In this episode we dive into the ap between standardized tests and experiments, trying to figure out (a) is there a difference and (b) if there is, could not understanding the difference quietly erode safety. With guest David Morrisset (Queensland University), we unpack furnace ratings that read like time but aren’t, cladding classifications that were never meant for façades, and the infamous bird-strike test that shows how any standard bakes in choices and consequences. The throughline: context rules everything.

We talk plainly about what tests actually deliver—repeatability, reproducibility, and comparability under fixed boundary conditions—and why that’s powerful but limited. Then we pivot to experiments: how to define a clear question, choose boundary conditions that matter, use standard apparatus for non-standard insights, and document deviations without pretending they’re compliant. We share stories from timber in furnaces to car park fires and design curves, showing when consistency beats a shaky chase for “realistic,” and when exploratory burns are the fastest way to find the unknowns that really drive risk.

If you’ve ever tried to drop a cone calorimeter value into a performance model, equated furnace minutes to evacuation time, or treated a single burn as gospel, this conversation will help you do this safely and prevent you from falling into some well known caveats. You’ll leave with practical heuristics for reading test data without overreach, structuring experiments that answer narrow questions well, and communicating uncertainty so decision-makers understand what the numbers can and cannot promise.

Essential reading after this episode:

• When chick hits the fan paper
• The rise of Euroclass, A. Law et al.
• The rise and rise of fire resistance, A. Law et al.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

In this episode, we give focus to the SFPE Foundation – a catalyst transforming how fire engineering research is funded, conducted, and shared globally. In this conversation with Leslie Marshall, Interim Executive Director of the SFPE Foundation, we discover how a relatively small organization has distributed over $1.2 million in grants, scholarships, and research funding since 2021. While the Foundation has existed since 1979, its recent expansion with dedicated staff has accelerated its impact across the fire engineering community worldwide.

Leslie reveals the Foundation's unique position in the fire safety ecosystem – while SFPE maintains the gold standard for current practice, the Foundation focuses on emerging topics and future challenges. This forward-looking approach has funded groundbreaking work, such as, in my opinion, landmark David Morissette's research on furniture fire variability, which began with a modest $5,000 student grant but yielded findings that challenge fundamental assumptions in fire modeling.

The conversation explores the Foundation's flagship Grand Challenges Initiative, a 10-year collaborative effort addressing four critical areas: energy and infrastructure, resilience and sustainability, climate change, and digitalization/AI/cybersecurity. With over 40 industry and academic partners worldwide, this initiative exemplifies how bringing diverse perspectives together can tackle complex problems that no single entity could solve alone.

For researchers, students, and professionals looking to give back to the fire safety community, Leslie outlines multiple pathways for involvement – from financial contributions to volunteering on advisory panels or working groups. The Foundation's commitment to open access ensures all research findings are freely available, maximizing their impact across the field.

You can learn more about the foundation on its website here.

Additional resources can be found here:

• The 2026 WUI Summit: https://www.sfpe.org/2026wuisummit/home
• The WUI Handbook: https://www.sfpe.org/wuihandbook/home
• Grand Challenges Initiative website: https://www.sfpe.org/gci/home

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

What happens when the flames die down? It's a question rarely addressed in fire engineering, yet the decay and cooling phases of fires can be more dangerous than peak fire conditions. In this deep-dive conversation with Dr. Andrea Lucherini from Frisbee at ZAG in Slovenia, we uncover why these overlooked phases matter profoundly for structural safety.

Most engineers focus on protecting structures during the fully developed fire phase, but as Dr. Lucherini reveals, catastrophic failures can actually occur during cooling. We discuss a tragic case where seven firefighters died when a concrete structure collapsed, not during the fire's peak, but while they were extinguishing what appeared to be a dying fire. This sobering reality highlights how current testing methods fail to capture real-world risks—standard fire curves never decrease, creating a dangerous blind spot in our understanding.

The physics of cooling creates unique challenges for different building materials. Reinforced concrete might reach maximum temperatures in the steel reinforcement during decay rather than during peak fire. Steel structures face destructive tensile forces during contraction that can exceed the compressive forces experienced during heating. Mass timber presents particularly complex behaviour that may never truly enter a cooling phase without proper design considerations.

Perhaps most fascinating is how thermal boundary conditions transform as fires decay. When dense smoke thins, radiation patterns change dramatically, creating heat transfer scenarios that standard models fail to capture. These insights aren't just academic—they're essential for performance-based engineering approaches that prioritise realistic structural behaviour throughout a fire's entire timeline.

Andrea was kind enough to share these papers with me:

- Defining the fire decay and the cooling phase of post-flashover compartment fires: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2023.103965
- ⁠Thermal characterisation of the cooling phase of post-flashover compartment fires: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2024.108933
- ⁠More information about FRISSBE project and team: https://www.frissbe.eu/

And I can shamelessly plug one of our own: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/fam.2735

Cover image from experiments with Danny Hopkin that we have discussed here: https://www.firescienceshow.com/172-lessons-from-mass-timber-experiments-with-danny-hopkin/

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.