At this workshop we presented our concept for future research efforts to understand the physics occurring in large warehouse fires to accurately classify the fire hazards of warehouse commodities.

An important comment from Jonathan Perricone:

This workshop has produced several elaborate ideas covering just about every fire protection tool available today. The next step in this process is to test these ideas to find out the limits of their protection. For example, how tall can storage be before Idea A no longer provides adequate protection? It would also be good to know if lab results are repeatable. If not, that means that we can’t expect the system to perform in real life the same way it did in the test. Where are we then? This is a good example of how fire protection is quickly moving toward larger-than-life problems that can’t be adequately examined at full scale. Previous attempts at modeling (scale, computer, etc.) have not yet proven viable alternatives because we lack some basic fundamental knowledge. Time to start investing in this fundamental knowledge. The future of this field depends on it.

I am troubled by the comment that “some situations or conditions cannot be engineered to make it right.” What is the alternative? An untested solution?