Fire Research and Innovation Centre

Annually fires lead to major losses in terms of fatalities, injured people, and values. In response to this challenge, the Fire Research and Innovation Centre (FRIC) started in 2019. With the vision of knowledge for a fire safe society, we work to develop knowledge that is needed for making optimal choices and develop better solutions for increased fire safety in buildings. FRIC shall strengthen cooperation and lead to a long-term increase of competence and knowledge within the fire safety field. Multidisciplinary collaboration is a prerequisite for the development of good solutions in the centre. FRIC is led by RISE Fire Research in Trondheim, with NTNU and SINTEF as research partners. The research centre has partners from the public sector, consultancy engineers, manufacturers of building materials and building installations, and within real estate development and management. FRIC was reorganized in 2024, with some changes in the project portfolio and partners, but still with fire safety in buildings as the main focus. The research projects are organised into four work packages: 1: Fire safety in a societal perspective 2: Fire development and suppression 3: Fire safe buildings 4: Digitalisation for improved fire safety All publications, including recordings of webinars, are available on the FRIC website https://fric.no/en. In Work Package 1, we have established a knowledge base for fire safety for elderly people living at home, which will be used to identify optimal fire protection measures. The RISE-report "Right measures in the right place" from 2015 is being revised; It describes preventive and targeted technical and organisational measures against fatal fires in risk groups. The report is used by several actors in the field of fire prevention, and new knowledge is now being included. The focus of the project on learning from fire investigations is on smaller fire incidents among elderly people living at home. The purpose is to find out why the fire incidents did not develop into larger fires, and to identify possible common factors that can be useful for the preventive work. In addition a report template for the fire services' evaluation of fires is being prepared, this will facilitate the exchange of information and strengthen national learning. The aim of Work Package 2 is to increase the understanding of fire development in buildings. The topic of a PhD project is mathematical modelling of combustion at low concentrations of oxygen. The thesis is scheduled to be completed in the autumn of 2025. In November 2025, a new PhD candidate will start new work on numerical modelling of fire. In collaboration with the SafeBESS project (funded by the Research Council of Norway), a larger room for fire experiments is built. Results from the experiments in this room will be an important data basis for the new PhD candidate. In this work package, we also conduct research on fire safety in battery rooms in buildings. It has been investigated how different stresses on lithium-ion batteries can lead to so-called "thermal runaway", and how this and other factors affect the fire development in the battery. In Work Package 3, the goal is to acquire knowledge that can help prevent fires from starting, developing and spreading in buildings. One of the projects focuses on new building materials and products, as well as new applications of existing building materials. A series of experiments is planned with the aim of characterizing the fire properties of different types of combustible insulation, and the experiments will be carried out during the autumn of 2025. Another topic is fire safety in large buildings with wooden structures. A FRIC PhD candidate presented the effect of open and closed window openings on the fire development in large rooms with wooden surfaces at the Interflam 2025 conference. Fire safety in historical buildings is another topic in the work package. During the spring of 2025, inspections were carried out of ten different historical buildings in Trondheim and Oslo, and a report that will present challenges and existing fire protection measures, and propose suitable solutions is now underway. The topic of fire safety in connection with photovoltaic installations includes a PhD project that will be completed in the autumn of 2025. In this PhD project, several fire experiments have been carried out that have been presented in various publications. In Work Package 4, we develop knowledge about how VR technology can be used in the education and training of firefighters. A VR model for fire in garage facilities has been developed, and the model is now being tested among firefighters. We also study how digital solutions (e.g. BIM) can help maintain fire safety throughout all phases of the building's lifecycle. A survey has been carried out on existing technologies and how they are used in practice. This work is summarized in an article to be presented at the CISBAT conference.

FRIC is a national research centre that develops knowledge within the field of fire safety for the Norwegian society, knowledge that also to a high degree will be transferable to the international community. The FRIC centre vision is knowledge for a fire safe society. FRIC aims to contribute significantly to improved fire safety of people, reduced risks for fire and rescue services, reduced fire loss of properties and values, and reduced negative impact of fires on the environment. The primary objective is to obtain improved evidence-based decision-making and solutions for fire safety and fire protection in the built environment. The main R&D challenges addressed include: • Societal fire safety, with a special focus on people at risk in a fire situation. • How the society can learn from fire incidents. • Enhancing fundamental understanding of fire dynamics and fire suppression. • Improving building technology and design: Timber structures, including fire safety during construction; novel building designs, fire safety in existing buildings; construction materials and products; new, sustainable energy solutions and smart technologies. • Digital solutions for improved fire safety, this includes building information models, and digital tools (e.g. VR) for fire fighter training. FRIC delivers high impact findings beyond the state-of-the-art in the centre's research and innovation areas. New approaches, tools, models, data, etc. are developed that can readily be incorporated into end user partners' and others’ fire safety and fire protection related decision-making activities. FRIC achieves and maintains scientific and technical excellence, as demonstrated through publication in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. Centre results and advances provide data, recommendations and guidance in support of new and better rules, regulations, test methods and standards for fire safety in the society. FRIC partners and collaborators include leading research- and academic institutions, and a diverse group of public and private sector organizations. Three PhD-candidates and 20 MSc students were trained in the first five years of the centre, two new PhD candidates and a number of students at BSc and MSc level will be engaged in the next period of FRIC. This ensures an increased level of competency for the fire safety field in Norway.