Fire Safety Engineering Group - FSEG

30/05/2026

The FSEG paper concerning the fire safety hazard Fire Safety Journal paper concerning the fire safety hazards of green walls is featured in an article by Peter Apps in Dezeen. You can find the artilce by following the link:

Green walls could present a similar fire risk to the highly combustible cladding used on Grenfell Tower due to the plastic used in their potting systems, research shared exclusively with Dezeen has found.

30/05/2026

The FSEG Fire Safety Journal paper concerning the fire safety hazards of green walls is featured in an article by Peter Apps in the architecture magazine Dezeen. You can find the dezeen article by following the link:

https://www.dezeen.com/2026/05/28/plastic-potted-green-walls/

The Fire Safety Engineering Group (FSEG), part of the Centre for Safety, Resilience and Protective Security (CSRPS) of the University of Greenwich, have published a new journal paper describing a Living Wall fire model, based on the SMARTFIRE CFD fire simulation software.

The model predicts fire spread over the Living Wall support structure (plastic material) the plants and growth medium. The combustion of the Living Wall support structure is modelled as an external cladding system while the plants and growing medium are represented as two groups of combustible porous materials.

The combined model provides a unique capability to simulate fires in external Living Wall systems and is validated using data from four Living Wall fire experiments.

Key takeaways from the paper:
· A CFD model, based on the SMARTFIRE fire simulation software, has been developed to simulate Living Wall fires.
· The model has been validated utilising data from four fire tests, an SBI test, two large-scale fire test using wet and dry plants and a BS 8414 fire test of the Living Wall support system.
· The fire risk of the hypothetical Living Wall system explored in this paper is dominated by the module material.
· The hypothetical Living Wall system investigated in this study (i.e., constructed of PP with wet plants and growth medium) fails a BS 8414 simulation in 225 s
· The fire risk associated with the hypothetical Living Wall system explored in this study is at least as high as that for Grenfell type cladding system i.e., an ACM cladding system with PE core and PIR insulation.
· The use of a non-combustible Living Wall module is a potential fire risk mitigation measure for Living Walls.

The paper is published in the Fire Safety Journal in open access and will be presented at the IAFSS symposium in June 2026. We hope to see you at our presentation at the IAFSS symposium.

You can download a free copy of the paper at any time using the following link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2026.104664

The full citation for the paper is:
Fuchen Jia, Zhaozhi Wang, Edwin R Galea, John Ewer, A CFD fire simulation model for external living walls, Fire Safety Journal, Volume 161, 2026, 104664, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2026.104664

You can read a summary of the paper in Prof Galea's linkedin article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-paper-cfd-fire-simulation-model-external-living-walls-ed-galea-woise/?trackingId=cMiqJNs2SH6DhNa1b%2BaTcw%3D%3D

24/05/2026

Many thanks to Russ Timpson and the team for organising the 10th International Tall Building Fire Safety Conference in Canary Wharf, London. Every year the conference seems to get better and better, and this year was no exception, indeed it was one of the best!

That was down to the quality of the speakers and panellists, the audience participation and the venue, which was excellent (many thanks to Canary Wharf Management). The craic at the pub Wednesday evening after the conference was also mighty!

FSEG founding Director, Prof Ed Galea was deeply touched and honoured to receive an award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Tall Building Fire Safety’ at the conference. He was doubly honoured to receive the award with his buddy Brent Brooks, who was honoured with the same award. It was one of the few times I’ve been speechless at an international conference – thanks again Russ.

Apart from the important topics of evacuation planning, rpeeps, AWAABS law, façade fire performance, smoke control, resilience, FAWT, BIM, fire fighting tactics, litigation issues, a big takeaway from the conference was the growing role of AI in fire safety engineering. When used to assist the fire safety engineer, and with appropriate human oversight, AI can be a great help, and its productive applications are growing.

Looking forward to the 11th International Tall Building HRB fire Safety Conference!

If anyone wants a pdf of Prof Galea's presentation, just send an email to [email protected]

13/05/2026

FSEG director Prof Ed Galea was interviewed by NEWSWEEK about the evacuation of Frontier Flight 4345. The article also featured animations from our airEXODUS simulations of the impact on airplane evacuation when passengers delay their evacuation to retrieve cabin luggage. You can read the interview at:

After a Frontier evacuation, an expert explains why passengers grab bags during plane emergencies—and how even seconds of delay can cost lives.

07/03/2026

The Fire Safety Engineering Group (FSEG), part of the Centre for Safety, Resilience and Protective Security (CSRPS) of the University of Greenwich, have published a paper describing a cladding fire model, based on the SMARTFIRE CFD fire simulation software, that predicts toxic gas generation resulting from burning cladding materials.

The model predicts not only the vertical and horizontal fire spread, but also the toxic gases produced by the spreading external cladding fire and the ingress of toxic fire products to the inside of the building through entrainment of the external fire plume via a partially open window.

Key takeaways from the paper:
· A method to calculate toxic gas generation from cladding fires is proposed using the CFD fire simulation software SMARTFIRE.
· The model and its assumptions have been validated using BS 8414 experimental data.
· The model is used to simulate a high-rise cladding fire with the exterior of the building clad in ACM PE with PIR insulation. The model includes the interior of a target flat (apartment) 5 floors above the fire origin. The target flat has an open window.
· The simulation includes a light wind blowing towards the building and the model predicts the entrainment of exterior hot combustion products into the target flat (apartment) .
· Occupants within the target flat are incapacitated within 21 min
· The PIR contribution to the fractional incapacitating dose is half that of ACM PE

The paper is published in the Fire Safety Journal in open access and will be presented at the IAFSS symposium in June 2026. We hope to see you at our presentation at the IAFSS symposium.

You can download a free copy of the paper at any time using the following link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2026.104693

The authors are indebted to the reviewers who contributed to improving the quality of our paper.

The full citation for the paper is:
Zhaozhi Wang, Fuchen Jia, Edwin R Galea, John Ewer, Predicting toxic species generation resulting from external cladding fires, Fire Safety Journal, Volume 162, 2026, 104693, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2026.104693

You can read a summary of the work in Prof Galea's linkedin article:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-paper-predicting-toxic-species-generation-resulting-ed-galea-ikdee/?trackingId=gPaoVAXwSv6k6tn2ZQ20Iw%3D%3D

07/03/2026

The Fire Safety Engineering Group (FSEG), part of the Centre for Safety, Resilience and Protective Security (CSRPS) of the University of Greenwich, have published a new journal paper describing a Living Wall fire model, based on the SMARTFIRE CFD fire simulation software.

The model predicts fire spread over the Living Wall support structure (plastic material) the plants and growth medium. The combustion of the Living Wall support structure is modelled as an external cladding system while the plants and growing medium are represented as two groups of combustible porous materials.

The combined model provides a unique capability to simulate fires in external Living Wall systems and is validated using data from four Living Wall fire experiments.

Key takeaways from the paper:
· A CFD model, based on the SMARTFIRE fire simulation software, has been developed to simulate Living Wall fires.
· The model has been validated utilising data from four fire tests, an SBI test, two large-scale fire test using wet and dry plants and a BS 8414 fire test of the Living Wall support system.
· The fire risk of the hypothetical Living Wall system explored in this paper is dominated by the module material.
· The hypothetical Living Wall system investigated in this study (i.e., constructed of PP with wet plants and growth medium) fails a BS 8414 simulation in 225 s
· The fire risk associated with the hypothetical Living Wall system explored in this study is at least as high as that for Grenfell type cladding system i.e., an ACM cladding system with PE core and PIR insulation.
· The use of a non-combustible Living Wall module is a potential fire risk mitigation measure for Living Walls.

The paper is published in the Fire Safety Journal in open access and will be presented at the IAFSS symposium in June 2026. We hope to see you at our presentation at the IAFSS symposium.

You can download a free copy of the paper at any time using the following link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2026.104664

The full citation for the paper is:
Fuchen Jia, Zhaozhi Wang, Edwin R Galea, John Ewer, A CFD fire simulation model for external living walls, Fire Safety Journal, Volume 161, 2026, 104664, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2026.104664

You can read a summary of the paper in Prof Galea's linkedin article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-paper-cfd-fire-simulation-model-external-living-walls-ed-galea-woise/?trackingId=cMiqJNs2SH6DhNa1b%2BaTcw%3D%3D

01/02/2026

Thankfully, early accounts of the Southampton General Hospital (01/02/26) fire suggest that there are no casualties, even though some 200 patients are reported to have been evacuated.

Fires in hospitals are one of the most challenging fire scenarios within the built environment for staff, occupants, and firefighters. Not only can patients be sleeping during the day (not just at night), most of the patients are non-ambulant, some may be unconscious, or undergoing surgery or other procedures that make evacuation challenging, vertical evacuation of non-ambulant patients is demanding, requiring many staff, and there are typically low numbers of staff immediately available, especially at night, to manage an evacuation. Overcrowding in hospitals, with corridor care becoming the norm in many places in the UK, adds to the complexity of managing fire and evacuation in hospitals.

The Southampton General Hospital fire is a reminder for all those who work in hospitals, from cleaners to surgeons, of the importance of fire safety and evacuation training. Insights from this incident will be valuable in reinforcing and improving practice and training throughout the sector. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this incident.

The following is a link to the BBC report on the fire:

Southampton General Hospital is asking visitors to stay away and has cancelled outpatient appointments.

18/01/2026

Prof Ed Galea was interviewed by the BBC about the recent tragic Swiss nightclub fire (40 dead) and its similarities to another tragic fire, the Station nightclub fire (100 dead) in Rhode Island USA in 2003. The cause of the fire (pyrotechnics) and the reason for the rapid fire spread (acoustic foam on the ceiling) was similar in both cases, with similar human response (delayed response time). These tragedies happen all too often – some 38 nightclub/bar fires around the world since 2000 claiming some 1200 lives, with pyrotechnics (including sparklers) being involved in some 15 cases and acoustic foam or ceiling decorations being involved in 13 cases. Overcrowding and limited means of escape are other common fatal similarities in many of these cases.

Prof Galea suggested two things you can do to improve your chances of surviving a fire in a crowded place. Whenever you are in a public space, such as restaurant, cinema/theatre, entertainment venue, retail complex, airport, station, etc, especially spaces that can become crowded, always identify at least two ways out from your current location. And don’t underestimate how quickly a fire can develop from a small local flame to a life-threatening inferno. When you are exposed to the first cues of a fire, be that the fire alarm going off, seeing flames where they shouldn’t be, or seeing/smelling smoke when you shouldn’t be able to, alert your companions and start to move to the exit – don’t question the alarm. Literally every second you delay, can make the difference between life and death.

Twenty-two years before the Swiss ski resort fire, Gina escaped a near-identical disaster. Would you know what to do if it happened to you?