WPI receives $1M to study green fire safety

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Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has been awarded $1 million over the next three years to study the fire hazards and risks associated with green building elements.

Brian Meacham, associate professor of fire protection engineering, has received the U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant to figure out how to reduce the potential for injury and death when fires erupt in structures with environmentally sustainable elements.

“Through this research, we look to identify areas in which sustainable or green building solutions might create fire safety concerns, and then develop data, tools and methods to help reduce the fire risk,” Meacham said in a statement. “Our ultimate goal is to achieve both sustainability and fire safety.”

The study will build on a 2012 report by Meacham that found many green building elements have greater flammability, faster burns rates and are more susceptible to collapse.

Fire performance experiments will be conducted inside WPI’s new fire protection laboratory in Gateway Park and at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in Stow. WPI students will also visit fire scenes to ascertain whether green or sustainable building elements played a role in fires.

The data will be analyzed to determine how green building elements perform against conventional construction and serve as a basis for recommendations to change state and national building codes and standards.

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