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Engineering Laboratory /Fire Research Division

Engineered Fire Safety Group

The Engineered Fire Safety Group develops and applies measurement science for cost-effective fire protection and risk-informed life safety decisions for buildings and wildland-urban interface communities.

The Engineered Fire Safety Group also develops advanced, validated models with quantified accuracy and integrates the knowledge, tools, and models to assess building performance with respect to ignition, fire growth and spread, detection, suppression, toxicity, and egress.

A 3D render of a gas burner producing smoke inside an airliner's overhead compartment.
New Fire-Simulating Tool Could Improve In-Flight Fire Safety
Side view of a woman wearing safety glasses, ear protection, and a blue lab coat. With one hand, she is holding a stainless steel frying pan over an electric stove. With her other hand, she is using a spatula to prod bacon in the pan. The room is smoky.
New Smoke Alarms Are Better at Detecting Fires but Still Beep for Bacon

News and Updates

Projects/Programs

FDS Ceiling Smoke

Advanced Fire Modeling

Ongoing
This project develops and maintains robust, validated fire models—and the associated visualization and analysis tools—for performance-based fire safety, forensics (fire reconstruction), and fire research applications in the built and natural environments.
Smoke swirls around a white smoke detector on a ceiling.

Building Fire Safety Evaluation

Ongoing
This project aims to reduce residential fire deaths and injuries by advancing detection systems, researching smoke measurements, and evaluating new technologies' impact on safety. It develops datasets and models to assess building fire hazards, informing better codes, standards, and public awareness efforts.
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Publications

The Character of Burning Residential and Office Items

Author(s)
Anthony Hamins, Giovanni Di Cristina Torres, Matthew Bundy, Anthony Chakalis, Marco Fernandez, Ickchan Kim, Selvarajah Ramesh, Mauro Zammarano
A series of experiments are reported on the burning behavior of single items and assemblies commonly found in offices and residences, including chairs, sofas

On the Design of a Firebrand Generator

Author(s)
Jiann Yang
Detailed design principles and calculations based on a generic firebrand generator with configuration commensurate with the NIST Firebrand Generators are

Awards