A FRISSBE delegation composed of the senior researchers Dr Andrea Lucherini and Dr Ulises Rojas-Alva and the PhD student Martin Veit participated in the 4th European Symposium on Fire Safety Science (ESFSS 2024), held in Barcelona from 9th to the 11th of October 2024 and organised by  the Centre for Technological Risk Studies (CERTEC) - Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña. This event brought together abput 200 experts, researchers, and practitioners in the field of fire safety science to share their latest findings and innovations. Dr Andrea Lucherini was part of the scientific committee, while Prof Grunde Jomaas was part of the organising committee, ensuring the symposium’s success and fostering a collaborative environment for knowledge exchange.

The FRISSBE team contributed to advancing fire science during the symposium. Dr Ulises Rojas-Alva presented a work-in-progress poster entitled “FIEERCE - A Framework for the Estimation of the Environmental Impact of Fires in the Built Environment.” co-authored with Dr Martina Manes (University of Liverpool, UK) and Prof José Torero (University College London, UK) and many other ZAG colleagues: Dr Andrea Lucherini, Anja Kodrič, Janez Turk, Alen Hausmeister, Friderik Knez, Prof Grunde Jomaas, Katja Malovrh Rebec. This work emphasizes the importance of understanding and mitigating the environmental consequences of fires, which is crucial for sustainable fire safety practices.

Martin Veit presented his research paper, “Predicting the Total Wall-Time of CFD Simulations of Single-Compartment Fires,” co-authored by Dr Andrea Lucherini, Prof Bart Merci and Dr Georgios Maragkos (Ghent University) This research provides insights into predicting the computational time of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, essential for accurate fire modelling and safety planning.

We appreciate the engagement and knowledge sharing at ESFSS 2024 and look forward to welcoming everyone to Ljubljana next year, from the 3rd to the 5th September 2025. The 5th European Symposium on Fire Safety Science (ESFSS) will be organised and hosted by FRISSBE and ZAG - Zavod za gradbeništvo Slovenije, offering another opportunity for advancing fire safety science science and contributing to the research and professional community.

Before the event, on Monday 7th october 2024, the FRISSBE senior researchers, Dr Andrea Lucherini and Dr Ulises Rojas-Alva, also visited the fire laboratory facilities at Applus  in Barcelona, Spain. They were hosted by Joaquim Vilar and Albert Ger, who showed their facilities, in particular the reaction-to-fire and fire-resistance laboratories. Discussions unfolded on the various topics and capabilities that FRISSBE-ZAG and Applus have in common and could establish researhc collaborations, notably intumescent coatings for fire protection of multiple substrates and battery fire safety. It has been a pleasure and inspiring experience reaching out other sister laboratories across Europe: together, we can achieve more relevant results and contribute together to the fire safety of modern built environment.