To wrap it all up.

“It’s funny how day by day, nothing changes. But when you look back, everything is different” – one of your proverbial Pinterest quotes that fittingly describes the last 1.5 years.

What has changed over the last 3 semesters? Certainly, my hair has grown longer. I have been through fluctuating stages of weight gain and loss, mostly weight gain. Dark circles under my eyes, as if to mark a personal Red Badge of Courage, have been growing prominently. I remain myself but I have learned a lot, a lot is an understatement! It’s oddly satisfying how much I have developed with proper education, the right support system, and a highly stimulating and challenging environment. I am proud of my progress in the journey to be a fire safety engineer.

So, to wrap it all up I decided to do a fun summary of the things I’ve learned over the past semesters by combining a personal hobby of mine, film critiquing, with fire safety concepts! In the spirit of being a fire safety engineer, I discuss some misconceptions that I have observed about fire and fire safety in films and TV shows.

• Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.. or not?

Brooklyn 99 is certainly a fun cop-themed television show and I find the series highly repeatable. In one episode, we see the main character Jake Peralta traversing a series of activated carbon dioxide fire extinguishers (based on the nozzle heads in the scene).

Carbon Dioxide is effective to use on class A, B, and C fires, but be aware that EN ISO and NFPA have slightly different class descriptions. Though not as common as the foam extinguisher, CO₂ extinguishers are efficient for fires closer to the floor since CO₂ is heavier than air. It would effectively go down and penetrate hard-to-reach corners, areas not normally reached by water. However, great care must be taken in the application of CO₂ extinguishers. For one, freeze burns are a concern. According to our Active Fire Protection I class, never apply carbon dioxide to bare skin because it can cause injury, like when handling dry ice!

And while another character emerges as the winner, we can hear Jake screaming “it burns!” in the background but somehow remains unscathed in the next scene. In reality, Jake should be immediately treated for freeze burns with the proper medical procedure.

• Magic sprinklers

Picture this – the movie or TV protagonist finds himself or herself in a rut. How to get out of the situation? Pull or trigger the manual push button alarm and voila! everyone is drenched by the sprinklers; they make their escape.

In reality, manual push button alarms are their namesakes – alarms. They serve the purpose of warning occupants and the fire service through sound or announcement systems. Sprinklers are not automatically activated by the warning system – although they are designed in conjunction with alarm systems. A closer investigation reveals that indicated (high) temperature is needed to damage the sprinkler’s glass bulb to release water.

Another fallacy: when one sprinkler head goes off, the rest are activated. In true Hollywood spirit, this is dramatic. In true fire engineering spirit, this does not occur unless the set-up is for a deluge system. Sprinkler systems are designed so that the sprinkler heads directly near the seat of fire are damaged by high temperatures and thus discharge water.

• Through the fire

Orphan has been one of those Hollywood mind-bending movies that garnered a solid fan base, following Isabelle Fuhrman’s convincing portrayal of the titular character Esther. Esther, through her weapon of choice: Arson, is in a burning house in the final minutes of the movie. Based on the scene, the rooms have reached flashover. Flashover is described as the stage in the fire development curve wherein all possible combustible materials have started to ignite at almost the same instant. Flashover is a very fast and dangerous phenomenon, generating an incident heat flux of around 20kW/m² at floor level. For reference, we feel around ~1kW/m² heat flux from the sun on a normal sunny day. At flashover, it is a miracle that Esther walks casually past such highly untenable conditions.

Thick smoke is also often conveniently left out of fire scenes in movies because let’s face it, visibility will be very poor and that wouldn’t make for a good movie.

• Panic is not a joke, Dwight! Millions of families suffer every year! (The Office joke)

For The Office fans, the Fire Drill episode is arguably one of the funniest episodes in the entire show. We see Dwight Schrute simulating a “fire” in the office to test if The Office cast is prepared for a real fire incident. Mayhem ensues as we see the characters scrambling here and there to evacuate the premises after Dwight has blocked the possible exits. To many people, this scene is a typical emergency incident, panic is the prevailing conduct.

Panic is commonly described as some sort of irrational behavior from behavior literature such as ‘Panic’ and Human Behaviour in Fire by Rita Fahy. However, according to our Human Behavior in Fire course, studies show, and experts agree, that panic is extremely rare.

Fire safety engineers argue that the concept of panic is deemed a myth and the media often uses the term to sensationalize events. Because of such misconceptions, the responsibility is placed on the victims. According to Sime, the fire victims serve as “scapegoats” and the actual people responsible are not held accountable.  

There are cases, such as in the events of Sep. 11, 2001, where evacuees are reported to act in an altruistic manner. Contrary to panicking, people in fire incidents are helpful, courageous, and cooperative and behave in a rational behavior. Quoting Rita Fahy’s lecture slides,

“the following are the proper expectations that we should have of people in fire incidents. People are:

• Intelligent, can think for themselves

• Able to make decisions on information available and past experience

• Able to make decisions to preserve themselves and loved ones

• Helpful, courageous, cooperative

• They are not fire experts

• They lack experience”

By changing our perception of human behavior in fire, we are better equipped with knowledge to design safer and better for fire incidents.

Through introspection, I have seen my fire safety awareness grow in how I perceive fire safety not just in movies and TV but in everyday life. I certainly now coax my relatives to have their smoke detectors checked regularly. My partner as well is on the receiving end of my constant nagging to always close the fire doors in their dormitory, avoid propping the fire extinguisher on exit doors, and tell the other students to keep the exit paths free from obstruction.

IMFSE Cohort 2021 – Ghent. Thank you fam for the support!

The IMFSE experience has undoubtedly been a great journey and I wouldn’t trade it for any other educational experience in the world. Looking back, there were trying and difficult times. However, the knowledge and friendship gained are some of the things that I am truly grateful for.

I leave you with some pictures of the past semester in and around Ghent. The last semester has been very memorable, challenging most of the time, but very memorable. On to the thesis semester!

Special thanks to Joshua Teh and Deonisius Aprisa for fact-checking the values and facts in the article!

Reflections from +386: my summer internship at the FRISSBE project

˝Dober dan! What brings you to Slovenia ma’am?˝

By then, I was so disoriented and tired from all the traveling and lugging my luggage all over Europe that all I could muster was a polite smile to the taxi driver.

˝What are some of the must-eats here in Slovenia?˝, I said, steering the conversation to light small talk.

˝Burek!˝

And with that first taste of Burek from Olimpija Burek in the Ljubljana city center, I started what has been an amazing and life-changing summer in Slovenia.

When I first started my journey in the IMFSE, I had always been dead set on returning to the Oil and Gas industry because I always saw myself as someone who thrives in the chaos of corporate life. After all, I had already established good connections and a promising foundation as a Piping Material Engineer. It had never occurred to me to try the research field, nor consider taking up a Ph.D. in the future. However, my personal development goal for this year was to try things outside my comfort zone, maximize the master’s programme, and get as much knowledge as I can to be a competent fire safety engineer. Research seemed such a foreign concept but at the same time, I had been curious about it. It approaches fire safety as a mix between theory and application and it seemed like a good training ground to apply our learnings from the first year of the programme.

After contacting Grunde Jomaas and setting up the necessary paperwork, there I was in sunny Slovenia doing my summer internship for FRISSBE (Fire-safe Sustainable Built Environment). FRISSBE is a newly established department in the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG). The FRISSBE project aims to attract high-quality researchers and establish research excellence in the field of fire-safe sustainable built environments. Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, the FRISSBE project intends to amplify the capacities of the state-of-the-art fire laboratory in Logatec, Slovenia and address challenges and discover the midpoint of Sustainability and Fire. (https://www.frissbe.eu/)

My main responsibility during the internship was to research and write an analytical paper on Sustainability and Fire. In this regard, I learned how to do Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and familiarized myself with the different life cycle stages of a product, system, or building through enrolling in a summer school for LCA. I also enhanced my LCA knowledge by talking to fire/environment experts such as Frederick Knez, Robert McNamee, and Margaret McNamee. Life Cycle Assessment has its own inherent challenges, but I saw myself being compelled to answer: how does one highlight sustainability without compromising fire safety? The challenging part of any LCA, aside from the data gathering, was defining ˝Sustainability˝. Because it entails that in carrying out an LCA, the limitations, scope, input and output flows, and system boundaries of what you want to assess are defined by the user and his/her capacity to carry out an LCA.

Aside from the research paper, I also conducted interviews for FRISSBE with local fire safety groups. This is indeed important because to establish a center of excellence for fire safety and sustainability in that part of Europe, we needed to understand fire safety culture in the country. I interviewed Mateja Gris, Project Manager from Slovensko združenje za požarno varstvo (SZPV) / Slovenian Fire Protection Association. We had an illuminating discussion about the fire safety landscape and the processes of certifying fire safety professionals and professional firefighters in Slovenia.  

Prof. Dr. Tomaž Hozjan from the University of Ljubljana also provided some insights from the education standpoint regarding competence building of fire engineers within their curriculum. My major takeaway from the interviews was that Slovenia has a robust system of volunteering to be a firefighter, as it is tradition for them. The massive number of volunteer firefighters, some employees of ZAG, was especially beneficial during the wildfire between Kras region, Slovenia and Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Italy last July.

My timing in Slovenia had been opportune too because I arrived during the laboratory set-up in Logatec and the institute was getting ready for the grand opening in September. To be part of the historic opening was a great experience. Prof. Jose Torero, as a keynote speaker, reminded the general audience that competence and resources are at Slovenia’s disposal, and it is up to them to maximize these. As such, Slovenia is well positioned to do meaningful research and create change.

Opening of the fire laboratory in Logatec. Attended by many prominent individuals, namely the Minister for Education in Slovenia

During my internship, I saw myself going around Slovenia to attend two significant gatherings and visit the InnoRenew Center of Excellence. The first gathering was the Fire Takes No Vacation seminar. Organized by SZPV and ZAG, the seminar brought together legislators, engineers, firefighters and fire safety professionals. The discussion highlighted that sustainability solutions are rapidly increasing while fire safety is trying to catch up to the growth. Funding for research and stringent policies to regulate these sustainable solutions are imperative. The other important conference I attended is WoodRise 2022. Held in Portorož, Slovenia, WoodRise 2022 gathered experts from around the world in the field of engineering, architecture, and timber construction. I was there on volunteer duty, but I had the privilege to talk to many experts and attend some of the lectures. I also supported Andrea Lucherini, senior researcher in FRISSBE, as he gave a talk entitled Towards a sustainable built environment based on fire-safe design with timber and wooden products. As a fire safety engineering student, I saw the importance of the event as a good avenue for the fire safety community to start vital discussions on fire safety in timber. Although timber is indeed sustainable, there are still gaps to address in terms of designing a fire-safe system with this material.

Of course, my time in Slovenia was not just all work but also, I had time to play. By play, I got to discover the wonderful Slovenian countryside and pristine beaches, and ate mouthwatering food. With Slovenia’s strategic location, I was able to travel to Florence and Zagreb as well.

My time in FRISSBE was wonderful. This statement is in part due to the experiences but is mainly due to the people in the FRISSBE and ZAG teams. They helped me to assimilate well in the world of research. At the same time, we also connected and hung out outside of the professional setting. Every individual was a stark reminder that personal development means enhancing your technical skills as an engineer while also cultivating your personal interests and hobbies. I am grateful for the lunch recipes!

Although I didn’t get to participate in experiments, it was still a good experience because I got to refresh my knowledge of the equipment and fire experiments. The internship also helped me realize that for starters, the research field has many depths and complexities. And because of those layers, I had to hone my communication, time management, and analytical skills. In doing meaningful research, one has to ask, what new knowledge am I bringing to the table? Are the analysis and data value-adding? How can I effectively bring the message across to all stakeholders?

I will miss the carpools in the morning because they were great informal mentorship sessions. I learned a lot about what makes a good dissertation and defense presentation. I learned the art of humility, when to say I needed help. Research is about being proactive and that every day is a learning process. I learned that with the onset of the EU green deal, fire safety engineers should quickly adapt to regulation changes and innovative sustainable solutions. In terms of trying to look at sustainability from a more well-rounded perspective, we must also look at societal and economical impacts. Environmental impact, in itself, also encompasses material depletion, soil and water pollution, and particulate emissions – factors that are in fact concurrent with fire safety design. Sustainability drivers have centered the focus on global warming potential but we must strongly highlight, first and foremost, fire safety and people safety. Fire engineers should assert their seat in the table of sustainability practices.

I will end this blog by saying thank you to Grunde Jomaas, Andrea Lucherini, and the rest of the FRISSBE Team for this internship opportunity and for guiding me throughout the summer. I’m now up to 50% convinced in considering a Ph.D. after the master’s programme 😉 Hvala, and I hope to work with everyone again real soon!

What does the IMFSE mean to me? A look back at the IMFSE’s 10-yr anniversary and graduation ceremony 2022

9:25pm – the bus rolls into Ghent Dampoort station, a bit of rain frames the horizon, and the sky takes on a pinkish-blue hue.

As with my flair for the dramatic, the song Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) by the Backstreet Boys played in my head as I took the first steps down the bus (🎶 Oh my God, we’re back again 🎵). It felt so great to be back in eccentric Ghent! I sorely missed the people, the busy streets, and the fries and beer. But! Way up on the agenda for visiting Ghent was also to attend the 10-year anniversary of the IMFSE and this year’s graduation. These were to be very much celebrated as they highlighted a decade of long-lasting friendships, mentorship, knowledge sharing, networking, industry support, STEPS TOWARDS RECOVERY OF TRUST and COMPETENCE, and breaking barriers of social inequity when it comes to safety.

The graduation ceremony

The graduation was an important milestone for cohort 2020, as with any graduating student, because it marked the end of their two-year studies and signified the start of their journeys as newly minted fire safety engineers. Cohorts 2018 and 2019 were also there to be finally doing their graduation in-person after it was held online. To date, the programme has produced 194 quality graduates who have pledged to tirelessly advocate fire safety excellence worldwide.

The event was held at Aula Academica. My classmates (Alfred El Haddad, Martin Sturdy, Jose Morales, and Muneeb Khalid) and I volunteered to help Lies and Silke with the graduation rites. We wanted to ensure that our seniors go out with a bang and that the program ran smoothly as well.

Congratulations to our dear graduates!

The entire program was a perfect mix of impassioned speeches, nostalgia as the graduates looked back at their 2-year studies, and good cheer.

Congratulations also to this year’s award recipients:

Mohammad Seyfi – Margaret Law Award for Outstanding IMFSE Student and Best Poster Award (jury)

Nazim Yakhou – Margaret Law Award for Outstanding Thesis Research

Edwin Ayala Tovar – Margaret Law Award for Progression and Development

Lea Elhokayem – Margaret Law Award for Overall Motivation and Enthusiasm

Devmini Kularatne – Best Poster Award (public opinion)

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After the ceremony, the night festivities started with a walking tour of Ghent. We were a bit worried since it rained in the morning but Lies jokingly said that she talked to the big man upstairs to give us favorable weather in the evening. Indeed, the rain stopped, and we were able to visit Ghent’s famous tourist spots and sample the local cuisines (Stoverij, Cuberdon, Mastel, and of course beer!).  It was amazing because even though we had spent a semester in Ghent, there were still a lot of places to visit! The walking tour was a great networking opportunity too, a chance to talk with prominent personalities outside of a classroom or professional setting. But even in social gatherings, they still love to talk about fire safety and that was great because we learned a lot!

The 10-year anniversary

I was debating internally whether to write about the experience as purely news-like, but I decided to take on a more personal approach and write about what the IMFSE means to me. This is due to the highly inspiring presence of our dear faculty, the alumni, industry sponsors, and the camaraderie.

Covid has derailed a lot of in-person activities but there was one thing that it couldn’t prevent: the passion and dedication of the fire safety community. The excitement was palpable, the atmosphere electric. As we toasted and applauded 10 years of the IMFSE, I felt a renewed sense of purpose. Hearing Professor Torero’s speech On Competence, Trust and the IMFSE had me reflect on why I joined the master’s programme. Everyone has different reasons to do a master’s: to enhance their technical knowledge, to fuel their fire safety interest, or even to be economic refugees from their respective countries. Me, I have always been inspired by engineering in all forms. Sometimes when I see a bridge or a unique building, there is that appreciation and wonder. Working for 8 years in the industry, I always hear the nagging questions, “How can I better myself or what can I contribute to the field?” The questions started from Piper Alpha and the answer came in the form of the IMFSE. In our everyday tasks as engineers, I see not only buildings or bridges but also people with families. There is that drive to bring these people home safely. Fire, as a prevalent issue, is ever dynamic and we must do everything that we can to be one step ahead of it and for me, that is through honing my engineering skills in a fire safety program.

Joining a male-dominated industry, I have always felt the need to “speak louder”. However, in joining the IMFSE, I found my voice. I am always grateful to the programme for putting women front and center in fire safety. They constantly feature amazing women fire engineers and with the alumni speeches, I was further ensured that we have support and a place in the industry.

Looking around the room during the celebration, I felt immense pride and that motivation to study well so that I too will be able and competent to safeguard people, built environment, and environment safety. These engineers may or may not be the richest in the world, but they constantly inspire me that what we do for fire safety, what I do, matters.

📸 Credits to the event photographer for the photographs

When the stars align: Pt. 2

(This blog follows from When the stars align: Pt. 1. Do check it out 😊)

Lundakarnevalen or Lund Carnival has been a Lund City and Lund University staple for many years. When I say years, I mean it has been a century-long tradition. It has braved the test of time, having weathered through significant historical events such as the First World War, Economic Crisis of 1932, and recently the ongoing Corona virus pandemic of 2019. Albeit these circumstances, the carnival has been a big success every time and continues to delight both young and old as people flock to the city center to partake in numerous fun activities such as food booths, games, concerts, and the carnival parade.

According to the official Lundakarnevalen page, the first officially recognized carnival was in 1849 when students from the Småland’s nation hosted a peasant wedding in the form of a carnival procession. Over the years, the carnival started to take on more organized forms, beginning with the quadrennial celebration of the event which was established in 1894. Additional attractions such as Film festivals and a Circus were also introduced. Interestingly enough, the Lundakarnevalen has themes and the activities and over-all look adhere to the theme. Since 1954, the themes typically end with ‘-al’ (e.g. Ritualkarneval, Futuralkarneval). This year, the name of theme was true to tradition and was aptly named Katastrofalkarneval (Disaster Carnival). I have to say, me being there and witnessing the merriment and the high energy, it was an ironic homage to some recent disasters such as the pandemic and climate change.

My classmates and I took some time off from our busy schedules (exams were a week after the carnival!) to watch the parade on the last day. It was a bit confusing as some of the signages and placards on the parade floats were in Swedish. But that’s the thing about having fun, right? You don’t need to understand the words to have a good time. The parade floats were fun and funny!

After the parade, we headed to the main carnival section because we wanted to grab some carnival food. It was amazing to eat cotton candy again! I couldn’t remember when was the last time I ate such huge amounts of sugar. We got into sword fights after with the cotton candy sticks. Hey, we’re serious master’s students but that doesn’t mean we have to stop being kids at heart. The bonding was also a fun way to say goodbye to some of our classmates since we will be separating again for the third semester. Aside from cotton candy, we enjoyed craft beers specially made for the event, tacos, and popcorn. There was also a jazz concert that we happily listened to. It was good standing in the sun because it was a pleasant sign that spring and summer were just around the corner. It was also pleasant to go around and just look at people having a great time. There were also booths and games which were organized by students. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to try one because you had to exchange your money for carnival coins and use those.

In keeping up with our societal duties as fire safety engineers, some of our classmates also volunteered as fire marshals for the event. Cohort 2021 is proud of our volunteer classmates as they ensured that the event was an enjoyable and safe one.

Fire marshal Alperen Gürer at the event

The Lund Carnival was a perfect end to our semester at Lund University. I will surely miss the peace and quiet that Lund offers. I will also miss the nice people (from the local students to our professors) and Fika in Sweden! It was a great experience for IMFSE Cohort 2021 to attend both Lundakarnevalen and Gent Lichtfestival.

When the stars align: Pt. 1

What does one do when at 11:30 in the evening, the caffeine and sugar unceremoniously kick in? Write another blog! This blog is a two-part story of happenchance (or happenstance) events in my IMFSE student life. Nope, this is not a vocabulary lesson on the difference of happenchance or happenstance. This is just an aptly titled blog because it’s such a happy coincidence that during my 2-year master’s programme, I will have witnessed special events: Gent Lichtfestival happening every 3 years and Lundakarnevalen happening every 4 years.

Last year in Ghent, my classmates and I happened to participate in the triennial Gent Lichtfestival (Ghent Light Festival) in November as we were in our first semester in the first year. This spectacular open-air light show festival was set on the streets of Ghent. For five days, almost 7km of Ghent’s prominent tourist spots were illuminated by around 30 light art installations. The festival showcased local and international artists. I particularly enjoyed the hanging lanterns which were crafted by people during lockdown. See if you can spot it in the pictures! Many installations were carried over from previous festivals because they are popular with festivalgoers. The art piece called “Cloud”, consisting of 6,000 light bulbs, was a crowd favorite in Gent Lichtfestival 2015. It was present in the 2021 festival as well. Visitors, like the perennial moth to the flame, traversed the cold to be a part of this historic event because after two years of being in lockdown, any light at the end of the COVID tunnel was warmly welcomed. It was truly refreshing to be part of a community activity again. But we were still cautious and still wore masks as the event was attended by almost 240,000 people!

I leave here pictures of the event because they are indeed worth (more than) a thousand words.

The stars continue to align in When the stars align Pt. 2: Lundakarnevalen 2022 edition, a quadrennial event in Lund and coincidentally we will get to participate in it too as we are in Lund for our 2^nd semester!

How do they say ‘Fire’ in different parts of Europe? and my Easter break travel.

Last April 13 to May 1, we had our Easter break. For some, it is an entirely secular activity wherein people opt to spend the time with their family and do Easter-related activities. This is something entirely new to me because in the Philippines, we are allowed a week off in observance of Holy Week. To try and marry the two cultures (European and Filipino), I spent the Holy Week doing fasting and abstinence and decided to do a 5-country backpack trip to visit friends and family in the following weeks. Aside from chilling and discovering the many beautiful places in Europe, I thought that it would be a good activity to also learn what “Fire” is in different languages.

Sweden and Denmark

I hopped on a train from Sweden to Denmark because I was taking a flight to Budapest from Copenhagen. Like Sweden, Denmark also uses the word “Brand” as the local word for fire.

Hungary

Finally, Hungary! I’ve always dreamed of taking a trip to the Central-Eastern part of Europe because the culture and architecture would be wholly different from that of the Scandinavian countries. I had a great time visiting notable tourist spots such as the Castle Hill complex, Széchenyi Thermal Bath, and Liberty Bridge. My friend and I also did an off-the-beaten-path activity: an Escape Room experience in Locked Room Budapest! We also got to sample local cuisines such as Hungarian sausages (if you’re in Hungary should it be just called a sausage?), Goulash beef stew, and Paprika sauce in the Great Market Hall. I also enjoyed the chimney cakes, which sources say hail originally from Romania but has evolved to be Hungary’s most ubiquitous pastry. In Hungarian, fire is called “Tűz”.

Sunset in Budapest, Liberty Bridge, and views in the Castle Hill complex

Slovakia

After such an action-packed Budapest adventure, our travel to Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital, is a much-needed breather. After settling in our hostel, we munched on some burgers and makové šúľance, a Bratislavan dessert of potato, poppy seeds, sugar, and cherries. The hearty lunch called for a good walk around Bratislava. The Slovak word for fire is “Oheň”. The walk was definitely “oheň” to the extra calories burned off by walking to and from tourist spots such as The Blue Church, Old Town, and Čumil (The Watcher). We only spent a day in Slovakia but before heading out to Vienna, we met up with a good friend for an amazingly authentic Bratislavan dinner. The food consisted mainly of potatoes and goat cheese. I highly recommend that you pair your dinner with a tall glass of cold Slovak beer.

The Watcher statue, view of the UFO bridge from Bratislava Castla, and Old Town

Austria

The 3^rd leg of my 5-country backpack trip is beautiful Austria. As Austria is predominantly German speaking, the local word for fire is “Feuer or Brand”. Austria displayed a noticeable departure from the architecture and over-all look of Slovakia and Hungary. The buildings, from the Schönbrunn Palace to the Hofburg, were more baroque and rococo in style. The Habsburg influence not only extended to the structural aesthetics but also to the food and pastries. An afternoon snack of the world famous Sacher Torte (an ode to the aristocrats and wealthy of old Vienna) and Viennese coffee at the Hotel Sacher was undeniably a decadent experience. We also visited the Hundertwasserhaus complex, a bustling neighborhood that is testament to Vienna’s richness too in the arts and music.

Austria’s National Library

Germany

It was time to say goodbye to my travel companion as I headed north to Germany to visit my cousin. Thus, the 15-hour bus travel from Vienna to Germany commenced. What kept my sanity was the thought of eating good Filipino food because my cousin is a great cook. Plus, I get to visit Hamburg again! Like Austria, Germany calls fire as “Feuer or Brand”.

Norway

I was back again in good old Scandinavia. This time I took a cruise ride from Kiel, Germany to Oslo, Norway to visit some Filipino friends and to spend time with my cousin. The cruise ride was one for the books! We got to enjoy fresh seafood on board, and we were even treated to a good view of the Oslo Opera House, bay area, and the Great Belt Fixed Link bridge. Over-all, I have to say that the trip was “Brann”!, Norway’s own way of saying fire.

View of the harbour area above Oslo Opera House

Great Belt Fixed Link

The trip was really a refreshing break from the 1^st semester and 2^nd semester’s first half. Being an international student in Europe, I get to be exposed to different people, food, and way of life. For me, this is a great training experience because to combat fire in the future merits working with unique mindsets and cultures. Until the next lit experience!

IMFSE Cohort 2021 goes to DBI by Gizelle Jamero and Deonisius Pradipta

A good reason to join the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering is the robust network and industry relations. As we were gathering in front of the V-building in Lund University, we couldn’t help but be excited for the industry visit to one of IMFSE’s programme contributors, DBI – The Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology. Many of us have also never been to Denmark and so the industrial visit is an opportunity to visit Copenhagen. As we were crossing the Øresund Bridge, we see the Ferring Pharmaceuticals building looming ahead, one of DBI’s many interesting projects in and around Denmark.

DBI, The Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology, is one of Europe’s and Denmark’s leading institute for fire safety. Its services range from product development, fire testing, fire investigation to advanced services and research. DBI’s services are applicable in several stages, starting from design & development, construction, facility management, and after fire. One of DBI’s main objective is to unite the research field and the industry, by helping to move new technology to the market and be involved in the testing and standardization process. There, we were warmly welcomed with coffee and chitchat with Bjarne Husted, senior researcher and Thushadh Wijesekere, IMFSE alumnus.

DBI – Dansk Brand-og sikringsteknisk Institut

The day was jam-packed with sessions with the Consultancy, Fire Investigations, Fire Testing, and Advanced Services and Research departments of DBI. As IMFSE students, we were wholly interested in these talks because these gave us a glimpse into the many possible career tracks that we can take up after graduation. The speakers highlighted the technical competencies in our master’s programme that can be very beneficial for work as a fire safety engineer. Among the many competencies are fire simulations, fire dynamics concepts, and risk assessment. DBI also presented some innovations that they are employing to keep up with new technology and the ever-changing demands of project execution and management. The remote inspection is certainly a novel idea to address the sudden shift of everything to online. This gives clients the chance to do remote consultancy. The digital twin represents a virtual model that reflects a real-life fire scenario. It gives the benefit of having a digital footprint of the system and increased digitization allows for easy access to the project site sans the cost of travelling, as well as getting information as quickly as possible before the project site is cleaned.

Digital Twin demonstration by Friedrich Grone, Fire Investigator in DBI

Advanced Services and Research talk by Dan Lauridsen

Aside from presenting us with the relevant departments in DBI where we can potentially work for in the future, DBI also gave us a tour of their fire testing facilities. The institute boasts of a façade test for testing out the integrity of façade materials and flame spread. The façade test equipment was gigantic; and it was the biggest testing apparatus that we’ve ever seen so far. We also got to see very familiar equipment that we have learned about and worked with in the master’s programme – cone calorimeter, room corner test, thermogravimetric analysis, and microcalorimeter.

IMFSE students touring the DBI facility

The visit was closed by having lunch together in the DBI’s very own canteen. During the lunch, we sat together with Bjarne, Thushadh, and Dan Lauridsen, and they answered any of our questions regarding their experience working in DBI. We would like to thank DBI for the insightful visit, and we surely hope that one of our friends will end up working there!

IMFSE 2021 cohort with PhD Students in Lund University, and Bjarne Husted and Thushadh Wijesekere

Burn, baby, burn!

And we have officially started the second semester! The first weeks have been challenging since the pandemic, exacerbated by the winter season, is still bringing in several positive Covid cases. However, Sweden has already eased up on the restrictions and we are slowly being allowed to resume in-person classes. Imagine our excitement when we did our first physical lecture for the Advanced Fire Dynamics course! We all woke up early, donned on our best clothes, and traipsed to the V-building where most of our classes are held.

Aside from the lectures, we were also looking forward to finally experience the laboratory classes in the master’s programme. The coordinators have really been working tirelessly to give us the full experience – lectures and laboratories – and we are extremely grateful that they have accommodated us. I am always eager to enhance my knowledge of fire science through practical applications.

We did a cone calorimeter test which is just one of the many apparatuses that is housed in the Fire Laboratory at the Division of Fire Safety Engineering at Lund University. The Division of Fire Safety Engineering in Lund University is world-renowned in that its education and strong faculty have produced forth a lot of able and skilled fire safety engineers. Among the many equipment in the lab, there are also a third-scale ISO 9705 room for Room Corner Test, a developing laboratory for studying tunnel fires, and a micro combustion calorimeter.

Chris, Muneeb, and Ahab building the solid wood sample and pictures below of the actual testing.

A cone calorimeter works on the principle that the amount of heat or energy obtained is related to the amount of oxygen consumed during the combustion process. Aside from the amount of energy, we can also obtain smoke production and soot yield. The materials we tested were gas (propane in two different flows), liquid (methanol), and solid (wood crib). During the experiment, the group took note of the observed mean flame heights, initial masses, and colors emitted by each fuel. The group is tasked to calculate rate of heat release according to oxygen depletion, convective part, and mass loss rate from the retrieved data.

Thank you to Dr. Nils Johansson for the fun and educational laboratory session on the cone calorimeter test. I am looking forward to doing more laboratory sessions in the future.

Before we start 2022.

While the world has momentarily been slowed down by the current pandemic, fire however has not been deterred. According to the European Commission, Europe is still reporting an average of 65,000 wildfires all over the continent, especially in the European Mediterranean region. The message is clear: continue honing and developing the next generation of engineers to take on fire-related challenges. Thus in 2021, Ghent University welcomed a new set of passionate fire safety engineers from all over the world to study in the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering (IMFSE).

Before we start 2022, it is fitting for us to look back at the beginning of the journey of these young fire safety engineers. They were warmly welcomed into the master’s programme with a guided tour of Ghent’s tourist sites, food spots, and local culture by resident Belgians, Lies Decroos and Silke Van Parys.

L-R: Budmika Chamath from Sri Lanka, Alfred El Haddad from Lebanon, Alperen Gürer from Turkey, and Martin Sturdy from Italy

In focus: Muhammad Muneeb Khalid and Ahab Zahoor from Pakistan

The tour kicked off in front of the Campus Boekentoren building in Jozef Plateaustraat. The building serves also as the main location for most classes of the IMFSE students.

While Campus Boekentoren houses some of the Engineering and Architecture classes, Ghent University also has some twenty other campuses spread across the Ghent area. Campus Aula adds to the charm of Ghent with its large ceremonial doors and ancient stone columns. This campus has witnessed special University occasions. Artists have even used Campus Aula as a site for some art pieces. A local Belgian artist named Jan Fabre covered the stone columns with slices of ham and aptly named the installation as “Over the Edges”.

Marvelling at the Campus Aula architecture is Jose Antonio Morales from Peru

Speaking of food, Belgium is famous to the world for its beer, waffles, and fries. But unknown to many, Ghent was awarded the title “veggie capital of Europe”, with the city observing “Thursday veggie day”. It is no surprise that restaurants such as Pacha Mama and Greenway, vegetarian and vegan restaurants, dot the street of Nederkouter. We headed to Nederkouter to visit a part of Ghent’s food scene and learn about the local cuisine. But if like me, you need the carbs and meat, Silke and Lies suggest eating at Bavet. It serves pasta dishes and is extremely popular to students who love spaghetti.

Ghent is indeed thriving with a lot of food spots and restaurants that can fulfill any foodie’s fantasy, but Ghent also excites visitors with its architecture and amazing city views. The students walked from Nederkouter to the city center to visit the renowned churches and impressive buildings.

The view of the Leie river while we were traversing the bridge to the city center looked like a scene straight out of a postcard.

The city center was bustling with tourists, locals, people on bikes, and trams when we arrived there. Ghent supports cleaner and better air quality, hence the city center is included in the low emission zone and is a bike-friendly area. Inside the city center, you can have front-row seats to the famous Ghent skyline of the three towers: Sint-Niklaaskerk, Belfort, and Sint-Baasfskathedral. Silke and Lies pointed out famous restaurants and shops in the area such as Amadeus for eat-all-you-can ribs, Leonidas for extra-special chocolates (though supermarket chocolates in Belgium are also excellent), and Frituur Tartaar for a taste of Belgium’s famous fries.

L-R: Budmika, Jose, and Ekaterina Krasnova from Russia in front of the Saint Nicholas Church

Fancy a treat other than chocolates? Cuberdon, a popular Belgian delicacy, is for folks with a sweet tooth. These delectable gummy candies are said to be native in Ghent and are also called as Ghent noses because of the shape. The Flemish government has recognized these as an official regional product.

We ended the tour with cold beers and wine at the Kunstzentrum Vooruit modern terrace. Thank you again to Lies and Silke as they have made us feel welcomed in Ghent. We loved the East-West Flanders banter between them!