Focussing on the impact of sustainability at Fire Conference 2022

This year’s Fire Conference 2022 saw over 400 delegates come together, both in-person and online, to explore key topics dominating the sector. Sustainability was one of the standout topics from the day, with the IFE leading sessions focussing on emerging technology, the green agenda and changing environments.

Managing fire safety in a sustainable world

IFE CEO, Steve Hamm, featured early in the conference agenda and delivered a thought-provoking session on managing fire safety in a sustainable world. He highlighted that IFE as a global leader should be looking at engineering as the solution to practical problems through the application of tools, techniques and methods.

Steve suggested the key to understanding sustainability is to recognise what is going on in society and politics across the globe. He said: “We need to understand that different people are viewing the sustainability agenda and therefore the fire safety challenges that stem from different perspectives.”

Steve concluded by saying there needed to be a commitment to ethical behaviour and organisational and institutional values, reminding delegates that above all, trust in the fire sector was vital going forward.

Electric vehicles and emerging technologies

Our Alternative Fuels Coordinator, Paul Trew, led a well-attended electric vehicles and emerging technologies workshop. Paul stressed the international importance of the green energy agenda and how the UK alone already has more than half a million fully electric vehicles and as many hybrids.

Adrian Butler followed on from this, speaking about his work for the Risk Authority within the Fire Protection Association. For Adrian, one of the main aspects the organisation is working on is updating its guidelines on fire protection for charging electricity.

Adrian said: “So what's happened over the last 40 years? Cars have got a lot bigger and they have a lot more combustible material in them. So if you look at factors of combustible material in cars, it's probably about double what it was 40 years ago. The thinking about the protection of car parks, for example, is still 40 years old, and these days we have cars with a far higher combustible loading.”

Adrian went on to explain that people were only now starting to understand issues around electric cars and a fire strategy: “For example, when the lithium-ion batteries catch fire, they produce their own oxygen. So you can't put them out in the same way you would a normal combustible, but you can, by reducing the oxygen in other ways, reduce the intensity of the fire and reduce the fire spread. So containment, oxygen reduction and cooling are pretty major.”

Laurie Kenny from Transport for London then went on to talk about electric vehicles and the London infrastructure. He said: “By the end of this year, 44% of London bus carriages will be able to charge off zero emission buses. So that's hydrogen buses, electric buses and hybrid buses.”

Laurie highlighted the issue now was making people and professionals more aware of how to deal with fires and changes to the infrastructure resulting from electric vehicle fires: “We had a Prius that broke down in the Upper Thames Street Tunnel and it took nine hours to be recovered because electric vehicles don't have hand brakes in the same way as a conventional car. So if there's a fire, you can't tow them, they have to be lifted or dragged.”

Matt Deadman from NFCC concluded that what everyone was witnessing was a new paradigm: “Technology has always driven a pace of change, of course. But I can't remember a time where the pace of change from a technological perspective has been so great and it's causing us such issues.

“So when it comes to things like regulation, and talking about regulation as a solution to some of these issues, actually is regulation geared to be able to keep up with the pace of change? The technology has moved on and we have to adapt and change.”

In his role as IFE’s Alternative Fuels Coordinator, Paul is developing a knowledge pool to provide members with access to the latest guidance and advice surrounding electric vehicles and emerging technologies. Members will be able to keep up to date with this work in the IFE e-newsletter and IFP journal technical updates. For information on how to become a member?click here.

Conference access

Fire Conference 2022 delegates can log into the digital platform to access presentations and recordings from the day until 18th?November. Following this date, some of the session recordings will be made available on the?CPD Hub?for members to access.