NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 28

Research by Birgitte Messerschmidt

THE GLOBAL
VIEW ON FIRE
RESEARCH

We Are the World
WHY GLOBAL FIRE PROBLEMS HAVE MORE IN COMMON THAN EVER BEFORE,
AND HOW RESEARCHERS CAN USE THAT FACT TO THEIR ADVANTAGE

here's nothing like
An example of this continuity is
watching a room flash
the series of recent high-rise building
over to make you realfires related to combustible facades,
ize how quickly a fire can
events that have occurred in the United
turn deadly.
Kingdom, the Middle East, Asia, and elseAs a young engineer at the Danish
where. Many of these fires share striking
Institute of Fire Technology, I had many
similarities, as well as important characopportunities to witness this firsthand;
teristics that go beyond building design
I often joke that my job title was essenand how certain materials burn. They
tially professional pyromaniac. I set fire
can also share contributing factors such
to all kinds of things-Christmas trees,
as building codes that are ignored or
TVs, furniture, wall coverings-to learn
not enforced, and materials fire testing
how they burn so that we could make
protocols that are disregarded. Studying
the world safer.
the conditions that led to devastating
Globalization is
Over the years, my work has taken
fires, regardless of where those condierasing many of the
me across the globe and eventually
tions exist, can be just as valuable as
differences in the
to NFPA, where I became director of
examining the fires themselves.
built environment
applied research in 2017 and, starting
We can use these facts to our advanacross the world.
with this issue of NFPA Journal, the
tage. Because we no longer have to look
author of the "Research" column. My
locally for many of the answers to our
plan is to bring a more global perspecsafety challenges, research findings from
tive to the research commentary on this
one country can now be widely applied
page. Having worked in multiple counto improve safety around the world. This
tries, I can tell you that the fire problem doesn't abide by allows us to better spread the load and cost of research, and to
our manmade boundaries-given the right conditions, fire attain a deeper understanding of emerging issues faster than
will burn with as much ferocity in Europe as it does in Asia, ever before. With research capability limited in many areas
Africa, or North America.
of the world, and with rapid changes in technology making
Though this last point might seem obvious, I've been it difficult to keep pace, the potential to share and learn from
surprised to find how disconnected fire protection profes- others will benefit us all.
sionals can be from this truth. Most countries still largely
To help with this effort, NFPA recently launched the Fire
ignore lessons learned in other parts of the world, and insist Research Network on NFPA Xchange (community.nfpa.org).
on basing their fire prevention and mitigation strategies exclu- The Fire Research Network is a closed online community
sively on local knowledge. If a bad fire happens in Asia, for where fire researchers can share ideas and knowledge. NFPA
example, the fire protection community in Europe tends to posts its research findings with the network as well, in hopes
not concern itself with it, falsely believing that the same thing that the lessons we learn can benefit others. If you are a
couldn't happen there. Local building traditions in China are researcher interested in becoming a member of the network,
too different to render any applicable lessons for fire protec- please send me an email at bmesserschmidt@nfpa.org.
tion in Germany or the United Kingdom, the rationale goes.
A lot of exciting research is happening across the world
This mindset is pervasive, as well as outdated and misguided- right now. I look forward to sharing and discussing it with
globalization is erasing many of the differences in the built you in upcoming issues.
environment across the world, leading to a more universal
fire experience than perhaps at any time in modern history.
Birgitte Messerschmidt is director of the Applied Research Group at NFPA.

28 | NFPA JOURNAL * J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0

MICHAEL HOEWELER

http://community.nfpa.org

NFPA Journal - January/February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2020