Conference Program
To view additional information about a speaker or session, click on the session title.
Tuesday 13 May 2025
Day 0 (Pre-conference)
Official Opening
5:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Registration Open
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Tradeshow Hall Open
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Tradeshow Hall
Wednesday 14 May 2025
Day 1
7:30 am – 5:00 pm
Registration Open
7:30 am – 5:00 pm
Tradeshow Hall Open
Plenary Sessions
Room
Plenary: Central Room A
8:30 am – 8:35 am
Brett de Hoedt, Fire Australia MC
8:35 am – 9:00 am
David Boverman, President, FPA Australia
9:00 am – 9:30 am
NFPA Fire and Life Safety Ecosystem Applications and Lessons Learned
Chris Dubay, Vice President and Chief Engineer, National Fire Protection Association
9:30 am – 10:00 am
Speaker TBC
10:00 am – 10:30 am
Speaker TBC
10:30 am – 10:55 am
Morning Tea
Tradeshow Hall
Breakout Sessions
Stream:
Room:
11:00 am – 11:40 am
Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)
Plenary Room
John Collie, Chief Executive Officer, FPA Australia
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
A New Era of Global Fire Monitoring
Dr Karen O’Conner, Earth Fire Alliance
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.9
Dr. Maria Kornakova, Manager Bushfire Services, FPA Australia
Fire Systems Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
Inspect and Test
Meeting Room E3.3
Speaker TBC
Stream:
Room:
11:45 am – 12:25 pm
Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)
Plenary Room
Speaker TBC
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
Richard Mills, Former Deputy Commissioner London Fire Brigade
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.9
Derivation of wildfire radiant heat flux values using an ensemble of dynamic fire simulation models
Anthony Power, Bushfire Technical Lead, Australian Institute of Landscape Architects
Fire Systems Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
A series of large scale tunnel fire test
Phil Friday, Vice President, Product Technology, The Reliable Automatic Sprinkler Co. Inc.
Inspect and Test
Meeting Room E3.3
11:45 am – 12:05 pm
Henry Coles, Project Officer, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
12:05 pm – 12:25 pm
The Global Language of Firestopping
Abhishek Chhabra, Director International Initiatives, Firestop Contractors International Association (FCIA)
12:30 pm – 1:20 pm
Lunch
Tradeshow Hall
Stream:
Room:
1:20 pm – 2:05 pm
Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)
Plenary Room
Nat Andrews, Director, Certifiers 2u Pty Ltd
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
Fire Safety Reforms make slow progress in Australia since Grenfell
Cameron Creamer, Arup
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.9
Professor David Bowman, Natural Hazards Research Australia
Fire Systems Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
Jason D’Silva, Senior Engineer, Fire Life Safety, Transport for NSW
Inspect and Test
Meeting Room E3.3
Vance Row, Queensland Manger, Holyoa
Ivan Steed, Team Leader – Essential Services, Grosvenor Engineering Group
Pat Mcmanus, Managing Director, Stokes Safety
Stream:
Room:
2:10 pm – 2:55 pm
Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)
Plenary Room
Henrietta Tan, Engagement Manager, Standards Australia
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
Effective Decision Making in Incident Command
Dr Greg Drummond, Assistant Commissioner FRNSW – Education and Training
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.9
Natural Hazards Research
Fire Systems Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
David Isaac, Manager, Fire and Safety Technologies
Inspect and Test
Meeting Room E3.3
Alan Short, Managing Director, Fire & Emergency Services SA Pty Ltd
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Afternoon Tea
Tradeshow Hall
Stream:
Room:
3:30 pm – 4:10 pm
Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)
Plenary Room
John Lynch, General Manager Business Services, Wormald
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
Trent Fearnley, IFE International President/Former National Advisor Fire Risk Management, Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.9
Beyond Fire Spread: Advancing Rapid Suppression Modelling
Olivia Breed, Head of Firestory, Kablamo
Thomas Hart, Customer Solutions Manager, Kablamo
Fire Systems Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
Sustainable Certified Structural Steel Fire Protection Solutions at reduced costs
Chris Partington, Passive Fire Protection Manager, Tremco
Inspect and Test
Meeting Room E3.3
Stream:
Room:
4:15 pm – 5:00 pm
Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)
Plenary Room
Moderator:
Brett de Hoedt, Fire Australia MC
Panellists :
Simon Rickard, National Technical Manager, FPA Australia
Glenn Talbot, Managing Director, Verified
John Lynch, General Manager Business Services, Wormald
Jody Aldag, Director, Fire Matrix
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
Polyaire Commercial Site Fire – Cause and Impact
Tara Burton, Station Officer/Fire Investigator, FRNSW
Nik Sutarov, Private Forensic Fire Examiner , halliwellglobal
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.9
Rod O’Loan, Technical and Products, Stainless Steel Wire & Mesh
Fire Systems Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
Modular Construction and Lightweight flooring systems – Implications for FIRE Resistance
Gavin Williams, Technical Manager, TBA FIREFLY
Inspect and Test
Meeting Room E3.3
Advancing Fire Suppression Maintenance with Ultrasonic Technology
Anthony Lima, Founder and Director, Fire NDT Pty Ltd
7:00 pm – 11:30 pm
Conference and Awards Gala Dinner
The Grand Ballroom at the Fullerton Hotel Sydney
Thursday 15 May 2025
Day 2
7:30 am – 5:00 pm
Registration Open
8:00 am – 4:30 pm
Tradeshow Hall Open
Plenary Sessions
Room
Plenary: Central Room A
8:30 am – 9:00 am
9:00 am – 9:30 am
Safety Considerations in Energy Storage
Chris Groves, Product Manager, Wärtsilä Energy Storage & Optimisation, Wärtsilä
9:30 am – 10:00 am
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Agilus
10:00 am – 10:30 am
Russell Porteous, Chief Executive Officer, Firewize
10:30 am – 10:55 am
Morning Tea
Tradeshow Hall
Breakout Sessions
Stream:
Room:
11:00 am – 11:40 am
Innovation
Plenary Room
Speaker TBC
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
Private Fire Departments Role in Managing Building Fire Safety Approvals and Maintenance Standards
Fernando Palacios, Chief Queretaro Fire Department, Mexico
Fire Systems Assessment
(FSA / ESM)
Meeting Room E3.9
Key ingredients for sustainable and utilitarian best practice building regulation.
Kim Lovegrove, Founder, Lovegrove & Cotton Lawyers
Fire System Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
John Clampett, Director, JC Consulting
Shae Mete, Chief Engineer and Inventor, FST Innovation
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.3
Bushfire risk and Renewable Energy developments (TBC)
Matthew Allen, Specialist Risk and Fire Safety Manager, Country Fire Authority
Stream:
Room:
11:45 am – 12:25 pm
Innovation
Plenary Room
Home Fire Sprinklers: Where are we at? And where to next?
Mark Whybro, Chair, Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Australia (HFSCA)
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
Fire Service Expectations for Multi Storey Warehouses
Luke Loseby, Inspector FRNSW – Fire Safety Directorate
Fire Systems Assessment
(FSA / ESM)
Meeting Room E3.9
Fire System Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
The link between passive firestop approvals, product quality, building safety & sustainability
Dr. Martin Stirling, Head of Sustainability (Australia) and Regional Process Lead, AMS (A2), Hilti (Aust.) Pty Ltd
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.3
Justin Leonard, Research Leader in Bushfire Adaptation, CSIRO
12:30 pm – 1:20 pm
Lunch
Tradeshow Hall
Stream:
Room:
1:20 pm – 2:05 pm
Innovation
Plenary Room
Leveraging AI for business success
Moderator:
Brett de Hoedt, Fire Australia MC
Panellists :
Russell Porteous, Chief Executive Officer, Firewize
John Lynch, General Manager Business Services, Wormald
John Collie, Chief Executive Officer, FPA Australia
Glenn Talbot, Managing Director, Verified
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
Leading Safety: Consulting to High Risk Environments
Trent Curtin, Director, Safework NSW, Former Assistant Commissioner, FRNSW
Fire Systems Assessment
(FSA / ESM)
Meeting Room E3.9
Herbert Domgjoni, Principal, Social Infrastructure Sector Lead, VIC/SA/TAS, Stantec
Sebastian Azagra, Chartered Fire Protection and Fire Safety Project Technical Lead, Stantec
Fire System Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
1:20 pm – 1:40 pm
Dry-Flo® digitally-enabled waterless deluge performance and compliance testing
Daniel McCormick, Director Fire Services, Paradigm
1:45 pm – 2:05 pm
Building X: AI-driven building analytics for unmatched safety and operational excellence
Lars Weber, Head of Digital & Software Sales, Siemens Ltd.
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.3
Dr Alan Green, Uni of Wollongong
Stream:
Room:
2:10 pm – 2:55 pm
Innovation
Plenary Room
2:35 pm – 2:55 pm
Hank Van Ravenstein, Principal, LCI Consultants
Les Schwarz, Special Counsel, KPA Lawyers
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
Fire Service Requirements for BESS Installations
Jamie Hansen, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Community Safety, Fire Rescue Victoria
Fire Systems Assessment
(FSA / ESM)
Meeting Room E3.9
From Maintenance to Mastery: Thriving as a Fire Partner in the Strata Sector
Nathan Keating, Chief Executive Officer, Focus Building Risk And Compliance Pty Ltd
Fire System Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
2:10pm – 2:35pm
Speaker TBC
2:35pm – 2:55pm
High Viscosity Foam Concentrates and Foam System Design
David Meyer, Managing Director, Orion Fire Engineering
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.3
Speaker TBC
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Afternoon Tea
Tradeshow Hall
Stream:
Room:
3:30 pm – 4:10 pm
Innovation
Plenary Room
Using AI for Passive Fire Stopping Design and Construction Monitoring
Akshat Malhotra, Senior Associate Director, Beca
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
Speaker TBC
Fire Systems Assessment
(FSA / ESM)
Meeting Room E3.9
Darin Evans, Director, Pacific Institute of Technology
Fire System Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
Sprinkler Protection in Housing for People with Disabilities
Elizabeth Sieverts, Associate, (Fire Safety – Risk & Process Safety) ARUP
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.3
Speaker TBC
Stream:
Room:
4:15 pm – 5:00 pm
Innovation
Plenary Room
4:15 pm – 4:35 pm
Revolutionising Fire Equipment Inspections with Artificial Intelligence
Naaman Shibi, Solution Consultant, Techs4biz Australia
4:40 pm – 5:00 pm
Blockchain in Fire Compliance: A New Era for Record-Keeping Integrity
Mathew Kenn, Service Manager, Grosvenor Engineering Group
Fire Safety Engineering
Meeting Room E3.1 & E3.2
High Rise Fire Operational Tactics
Gerard Mann, Fire Operations Instructor, Fire Rescue Victoria
Fire Systems Assessment
(FSA / ESM)
Meeting Room E3.9
Fire Safety Assessment & the Emergency Plan
Ian Collins, Emergency Plan Principal,
Fire System Design
(FSD)
Meeting Room E3.10
Speaker TBC
Bushfire
Meeting Room E3.3
Speaker TBC