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Conference Review: Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference
The 4th Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference, an conference of the International Association of Wildland Fires (IAWF), was co-organized by Tomsk State University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the IAFSS.
This edition was quite peculiar as in order to extend its international outreach and create more opportunities around fire research, a second edition was held in St Petersburg, Russia on 1-4 July 2013, in addition to the US edition held in Raleigh on 18-22 February 2013. The US edition has been mentioned earlier in the previous issue of this newsletter (No. 35), so let us focus on the Russian edition and on the awards.
The Russian edition was a success, with around 150 attendees from all around the world with a large contingent of our colleagues from Russia, 7 keynote presentations, including Prof. Jose Torero for IAFSS, plus 75 oral presentations and over 40 posters representing the last research developments in fire behavior and fuels (see the program at www.iawfonline.org/2013FuelsConference). The three days of parallel sessions were preceded by a day with 5 workshops to present new applications developed in research and now available to end-users. Among those, a half-day workshop was organized by International Journal of Wildland Fires, the official journal of IAWF, to train non-native speakers to publish in scientific journals in English.
In addition to the technical part, a boat trip was organized along the Neva river. The excellent weather and the period of the year, the famous white nights, made it a memorable evening for all the participants (nothing related to the free pizza, beer and wine). The conference dinner was held in a nice restaurant on a beach along the Baltic Sea. The traditional Russian band set the tone of a decadent dinner (food but also many toasts and some dancing too) that the participants will remember for a long time. The sunset on the Gulf of Finland was also pretty amazing. Finally, a field trip was offered to the participants at the end of the conference in a nearby forest that was damaged by a recent wildfire. It was funny to see all the ecologists amazed by little plants and fungi, and all the fire scientists walking carelessly around and only looking at the destruction caused by the fire.
IAFSS, as co-organizer of the conference sponsored several awards for the two editions that included $500 prizes. The awarded papers are the following.
Raleigh:
- Best paper. “First Look at Smoke Emissions from Prescribed Burns in Long-unburned Longleaf Pine Forests” by Timothy Johnson, Sheryl Akagi, Robert Yokelson, Ian Burling, David Weise, James Reardon and Shawn Urbanski.
- Best applied paper: “Fire behaviour prediction tools for fire managers – lessons learned from tools development in New Zealand” by H. Grant Perce and Veronica R. Clifford.
- Best student paper: “Observations of fire behavior on a grass slope during a wind reversal” by Diane Hall, Allison Charland, Craig Clements, Daisuke Seto, Jon Contezac and Braniff Davis.
St. Petersburg:
- Best paper: “Mathematical Modeling of Crown Forest Fires with Fire breaks” by Valeriy Perminov.
- Best student paper: “Relating Vertical Wind Profiles to Vegetation Structure for Fire Behaviour Prediction” by Kangmin Moon, Thomas Duff and Kevin Tolhurst.
- Best applied paper: “Multi-scale Simulation of a Very Large Fire Incident. Computation from the Combustion to the Atmospheric Meso-Scale” by Jean-Baptiste Filippi, Celine Mari C. and Frédéric Bosseur.
Two special issues are in preparation for the International Journal of Wildland Fire and the Fire Safety Journal that will present a selection of the best contributions presented during the US and Russian editions.
Signed: Albert Simeoni, University of Edinburgh
Read more conference reviews in the latest edition of Fire Safety Science News, #36
A Guide to the Upholstered Furniture Fire Problem and TB 117
Below is a featured article from Fire Safety Science News #36 by John R. Hall, Jr. of the National Fire Protection Association
Those of us in fire safety science try to ‘solve’ big parts of the fire problem, where ‘solve’ means a large reduction. Typically, a proposal for a new solution must overcome objections along the following lines:
- The solution won’t work. It is unreliable or ineffective.
- The solution costs too much. The benefits of are smaller than the costs.
- Other solutions are better. Changing behavior or changing some other involved item (e.g., switching between heat source and item ignited) would be better.
- The solution creates bigger problems (other types of harm) than it removes.
- The targeted fire problem is not that big and/or is declining rapidly. It does not need a solution.
Sometimes objections like these are accurate and deserve to be factored into the societal decisions about a particular solution. However, accurate or not, they will always be raised by parties who prioritize other factors over fire losses.
We have been working on the upholstered furniture fire problem for half a century. Along the way, we have built a consensus on what solutions work, how well they work, how much they cost, how much they are needed, and what non-fire consequences they have. More recently, that consensus has come unstuck because of accumulating evidence that some of our “solutions” create serious non-fire problems.
The signal event marking this changing consensus was the 2013 decision in California to delete the small open flame portion of the requirements contained in Technical Bulletin 117. This is – or was – the only regulation in North America that addressed non-smoldering fires involving upholstered furniture. Because California is such a large part of the North American market, TB 117 had an impact far beyond the state of California. I will leave it to others to describe the growing concerns with flame retardant treatments of upholstered furniture and associated effects on people’s health. In the limited space available here, I want to frame the discussion of what we should do next in terms of the size and characteristics of the fire problem. Our challenge is to develop a best estimate of the challenge we face, and then consider the pros and cons of alternative strategies to address that challenge.
From 1980-1984 to 2006-2010, estimated annual average home fires and losses involving upholstered furniture as the first item ignited declined substantially (see figure).
Figure: Number of US home fires and deaths with upholstered furniture as the first item ignited.
During this decline, civilian deaths declined by 61%, from 1,220 (25% of total home fire deaths) to 480 (19%), and fires declined by 77%, from 29,400 (4% of the total) to 6,700 (2%). Moreover, civilian injuries declined by 68%, from 2,630 (13% of the total) to 840 (7%), and direct property damage, after adjustment for inflation to 2010 dollars, declined by 17%, from $522 million (7% of the total) to $434 million (6%). On the one hand, this is a story of great progress, with hundreds of lives saved each year. On the other hand, this remains one of the largest parts of the U.S. fire death problem.
U.S. fire statistics are based on the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS), dating back to 1980. Starting in about 2003, changes to NFIRS made it possible to estimate fires associated with a product in the role of the most important secondary item ignited. Using this new data (see 2nd row in the table below), NFPA constructed the following analysis considering all of the large pieces of data in the furniture fire problem.
|
|
Fires |
Civilian Deaths |
Civilian Injuries |
Direct Damage (in US$ millions) |
|
Lighted tobacco product |
1,900 (21%)
|
270 (45%) |
320 (29%) |
$97 (17%) |
|
Open flame from other fire (secondary item) |
2,200 (25%) |
130 (21%) |
280 (25%) |
$138 (24%) |
|
Operating equipment |
1,500 (17%) |
70 (12%) |
140 (13%) |
$81 (14%) |
|
Small open flame |
1,400 (16%) |
60 (10%) |
220 (20%) |
$69 (12%) |
|
Ember, ash or other or unclassified hot or smoldering object |
1,300 (15%) |
60 (10%) |
130 (11%) |
$150 (27%) |
|
Unclassified, other or multiple heat source |
600 (7%) |
20 (3%) |
30 (3%) |
$31 (5%) |
|
Total |
8,900 (100%) |
610 (100%) |
1,120 (100%) |
$566 (100%) |
Table: Upholstered furniture home fire problem, 2006-2010 averages, by major scenario.
The figure below shows upholstered furniture fire deaths by type of ignition source. This comprehensive overview tells us some useful things. Lighted tobacco products (principally cigarettes, cigars and pipes, but not including matches and lighters) account for 45% of upholstered furniture home fire deaths, dwarfing any other scenario but not dwarfing all other scenarios combined.
The 12% share for operating equipment and the 10% share for ember, ash or other or unclassified hot or smoldering object, both could be treated as likely smoldering ignitions, addressable by a smoldering fire test, but it is not clear that these fires are well represented by a lit cigarette applied to places where discarded cigarettes tend to land. The 31% of deaths associated with some kind of flaming ignition are numerous enough to justify our attention.
The question finally is what to do with this information. NFPA has been asked to develop a flaming-ignition test for upholstered furniture. In the process, we are considering not just small flaming ignitions but also ignitions by another burning object. Our goal is to be able to assess candidate technologies and designs for their effectiveness in addressing scenarios of importance. The question of when and whether to build binding requirements around any test is a separate question that involves other considerations.
I don’t know anyone who wants to adopt a requirement that can be satisfied only by technologies that create more problems than they solve. I understand different parties have different opinions about the implications of the evidence for reliability, effectiveness, cost, and non-fire effects. I have a problem with anyone who wants to prejudge the debate by excluding certain fires or certain non-fire effects from the discussion. I know my employer, NFPA, is trying very hard to be a fair and honest broker in these discussions and to keep the discussion and the search for solutions comprehensive in every sense of the word. I hope readers of this piece will do likewise.
You can read additional articles on this topic published in the IAFSS Newsletter, Fire Safety Science News on this topic:
In Fire Safety Science News #36:
Effectiveness vs. Toxicity of Flame Retardants by David Rich
Open Flame Testing of Upholstered Furniture and Fire Safety by Marcelo M. Hirschler
Dr. Raymond Friedman (1922 – 2014)
A Lifetime in Science
Impressive in his work, inspiring to others and dedicated to his profession, Dr. Ray Friedman leaves a legacy of devotion to fire research.
With a background as a research chemist, Dr. Friedman held positions in research and management at Westinghouse Research Laboratories, Atlantic Research Corporation (ARC) and Factory Mutual Research Corporation (FMRC). As vice president and general manager of the research division of ARC, he directed fundamental studies on various kinetics and combustion problems, particularly in solid propellants combustion, flame extinguishment, flame structure and ionized combustion gases.
In 1969, he joined FMRC as scientific director and manager of the basic research department. In 1975, he became vice president and manager of the research division (now part of Factory Mutual Insurance Company [FM Global]), a position from which he retired in 1987. He was, at the time, an internationally known scientist prominent in the Combustion Institute and other professional associations. His presence brought renown to FMRC as a leading institution for research on combustion and fires. Soon after he arrived, his reputation was the determining factor in drawing the famous combustion scientist Dr. George H. Markstein to join FMRC to work with him.
Ray devoted much time to the training of young scientists, and his inquisitive and inventive mind was instrumental in driving many of the early advances in the understanding of fire phenomena. While at FMRC, Ray wrote many papers reviewing the state of the art in the field of fire research, which were intended to guide further research. But, by far his most significant contribution was that of enhancing FMRC’s scientific reputation and creating an environment that inspired other scientific researchers. His leadership established the foundation of an enduring legacy that is still felt at FM Global.
He devoted much effort to the formation of the International Association for Fire Safety Science, and he received many professional and academic honors. They included positions of leadership with the Combustion Institute (president, 1978-82), the American Chemical Society’s Division of Fuel Chemistry (chairman, 1964), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Academy of Science (NAS). Ray was also a member of the Cosmos Club.
Known for his keen wit and analytical mind, Ray enjoyed classical music at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach and at Tanglewood in the Berkshires. The eclectic nature of Ray’s intellect is reflected in the wide range of his publications. He is the author of the definitive text on fire prevention, Principles of Fire Protection Chemistry and Physics, and several other publications. Ray leaves his adored best friend and wife of 68 years, Myra. He is missed by those who had the privilege to know him and work with him.
Franco Tamanini, FM Global
Prof. Toshisuke Hirano (1939-2014)
We are surrounded by sorrow and sadness by the news that Prof. Hirano’s passed away during the week of the 11th IAFSS conference in Christchurch. A message was given at the last day of the conference by the new IAFSS chair Prof. van Hees. It will be difficult to think about the world around us and about our fire safety community without Prof. Hirano being its member.
Prof. Hirano was a gentleman, a scholar, a colleague, a mentor and a pre-eminent leader in fire safety research. He was one of the founding fathers of the International Association for Fire Safety Science, and for 18 years served as the Association Secretary, Vice-Chairman and the Chairman. He was the local organiser for the 2nd Symposium and acted as program chair for the 5th and 6th Symposia. Through his work, he has defined who we are as the fire safety community. He mentored our past chair Prof. Dlugogorski when he took his first steps as a fire safety researcher in Australia.
His passing away is a great loss to everyone. As a scientist, he has made important contributions to the archival literature on fires and explosions, including seminal papers on flame spread. But his contributions are too many to mention. He has authored papers in almost every area of fire research.
In the Asia-Oceania region, he was the one who brought together fire researchers from Australia, China, Japan and Russia to establish the Asia-Oceania Association for Fire Science and Technology. We all own him a great deal of gratitude for everything he has done for improving fire safety in our region.
With this message we would like to pass our condolences to Prof. Hirano’s family, and to all our colleagues in Japan and around the world.
Prof. Hirano will remain in our memories and in our thoughts. An obituary will follow on this website.
Prof. B. Dlugogorski Prof. P. van Hees
Immediate Past Chairman of IAFSS Chairman of IAFSS
Fire Safety Science News #36 – February, 2014
The February, 2014 edition of Fire Safety Science News, the official newsletter of the IAFSS is now available online. The latest issue is dedicated to Professor Philip Thomas, one of the founders of IAFSS. Three invited authors write featured articles on the TB117 flammability test of upholstered furniture in California another featured article on the role of creativity and technical knowledge in the design and engineering of fire safety in buildings and many other contributed pieces with fire safety science news from around the world.
Fire Safety Science News #36 – February, 2014 by IAFSS
Click here to directly download a PDF of #36 – Fire Safety Science News
IAFSS Committee Meeting Minutes and Agendas
In preparation for the full IAFSS Committee meeting this Thursday in Christchurch, the IAFSS Secretary has shared the following minutes and agenda to the membership:
Minutes of General Business Meeting of the IAFSS at the University of Maryland on June 23, 2011
Agenda for the General Business Meeting of the IAFSS on Thursday in Christchurch
Agenda for the Full Committee meeting of the IAFSS on Thursday in Christchurch
For questions on the minutes or agendas, please contact the IAFSS Secretary, brian@meachamassociates.com
Follow the IAFSS on Twitter, Facebook and Linked In!
Updates from the 11th IAFSS Symposium will be shared throughout the web, featured on this website, our new Facebook Group, Twitter Feed and also on our existing LinkedIn Group. Use Hashtag #11IAFSS.
Fire Science Image Competition Submissions
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11th Symposium Preview Papers Now Online
Publications to be presented at the 11th International Symposium on Fire Safety Science are now online at the IAFSS Digital Archive: http://www.iafss.org/publications/fss/11. These papers are in draft form as the final version will be uploaded after the symposium, once prepared for printing.
Dr Natalia Flores-Quiroz is a researcher with experience in fire safety engineering. She worked for five years as a fire safety engineer in the mining industry before joining academia. She holds a MSc in fire safety from Ghent University, and her PhD focused on Fire investigations in Informal Settlements. Currently she is a lecturer at Stellenbosch University, where her main research areas are reconstruction of incidents in low-income settlements (i.e., informal settlements, refugee camps) and wildland urban interface (WUI) fires.
Bronwyn Forrest is a 3rd year PhD student at the University of Waterloo, conducting multi-disciplinary research investigating human physiological response to fire exposure. Bronwyn graduated in 2017 with a BSc. Honours Kinesiology and in 2020 with a MASc. Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering (Heat Release Rate in Ventilation-Limited Furniture Fires) before merging her two degrees in her PhD research. As a senior graduate student in the Fire Research Group, Bronwyn spear-heads large-scale fire experiments, mentors junior graduate and undergraduate students, and has recently set-up a new ‘human exposure lab’ at the Fire Research Facility where she leads new research in that area. Since her induction into the world of fire science, Bronwyn has grown more and more passionate about the multi-faceted nature of emerging fire safety challenges. Through innovative research, she hopes to make meaningful contributions that help shape changes to fire safety over the course of her career.
Dr. (HDR) Eric Guillaume has worked in fire sciences since 1998. He formerly led the fire behaviour department of SNCF (French Railway), then changed company in 2005 to join LNE (The French National Laboratory for Testing and Metrology) as head of Fire safety studies department, and later as head of research for whole testing activities of LNE. Nowadays (since 2015), he works for Efectis France, first as Technical Director and more recently as General Manager of the company, leading one of the most important fire testing and fire safety engineering companies in Europe (With approx. 180 people and 28 M€ turnover)
Dr. Albert Simeoni is Professor and the Department Head of Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). He is the WPI site director of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC), an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the United States. Dr. Simeoni has served IAFSS by being chair or co-chair of the Wildland Fire track (2014, 2020 and 2023), Co-chair of the Awards Committee for the Best Thesis Awards (2023), Associate-Editor of Fire Safety Journal (2010-2015), member of the Editorial Board of Fire Safety Journal (since 2016), and Contributing Editor of Fire Safety Science News (since 2011).
Brian J. Meacham, PhD, PE (CT&MA), EUR ING, CEng (UK), FIFireE, FSFPE, is the Managing Principal of Meacham Associates. He develops risk-informed performance-based solutions to complex building and infrastructure challenges, provides peer-review services, and undertakes building and fire regulatory system studies. He also conducts research in these areas as well as in sustainable and fire resilient built environments and fire safety technologies. Brian has authored more than 300 publications, given more than 300 presentations and has been awarded more than $4M in research funding. His prior positions include Associate Professor of Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Principal at Arup, Technical Director and Research Director at SFPE, and fire safety engineer in Europe and the USA. Brian is Chair of the ICC Performance Code Committee, Chair of the NFPA Technical Committee on Fire Risk Assessment Methods, Immediate Past Chair of the International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS), a Past President of the SFPE, and a past Chair of the Inter-jurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee (IRCC). He is a licensed Professional Engineer in CT and MA, a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers (UK), a registered European Engineer (EUR ING), a Fellow of the SFPE, and a Fulbright Global Scholar.
Kazunori Harada is a professor of architecture & architectural engineering at Kyoto University, Japan. He has a career in fire research for over 35 years. He has authored 14 IAFSS symposium papers. His expertise covers the fire resistance of construction materials, smoke movement and control, burning of combustibles in open and compartment, performance-based code & design of buildings and so on. He serves as a vice president of AOAFST, Asia-Oceania Association of Fire Science and Technology. He also serves as the Convenor of ISO/TC92/SC4 WG9, calculation methods for fire safety engineering (FSE), which develops calculation standards concerning FSE.
Enrico Ronchi is an Associate Professor at Lund University, Sweden. His research and education activities are focused on evacuation and human behaviour in case of building fires and wildfires. His work has been published in over 150 publications (including >90 peer-reviewed journal papers). He is currently Associate Editor for the journals Fire Technology and Safety Science and member of the editorial board of the Fire Safety Journal.
Jennifer Wen is currently Professor of Energy Resilience in the School of Mechanical Engineering Sciences, University of Surrey as Professor. Previously, Jennifer held positions at Computational Dynamics Limited (founding vendor of STAR-CCM), British Gas plc, South Bank University, Kingston University London, and University of Warwick. She is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Vice-Chair for Research for the International Association for Fire Safety Science. Jennifer is also a member and sub-task leader of the European Safety Panel on Hydrogen Safety (EHSP) established by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (now Clean Hydrogen Partnership) of the European Commission. She is an Associate Editor for the Proceedings of the Combustion Institute.
Dr Wojciech Węgrzyński is with ITB, that is the Polish Building Research Institute in Warsaw. He currently holds the position of the Deputy Head of Fire Research Department and the Professor of the Institute, and a Director at SFPE Europe. He is the Author of 40 peer-reviewed papers published in all of the primary FSE journals. His main area of interest is the fundamentals of compartment fire dynamics and standardized fire testing, and also: use of computational fluid dynamics in fire, wind and fire interaction and evaluation of the effects of the spread of smoke in buildings. His research is focused on the impact of the architectural context of the building on the smoke control performance, as well as finding solutions to make the smoke exhaust systems cheaper and more efficient. Member of the Sub-committee for Research of the IAFSS. 2018 NFPA Harry C. Bigglestone Award Recipient; 2019 Jack Watts Award Recipient; 2020 SFPE 5 Under 35 Award Recipient. Member of Editorial Board of ‘Fire Technology. Hosts a fire podcast at 
Dr. Shuna Ni is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received her Ph.D. degree at Texas A&M University in 2018 and her Master’s degree at Tongji University in 2013. Dr. Ni’s research focuses on fire forensics, structural fire engineering, WUI fire resilience, fire safety of tall mass-timber buildings and fire-related multiple hazards. Her research has been funded by National Science Foundation, National Institute of Justice, Fire Protection Research Foundation, University Transportation Centers under the Department of Transportation, Grand Challenges Grants Program at the University of Maryland and industrial partners.
Brian Lattimer, Ph.D. is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech where he performs experimental and computational research on fire safety and disaster resilience. He has nearly 30 years of experience in fire related research. His research areas include material behavior in fires, fire dynamics, suppression agents, heat transfer from fires to surfaces, structural response during fire, and firefighting technology.
Yu Wang is a professor at the State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). He got joint Ph.D. from USTC and the City University of Hong Kong in 2016 and had working experience at the University of Edinburgh, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and National University of Singapore before returning to China in 2020. His primary research areas are high-rise building fire and large outdoor fire. Yu has published over 50 SCI journal papers, and is currently an Associate Editor in Fire Technology and Editorial Board Member in Fire Safety Journal. He initiated the first English fire course at USTC, Introduction of Fire Dynamics, reported by China News and People’s Daily Online (over 260,000 audiences). In recent years, he has received SFPE Global 5 Under 35 Award, Youth May Fourth Medal (Anhui Province), Young Faculty Career Award (USTCAF), and some Best Paper/Presentation/Poster/Image Awards in IAFSS or AOSFST.
ROGAUME Thomas is an Professor at the University of Poitiers – Pprime Institute (UPR3346 CNRS), FRANCE.
Prof. Yuji Nakamura is Full Professor in Department of Mechanical Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology (TUT), appointed as Affiliate Full Professor in Center for Fire Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science (since 2014). He currently serves the Head of Energy Conversion Laboratory and appointed as Department Chair since 2024. Prof. Nakamura has made professional service in Fire Science Community served as Management Committee of IAFSS during 2021-2023, worked as Co-chair of LOC in the most recent IAFSS symposium at Tsukuba, acting Associate Editor of Fire Technology since 2014 and board member of Fire Safety Journal since 2017.
Dr Felix Wiesner is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia and study the role of engineered timber in fire safety. I work in the Faculty of Forestry as part of the Wood Science department. My research focus has mostly been experimental, considering fire dynamics in timber compartments and the structural fire capacity of engineered timber products. In addition, I am interested in the performance of timber in exterior building or infrastructure setting. This closely interfaces with wildfire considerations for the wildland urban interface (WUI), especially when it comes to smouldering.
Arnaud Trouvé is Professor and Chair in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at the University of Maryland in College Park, USA. He joined the Faculty in 2001 with a Ph.D. (1989) and Engineering Degree (1985) from École Centrale of Paris, France, and with previous experience as a combustion research engineer. Professor Trouvé’s research interests include fire modeling and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD); application of data assimilation to fire and combustion; and physical modeling of combustion- and fire-related phenomena, including compartment fires, wildland fires and explosions. Professor Trouvé is a Fellow of the Combustion Institute and the recipient of the 2017 FORUM Sjölin Award. He has served on the editorial boards of the Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, Combustion and Flame, and Fire Technology, and is currently on the editorial boards of Combustion Theory and Modelling and the Fire Safety Journal. Professor Trouvé is also a past Chair of the US Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute (ESSCI) and a past Member of the Executive Board of the International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS). He is a co-Chair of a recent initiative endorsed by IAFSS and called the “IAFSS Working Group on Measurement and Computation of Fire Phenomena” (the MaCFP Working Group) and the past Chair of a new network of leading higher-education institutions and research laboratories in fire safety engineering called the International Fire Safety Consortium (IFSC).
Dr Xinyan Huang is an Associate Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Deputy Director of the Research Centre for Fire Safety Engineering. He received his PhD from Imperial College London, MSc from UC San Diego, and BEng from Southeast University, and was a Postdoc at UC Berkeley. Dr Huang is a Combustion Scientist and a Fire Safety Engineer who has co-authored over 200 journal papers. He is an Associate Editor of Fire Technology and International Journal of Wildland Fire, an editorial member of J. Building Engineering, Fire Safety J. and Fire and Materials, a Chartered Building Services and Fire Engineer, a committee member for HK Fire Safety Code, and a Fire Expert for HK High Court. He receives the NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund, Bernard Lewis Fellowship and Sugden Best Paper Award from Combustion Institute, “5 under 35” and Bono Award from the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE).