September 3-5, the 5^th European Symposium on Fire Safety Science (ESFSS2025), organized by FRISSBE, was held at the Grand Hotel Union in Ljubljana. The opening addresses were given by Tanja Vertelj, MA, (Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation), Dr Urška Kropf, (Deputy director, ZAG), and Prof Grunde Jomaas, (FRISSBE ERA Chair Holder). Dr Ulises Rojas-Alva served as the Master of Ceremonie.

The symposium gathered 150 participants from 25 countries, creating a vibrant international forum for knowledge exchange. From the FRISSBE team, presentations were made by Nik Rus and Dr Andrea Lucherini, alongside numerous posters prepared by them and their colleagues.

The core of the program was built around thematic technical sessions, each dedicated to a specific area of fire safety science. These sessions featured selected oral presentations and invited plenary lectures by leading researchers who are highly recognized in their fields. In the poster sessions, authors had the opportunity to present and discuss their latest contributions.

At the Thursday banquet, which was held the Ljubljana Castle, and at the closing ceremony, the following awards supported by IAFSS were presented:

• Best Presentation: “The Assumptions Trap: Implications for Fire Safety Engineers” – Ayyappa Thejus Mohan and, "Estimating the energy terms in timber-lined compartments" – A. A. Ali Awadallah
• Best Paper: “Estimating the Energy Terms in Timber-Lined Compartments” – A. A. Ali Awadallah
• Best Poster: “Thermal Radiation from Hydrogen Jet Flames: Emission, Attenuation in Humid Air, and Absorption on Surfaces” – Andrea Correa

Over three days, ESFSS 2025 covered a wide range of topics, from battery and solar cell fire safety and sustainable building materials to novel approaches in fire risk analysis, engineering methods for fire safety, human behaviour during fires, and the effectiveness of evacuation systems. Special emphasis was placed on large-scale fires, including those in urban centres and at the wildland–urban interface.

Main topics addressed at ESFSS 2025 included:

• Behaviour of materials in fire (ignition, pyrolysis, heat transfer, flame spread, flammability, smoke generation, smouldering, etc.)
• Fire dynamics (indoor and tunnel fires, facades, smoke transfer, fire detection and suppression, etc.)
• Large outdoor fires (wildfires, urban fires, and fires at the wildland–urban interface)
• Structure–fire interactions (thermal and mechanical response of building materials such as steel, concrete, wood, and composites)
• Fire safety engineering (industrial safety, risk analysis, resilience, evacuation and human behaviour, performance-based design, fire forensics, etc.)
• Fire safety and sustainability (battery fires, electric vehicles, solar cells, emissions and toxicity, health and environmental impacts, sustainability assessments, etc.)

Acknowledgement of Sponsors

The success of ESFSS 2025 would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors.

• Gold Sponsors: Protectowire FireSystems, Jet Fire & Safety, Kingspan, Fire & Risk Alliance, Rockwool, Halliwell Fire Research, Knauf Insulation

• Silver Sponsors: Evoks, AllShield, Equipro, FM, Efectis

• Bronze Sponsors: Ignist, Fire Rover, Vid Firekill

We are deeply grateful for their commitment to advancing fire safety science and for helping make this symposium a memorable event.

The symposium successfully brought together leading voices in fire safety science, fostering collaboration and setting the stage for future innovations in research and practice.

For additional details, please visit the official ESFSS 2025 website.