BFRL: Annual Fire Conference

Fire Research Division

2009 NIST Building and Fire Research Annual Fire Conference

April 28 - April 30, 2009

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
100 Bureau Drive
Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899 USA

Co-Sponsored by:

Society of Fire Protection Engineers and

Fire Protection Research Foundation

The theme of last year’s conference was “How Have Fires Changed in the Past 50 Years.” This year, we will be looking ahead as we develop a “Roadmap for the Future of Fire Research.” This meeting will provide an opportunity for our stakeholders to help us shape the next generation of fire research. NIST staff, grantees, representatives of code developing organizations, fire and building professionals, and experts from government, academia, and industry are invited to attend for one, two or all three days. There is no registration fee, and the SFPE is offering Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to all of its members who attend.

The format of the meeting will be different than in previous years. We will not be soliciting abstracts for oral presentations. Rather, the conference will consist of six all-day workshops (two concurrent per day) in the areas listed below:

People and Fire (Tuesday, April 28)
Organizers: Erica Kuligowski (erica.kuligowski@nist.gov) and Nathan Marsh (nathan.marsh@nist.gov)
AGENDA (pdf) updated 4/10/09

Plenary Speaker: John Hall, NFPA, "Lingering Big Problems and Promising New Approaches: Where Will the Next Big Improvement in Fire Safety Come From?"

This workshop will explore the interactions between people and the effects of fire. The morning session will explore the issues surrounding occupant movement and behavior during emergency building evacuations, including data collection and analysis, theory development, and/or evacuation modeling. The afternoon session will focus on the effluents of fire that adversely affect people. Of primary concern is how toxic and incapacitating gases are generated in a fire and accumulate and are transported to remote locations; the effect of exposure levels on people, including sub-lethal effects; and how to estimate yields for regulatory and fire safety engineering purposes. Also of interest are the effects of long-term or chronic exposure, for example during post-firefighting overhaul, during wildland firefighting operations, or for residents of WUI communities regularly exposed to the effluents of wildland fires.

Fire Fighting Technology (Tuesday, April 28)
Organizer: Nelson Bryner (nelson.bryner@nist.gov)
AGENDA (pdf) updated 4/21/09

Plenary Speaker: Kathleen Almand, Fire Protection Research Foundation

The workshop objective is to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of fire research projects that impact first responders, fire fighting technology, and fire ground tactics for both structural and wildland fires. The topics may include personal protective equipment, personnel location and tracking, positive pressure ventilation, suppression, tactical decision aids, physiological monitoring, thermal imaging cameras, and virtual trainers.

Fire Modeling (Wednesday, April 29)
Organizer: Kevin McGrattan (kevin.mcgrattan@nist.gov)
AGENDA (pdf) updated 4/10/09

Plenary Speaker: Morgan Hurley, SFPE, "Fire Protection Engineering in the next 25 years"

This workshop will focus mainly on the development and application of the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The morning sessions are dedicated to discussing development activities of the past few years, and the afternoon session will feature presentations by practitioners and regulatory authorities with an emphasis on future needs. In addition to oral presentations, attendees are welcome to bring posters or handouts to share with others, and time will be allocated for short descriptions of modeling applications. An informal priority setting exercise will be conducted in which suggested topic areas will be ranked in order of importance.

Fire Measurement Methods and Experimental Techniques (Wednesday, April 29)
Organizers: Jiann Yang (jiann.yang@nist.gov) and Matt Bundy (matthew.bundy@nist.gov)
AGENDA (pdf) updated 4/21/09

Plenary Speaker: Pravin Gandhi, Underwriters Laboratories

Topics for discussion in this workshop include measurements of heat release rate, radiation, heat flux, temperature, gas species, soot, fluid flow, ignition propensity, and fire propagation in bench-scale, intermediate-scale and full-scale fire tests.

Materials Flammability (Thursday, April 30)
Organizer: Jeffrey Gilman (jeffrey.gilman@nist.gov)
AGENDA (pdf) updated 4/10/09

Plenary Speaker: Susan D. Landry, Albemarle Corporation

This workshop will focus on methods of measuring and predicting the response of a material to a fire. Topics of interest include flame retardants (non-halogen, halogen, nanocomposite), polymer flammability, cone calorimetry, bench-scale flammability tests, micro-calorimetry and thermal analysis.

Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Fires (Thursday, April 30)
Organizers: William (Ruddy) Mell (william.mell@nist.gov) and Alexander Maranghides (alexander.maranghides@nist.gov)
AGENDA (pdf) updated 4/29/09

Plenary Speaker: (TBD)

Reducing the negative impact of WUI fires requires proven risk assessment and risk mitigation approaches for WUI communities. The effectiveness of these approaches is dependent upon an understanding of fire behavior in the complex WUI fuel system containing vegetative and structures. In this workshop we will discuss new and existing methods for measuring WUI fuels, interpreting WUI fire behavior from post-fire studies, and investigating structure ignition mechanisms in laboratory and field settings. Existing approaches for assessing and reducing the risk of communities and structures from WUI fires will also be considered. In addition, the use and state of computer modeling as applied to WUI fires will be explored.

Technical questions may be addressed by email to the workshop organizers listed above. Administrative questions may be addressed, preferably by email, to Sue Haga or Wanda Duffin-Ricks (see contact information below.)

General Information

The Conference will be held on the NIST Campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland. General hotel information and directions to NIST can be found at http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/visitor/visitor.htm. A block of rooms has been reserved for the nights of April 26-30, 2009 at the Holiday Inn Gaithersburg, Two Montgomery Village Avenue, Gaithersburg, MD 20879. The special rate is $113.00 per night plus 13% tax. To make your reservation, please contact the hotel directly at 301-948-8900 by April 20, 2009, and mention that you are attending the "NIST 2009 Annual Fire conference".

Registration

To register, see the NIST Conference Registration page: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/confpage/090428.htm. There is no cost to attend the conference, however, you must register in advance.

Administrative Contacts:

Sue Haga
301-975-6689
sue.haga@nist.gov

Wanda Duffin-Ricks
301 975-6863
wanda.duffin-ricks@nist.gov

Related Event:

Real-Time Monitoring of Total Inward Leakage of Respiratory Equipment Used by Emergency Responders (Overview - PDF)

May 1, 2009
Purpose of Workshop: To evaluate and document the need for real-time monitoring of the respiratory intake of emergency responders; identify appropriate sensing technologies; and to initiate the development of a scientific strategy (employing both modeling and experimental validation) to determine optimal placement of sensors in respirator masks.

AGENDA (PDF)

To register, see the NIST Conference Registration page: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/confpage/090428.htm. There is no cost to attend the workshop, however, you must register in advance.
Contact Information: Kathy Butler (301-975-6673, kathryn.butler@nist.gov) or Marc Nyden (301-975-6692, marc.nyden@nist.gov)

NIST is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce

Last updated: 4/29/2009