babrauskas
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…
March 16, 2022
042 - Unsafe environment of post fire scenes with Gavin Horn
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…
March 9, 2022
041 - Sprinkler and safety systems reliability with Arnstein Fedoy
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…
March 2, 2022
040 - Resilient road tunnel infrastructure with Ingo Riess
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 …
Feb. 23, 2022
039 - The (near) future of modelling with a tool developer Bryan Klein
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…
Feb. 15, 2022
038 - Fire resistance is not always enough for timber with Daniel Brandon
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 always enough. But why? You will learn tha…
Feb. 9, 2022
037 - Human behavior misconceptions that lead to (mis)modelling with Enrico Ronchi
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…
Feb. 2, 2022
036 - Researching fire with firefighters - UL FSRI: Steve Kerber and Craig Weinschenk
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…