16th International Congress Fire Safety & Science – FSS
(Inter)national experts present the latest results, insights and developments in the field of fire safety research, fire safety engineering and innovative fire fighting.
The 17th Fire Safety and Science Congress will take place on June 4 and 5 in 2025.
About
June, 5 and 6, 2024
NIPV in Arnhem, the Netherlands
€ 150 for two days
see description
NIPV and FSE Fellowship Foundation
On 5 and 6 June 2024, the 16th International Congress Fire Safety & Science is organized by NIPV (Netherlands Institute for Public Safety) and the FSE Fellowship Foundation. (Inter)national experts present the latest results, insights and developments in the field of fire safety research, fire safety engineering and innovative fire fighting.
The programme consists of a combination of plenary sessions and several workshops. Many presentations will be in Dutch. The first day includes a networking dinner.
For whom?
This conference is of interest to:
- professionals engaged in fire safety, fire safety engineering (FSE), fire research or (innovative) fire fighting
- professionals involved in education in the field of fire safety and FSE.
Programme June 5th
- Registration
- Welcome – Lieuwe de Witte, Professor Fire Safety, NIPV
- Opening – Jolanda Trijselaar, managing director Safety Region Midden- en West-Brabant
- PV Fire Safety on Roofs – a Guideline for Reduced Consequences – Grunde Jomaas, Head of Department, Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG)
- Break
- Fire Safety as the Key to Sustainable and Rapidly Built Housing: The Common Thread from Fires in the Building Envelope – Margrethe Kobes, senior researcher, NIPV
- Fire Sheraton Hotel Brussel – Christian Gryspeert, Brandweerzone Midwest Belgium
- Lunch
- Break out sessions, round 1
- Break
- Break out sessions, round 2
- Networking drinks
- Networking dinner
Programme June 6th
- Registration
- Welcome – Jolanda Trijselaar
- Fire and Mass Timber – Rory Hadden, University of Edinburgh
- Break
- London Luton Airport Carpark Fire – Jason Tai and James West, Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service
- NIPV-VVBA Thesis Award: presentations by the nominees and award ceremony – Ricardo Weewer and David den Boer
- Break
- Break out sessions, round 1
- Break
- Break out sessions, round 2
- Networking drinks
Plenary sessions June 5th
PV Fire Safety on Roofs: a Guideline for Reduced Consequences (ENG)
Grunde Jomaas, Head of Department, Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG)
The implementation of the REPowerEU Strategy, the measures of the Green Deal and the increased digitalization will lead to an unprecedented transformation of the European building stock and society. Due to time pressure introduced by the fast implementation plan for PV systems on roofs, these are of particular interest. Therefore, in order to ensure a safe and just implementation of PV systems on roofs, the fire risk that they introduce must be sufficiently assessed. In addition, all stakeholders should have a clear guidance on how to reduce the risk. The presentation will focus on a newly published guideline for fire safety of PV systems on flat roofs, along with the underlying research.
Fire Safety as the Key to Sustainable and Rapidly Built Housing: The Common Thread from Fires in the Building Envelope (ENG)
Margrethe Kobes, senior researcher, NIPV
This presentation will address the challenges of fire prevention and suppression in sustainable and rapidly built residential buildings, by comparing three recent fires in building envelopes. The focus will be on the fire development, firefighting strategies, and the broader impact of these fires. Despite the observed differences, clear patterns emerge, which have been interpreted into valuable lessons for both regulators and building professionals, as well as fire safety officers and firefighters.
Results of the learning commission on a fire in Brussels
Christian Gryspeert, Brandweerzone Midwest Belgium
On March 16, 2022, fire brigade Brussels is called to a fire emergency in a hotel under renovation in Brussels. Shortly after the start of the operation there is a collapse in which a firefighter is killed. A learning commission was set up to investigate how the incident could have occurred. CFD simulations and structural analysis software are used for this. What are the factors that led to this dramatic incident ? What is the impact on operations, because the fire is still not out … ?
Break out sessions, June 5th
The fire decay and cooling phase of post-flashover compartment fires (ENG)
Andrea Lucherini, senior researcher, Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG)
Recent research has highlighted the relevance of adopting holistic performance-based methodologies for the design of fire-safe buildings. These approaches aim at ensuring the stability and integrity of construction elements until complete fuel burnout and cooling. The workshop will discuss the traditional compartment fire framework and highlight its shortcomings. Then, all the typical phases of a natural fire in a compartment will be investigated, particularly focusing on the main characteristics of the fire decay and the cooling phase of post-flashover fires, opposed to the growth and fully-developed phases. The relevance and challenges for the main construction materials will also be discussed and compared.
Performance based fire safety: the need for a different approach to fire safety (ENG)
Ruud van Liempd, researcher, NIPV
The built environment is changing fast. New building materials, building methods and new risks e.g. risks related to energy transition. These changes influence the fire safety of the built environment. The current Dutch building code is a rule based building code. This rule based building code relies on experience of the way we build buildings and the risks that exist. In my workshop we will look at shortcomings of the current Dutch building code regarding tackling these changes. We will also look into performance based fire safety as a solution to create fire safety in a fast changing built environment.
Team Digital Exploration, The Next Step (ENG)
Robbert Heinecke, manager Team Digital Exploration, NIPV
In this presentation, participants are immersed into the dynamic realm of utilizing unmanned systems in incident fighting by first responders, delving into the intricate interplay between these systems and data management. We explore strategies to effectively navigate the influx of data while preventing overwhelming data overload, all while integrating decision support mechanisms seamlessly. By illuminating the synergy between unmanned systems and strategic data utilization, this presentation equips participants with invaluable insights crucial for optimizing response efforts and enhancing situational awareness in complex scenarios.
Anders kijken, anders denken en anders doen (NL)
Lars de Niet, Veiligheidsregio Haaglanden
Plenary sessions, June 6th
London Luton Airport Carpark Fire
Jason Tai and James West, Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service
Presentation into the London Luton Airport Car Park Fire which occurred on the 10th October 2023. This will look at the initial response, incident command structure, fire investigation, post incident review and operational debrief & learning.
Fire and Mass Timber
Rory Hadden, University of Edinburgh
This talk will discuss some key understandings related to the fire safety of mass timber constructions. Working from material flammability to compartment fire dynamics, the challenges and possible mitigations will be discussed and contrasted with common mythology that surrounds the fire performance mass timber.
NIPV-VVBA Thesis Award: presentations by the nominees and award ceremony
Ricardo Weewer, NIPV and David den Boer, VVBA
NIPV and the VVBA (Association of Fire Safety Advisors) annually award the best undergraduate or graduate thesis in the field of fire safety with the NIPV-VVBA Thesis Award. The three nominees will present their thesis at the FSS congress and then the winner will be announced.
The nominees (in random order) are:
Tessa Hogeterp, Saxion Hogeschool Enschede: Lithium-ion batteries: Risk of thermal runaway
Nora Kuiper, TU Eindhoven: Relief of fire-induced overpressure by the ventilation system in residential buildings
Joost Dumas, TU Eindhoven: Quantitative assessment on fire safety of supertall residential buildings.
View the theses on the website of Stichting Fellow FSE.
Break out sessions, June 6th
Herijking enkele vluchtroute uit woongebouwen (NL)
Johan van der Graaf en Pim van Rede, researchers, NIPV
Naar aanleiding van de brand in de nieuwjaarsnacht 2019-2020 in Arnhem, waarbij twee personen om het leven zijn gekomen, heeft het NIPV onderzoek gedaan naar de brandveiligheid van woongebouwen met enkele vluchtroutes. Daarbij zijn kwalitatieve en kwantitatieve risicoanalyses gebruikt om het brandveiligheidsniveau daarvan in te schatten. De resultaten zijn gebruikt om verbetervoorstellen te doen.
Onderzoeksopzet/kennisontwikkeling brandgedrag biobased (isolatie)materialen (NL)
Saskia Hegeman en Maaike van Bussel, Nieman raadgevende ingenieurs
Fire safety of biobased buildings: facts, fiction and design guidelines (ENG)
Ruud van Herpen, TU Eindhoven
Fire resilience is not an objective of Building Codes. It is acceptable that biobased buildings are less fire resilient than traditional buildings. What are the consequences? And what are facts and what is fiction? Does the char layer on a timber construction reduce the burn-in speed? Does biobased insulation material reduce the fire spread in a façade?
Thermal Radiation from Electric Vehicle Fires (ENG)
Henk Brans, researcher, NIPV
Based on the solid flame model and heat release rates from fire experiments, we present a computational model that estimates the thermal radiation from electric vehicle fires. Insight into the thermal radiation provides an opportunity to derive safety distances. This is relevant not only for incident response but also for spatial planning and the control measures to be taken in, for example, car parks, tunnels, and pedestrian zones. We will discuss the mathematical model, experimental data from the literature, and the thermal radiation contours of an electric SUV, bus, and truck.
Registration
Contact
Do you have any questions? Please contact NIPV Kennisevents.
