Experts on Fires in Vehicles Meet in Baltimore

Fire safety in vehicles is an issue all over the world. Fires in vehicles pose a significant threat to life and property. Recently, fires in buses have been in focus due to catastrophic incidents, for example in Germany. A nightmare scenario is a large vehicle fire in a tunnel.

At the same time new fuels and electrical vehicles are emerging in response to our need for sustainable transport alternatives. Such alternative vehicles introduce new fire challenges that need to be accounted for.

In response to the pressing need for international dialogue, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden organized the conference: FIVE (Fires In Vehicles) to will held in Baltimore 5-6 October. FIVE will bring together scientists, regulators, test engineers, industry, suppliers, insurance companies and other organizations from the diverse field of transportation to discuss important fire issues.

“We believe that this exchange of knowledge will significantly enhance economic and safe solutions – sustainable solutions – to problems in the vehicle fire area”, said Fredrik Rosén of SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden.

“There will also be presentations about environmental effects from vehicle fires, the art of fire investigation and risk mitigation by using extinguishing and detections systems”, Fredrik Rosén continued.

Authorities push for safer vehicles through MAP-21 as presented by keynote speakers Thomas Littleton, associate administrator for Transit Safety and Oversight at the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Stephen Ridella, director of the office of Vehicle Crashworthiness Research at National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).