The 2024 President’s inaugural lecture and dinner followed the Annual General Meeting at One Great George Street on Monday 29 January 2024.
When unchecked, fire causes many fatalities, a greater number of serious injuries, and annual social and economic losses in the UK typically exceeding £10 billion. Chris described the stages in the growth of a fire from ignition to fully developed, and the way in which physical, chemical and dimensional factors influence each stage in its development and spread beyond the compartment of origin. He used the King’s Cross Underground fire to illustrate how these principles are applied to the investigation of large-scale disasters, described the investigative methodology, and reviewed advances in on-scene and laboratory analytical techniques.
Speaker
Chris Foster joined consulting scientists and engineers Dr J H Burgoyne & Partners LLP after completing his PhD research on the spontaneous ignition of hydrocarbons in air. He has over 50 years’ experience investigating the causes and effects of land-based and marine fires and explosions, and chemical and petrochemical incidents, world-wide, including the Flixborough disaster (1974), the King’s Cross Underground fire (1987), the Mont Blanc tunnel fire (1999) and the Buncefield explosion (2005). He lectures at Edinburgh and Cranfield Universities.