This hybrid seminar will feature international and local experts who will talk about their experience of designing and using bushfire sprinkler systems to protect structures from bushfires.

The session will include: 

• An historical overview, research outcomes, international activity and the future of sprinklers.
• The current status of bushfire sprinklers in Australia and internationally.
• Outline the available technologies that relate to bushfire sprinklers.
• Workshop the current blockers that limit greater use of bushfire sprinklers in Australia.
• What is the future of Australian Standards in relation to bushfire sprinklers.
• What actions can the industry undertake to further the bushfire sprinkler industry.

Guest speakers include: 

Dr Joseph Mitchell, PhD.  M-bar Technologies and Consulting LCC

Dr Joseph Mitchell’s career has spanned several fields over the decades of his professional life. As a an experimental particle physicist, he developed excellence in scientific methodology at laboratories in the United States and Europe.

After settling in California, at the request of his wife he applied his scientific skills to develop a novel wildfire protection system (WEEDS) for their home. This system protected their home in the 2003 Cedar fire, after which Dr. Mitchell published the design of the system in the world’s leading fire engineering journal and founded M-bar Technologies and Consulting, LLC to publicize the importance of protecting homes from embers during wildfires. In 2009 he was selected to serve on the California State Fire Marshal Task Force which established a framework for testing ignition resistant construction proposed for the 2010 update to the California Building Code.

With this background, Dr. Mitchell was able to establish himself as an expert in wildfire at the California Public Utilities Commission. Dr. Mitchell has been an expert witness at the CPUC on issues regarding wildfire and powerlines since 2006 and has authored academic papers on wildfires caused by utility infrastructure. He was the first to recognize and warn of the potential for catastrophic power line firestorms. He proposed and successfully advocated at the CPUC for the first utility fire protection plans aimed at preventing catastrophic fire ignitions. He also proposed the process that led to the statewide utility fire hazard maps created by the CPUC and CAL FIRE, and regulations requiring utilities to provide fire ignition data to the CPUC.

Alan Green, PhD. Senior Research Fellow at Sustainable Buildings Research Centre, University of Wollongong 

Alan Green has a background in Mechanical Engineering and experience in engineering design began at BlueScope Steel where he was employed as a Cadet from 2006 to 2011. Since then, Alan has pursued his keen interest in the science of fluid mechanics, heat transfer and thermodynamics, and his passion for environmental conservation and sustainability, through a range of roles. He was awarded a PhD in 2019 for his work on sprinkler systems to protect houses from bushfire.

Alan will present results from bushfire sprinkler tests and simulations that are being conducted at the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC), University of Wollongong.  Clear guidance is still not available to bushfire sprinkler system designers answering fundamental questions, including: ‘What type of sprinklers to install?’, ‘Where to install them?’ and ‘How much water is required?’.  Alan’s presentation will outline the limits of the current scientific knowledge surrounding such questions, as well as the research that is underway to support improved design guidance in the near future.

Alan will be presenting virtually from NSW.

Dr Anne D. Cope, Ph.D, P.E., Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety

 Dr. Anne Cope joined IBHS in 2009 just a few months before the groundbreaking for the construction of the IBHS Research Centre in Richburg, South Carolina. As the Chief Engineer, she leads the development of research programs to improve the performance of structures in hurricanes, wildfires, severe thunderstorms, and hailstorms as well as the team of engineers, scientists, and skilled craftsman who conduct research on full-scale homes and commercial buildings. She is responsible for the team’s implementation of research findings into building codes and standards.

Prior to joining IBHS, Dr. Cope was a project manager and structural engineer with Reynolds, Smith & Hills, Inc., designing projects for NASA, Department of Defense, and commercial launch operations. Dr. Cope’s research encompasses topics ranging from the full-scale simulation of wind effects on buildings to detailed studies of the vulnerabilities of buildings to natural hazards and the development of damage prediction models. She is also a proud veteran of the United States Army. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Clemson University, and her doctorate from the University of Florida. She is a registered professional engineer in Florida and South Carolina.

Anne will presenting virtually from Washington D.C.

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