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José L. Torero : Understanding the Role of Science in Preventing Fire Disasters – Grenfell and Notre Dame
1 juillet 2021 @ 14h00 - 16h00
José L. Torero, University College London United Kingdom, donnera une conférence sur le thème suivant : Understanding the Role of Science in Preventing Fire Disasters – Grenfell and Notre Dame.
Elle se déroulera à distance via Microsoft Teams en cliquant sur ce lien.
Summary
Fires are the most common risk that we face, much more probable than earthquakes, hurricanes, floods or even structural or industrial failures. Nevertheless, major fires that turn into disasters are very rare. The reason for the low probability of large fires is that our regulatory framework and response approach (i.e. firefighting) is, in principle, designed to mitigate effectively the negative progression of a fire. As a result, fires, such as Notre Dame or Grenfell shock us, not only because of the ultimate loss, but also because they force us to review the adequacy of our mitigation approaches. Forensic analysis of these examples allows us to highlight the gaps of understanding and the role of science in improving our regulations and firefighting practices. This presentation will take the examples of Notre Dame and Grenfell, analyse the physical evolution of the fires and link this evolution to specific prevention and response practises as well as misunderstood technological innovations. Through this analysis, weaknesses in our scientific understanding will be highlighted leading to a roadmap of scientific work that is necessary to prevent these fires from evolving towards disasters.
Biography
Professor José L. Torero is Professor Civil Engineering and Head of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at University College London. He works in the fields of safety, environmental remediation and sanitation where he specializes in complex environments such as developing nations, complex urban environments, novel architectures, new construction materials, critical infrastructure, aircraft and spacecraft. José is a Chartered Engineer (UK), a Registered Professional Engineer in Queensland, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), The Royal Society of Edinburgh (UK), The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (USA), the Institution of Fire Engineers (UK) and the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK). José joined University College London in 2018 after being the John L. Bryan Chair at the University of Maryland and the Director for the Centre for Disaster Resilience.