Conference Program

To view additional information about a speaker or session, click on the session title.

Tuesday 7 May 2024

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

Welcome Reception

Tradeshow Hall

Wednesday 8 May 2024

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

Conference Opening

Brett de Hoedt, Fire Australia MC

8:35 am – 9:00 am

Welcome

Mark PotterPresident, FPA Australia

9:00 am – 9:30 am

International trends and technologies demanding a fire safety renaissance – what fire safety research is telling us? 

Charley Fleischmann, Principal Research Engineer with UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), UL

9:30 am – 10:00 am

Responsible end of life management of ODS & SGS fire extinguishing agents

Elvira Nigido, Group Sustainability Compliance Manager, A-Gas

10:00 am – 10:30 am

Have you notified your insurer?

Fiona Perrin, Senior Risk Engineer, Zurich Resilience Solutions

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)


Central Room A

How does the insurance industry assist with fire system maintenance compliance?

Alan Wilson OAM, Managing Director, Alan Wilson Insurance Brokers

Bushfire



Central Room B

Role of professionals in bushfire risk reduction – BPAD updates

Dr. Maria Kornakova, Manager Bushfire Services, FPA Australia

Fire Systems Design



Central Room C

How to Prevent Lithium-ion Battery Fires from Cradle to Grave

Richard Taylor, Business Development Director-Pacific, Honeywell

 

Special Hazards



Meeting Room 5

Developments in Fire Protection Technologies for Lithium Ion Batteries

Howard Tomlin, Group Engineering Manager, Fire Protection Technologies

Stream:



Room:

11:45 am – 12:30 pm

Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)


Central Room A

Software systems in fire panel session

Moderator:

Brett de Hoedt, Fire Australia MC

Panellists:

Russell Porteous, Chief Executive Officer, Firewize

Alan Short, Managing Director, Fire & Emergency Services SA

John Lynch, General Manager Business Services, Wormald

Bushfire



Central Room B

When Fire Safety Meets Bushfire Safety

Catherine Ryland, Director, CR Bushfire

Fire Systems Design



Central Room C

The best goal never yet set. The greatest scientific collaboration since the Hadron Collider.

11:45 am – 12:05 pm

Graeme Thom, Managing Director, GT & Associates

Special Hazards



Meeting Room 5

Gaseous fire systems and the insurance sector

Phil Morrell, Senior Engineering Specialist II, FM Global

Vikki Dodds, Senior Learning Specialist, FM Global

12:30 pm – 1:20 pm

Lunch

Tradeshow Hall

Stream:



Room:

1:20 pm – 2:05 pm

Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)


Central Room A

Why are Essential Safety Measures and Fire Engineering Important in Building Designs and for Practitioners

Hank Van Ravenstein, Principal, LCI Consultants

Les Schwarz, Special Counsel – Head of Litigation, KPA Lawyers

Bushfire



Central Room B

Research project; January 2020 NSW Bushfires study into building vulnerability

Dr. James O’Brien, Chief Geospatial Scientist, Risk Frontiers

Fire Systems Design



Central Room C

Revolutionising Fire Safety in the Digital Age

Amin Nooranipour, Product Manager (Fire Safety) ANZ, Siemens

Special Hazards



Meeting Room 5

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Unique Buildings for Storage and Supply

Margaret Tatum, Senior Fire Engineer, Sotera

Paul Clancy, Director, Sotera

Stream:



Room:

2:10 pm – 2:55 pm

Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)


Central Room A

Performance-based design in fire engineering. Friend or foe?

Marcus Royle, Leader – Fire, A G Coombs

Ben O’Brien, Technical Specialist – Fire Mode, A G Coombs

Bushfire



Central Room B

LiDAR-based Heat Transfer Models of Buildings for Bushfire Conditions

Anthony Ariyanayagam, Senior Lecturer in Structural Engineering, QUT

Fire Systems Design



Central Room C

Special Hazards



Meeting Room 5

Environmental Management of Firefighting Foam and Queensland’s transition to fluorine-free foams

Nigel Holmes, Principal Advisor Incident Management, Queensland Department of Environment and Science

3:00 pm – 3:30 pm

Afternoon Tea

Tradeshow Hall

Stream:



Room:

3:30 pm – 4:10 pm

Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)


Central Room A

The environmental impact of sprinklers

Mark Fessenden, Managing Director, International Fire Suppression Alliance

Bushfire



Central Room B

Bush Fire Design, Assessment, & Compliance – Confessions

David Boverman, Chief Executive Officer & Principal Advocate/Consultant, Helping Hands Planning & Design Pty Ltd

Fire Systems Design



Central Room C

Mental health in construction

James Cameron, Executive Director, Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF)

Special Hazards



Meeting Room 5

Fire Hazards of Electric Vehicles (EVs) Located within Buildings

Viktor Yarchuk, Senior Fire Safety Engineer, Warringtonfire Australia, a Jensen Hughes Company 

 

Stream:



Room:

4:15 pm – 5:00 pm

Fire Systems Assessment (FSA/ESM)


Central Room A

AS1841 & a new section lithium-ion battery fire extinguishers 

Ray Mergard, Managing Director, Fire Safety Equipment

Stephen Birch, Managing Director, Flamestop Australia

Bushfire



Central Room B

Fire Systems Design



Central Room C

Next edition of the NCC

Gary Rake, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Building Codes Board

Special Hazards



Meeting Room 5

Does the A350 aircraft fire in Japan suggest upgrading fire test standards?

Mike Wilson, Principal, Wilson Consulting

*This session with will be presented remotely

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Reece Fire Networking Drinks

Tradeshow Hall

7:00 pm – 11:30 pm

Conference and Awards Gala Dinner

The Event Centre Marquee at The Star Gold Coast

Thursday 9 May 2024

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

8:15 am – 8:45 am

FPA Australia

John Collie, Chief Executive Officer, FPA Australia

 

8:45 am – 9:30 am

Fire Safety Engineering … Fire Protection Engineering … The gap

David Isaac, Director, Fire & Safety Technologies

Dr. Jonathan Barnett, Director, Basic Expert 

Alan Wilson OAM, Director, Alan Wilson Insurance Brokers

9:30 am – 10:00 am

Igniting a Response: Battery Energy Storage Safety

Noah Ryder, Chief Operating Officer, Fire & Risk Alliance, LLC 

10:00 am – 10:30 am

Product Traceability and Environmental Claims Verification

Neil Savery, Managing Director, ICC Oceania

10:30 am – 11:00 am

Morning Tea

Tradeshow Hall

Breakout Sessions

Stream:


Room:

11:00 am – 11:45 am

Inspect and Test


Central Room A

AS1851 update

John Lynch, General Manager Business Services, Wormald

Bushfire


Central Room B

Multi-modal sensing for fast and accurate detection of wildfire ignitions

Debra J Deininger, Chief Revenue Officer, N5 Sensors

Innovation


Central Room C

Redefining work: A blueprint to hybrid and remote workplaces

Alan Short, Managing Director, Fire & Emergency Services SA

 

Other


Meeting Room 5

Women in Fire panel

Moderator:

Yvonne Pengally, Director, Myown Constructions

Panellists:

Tracy Gurnett Director, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Christina Knorr, Founding Director, CJK Fire & Safety 

Anita Kingdom, General Manager, Total Concept Industries

 

Stream:


Room:

11:50 am – 12:30 pm

Other


Central Room A

Bushfire


Central Room B

Lessons from Black Summer

Dr. Rowena Morris, Node Research Manager NSW/ACT, Natural Hazards Research Australia 

Innovation


Central Room C

Fire resistance, combustibility and fire hazard properties

Christina Knorr, Founding Director, CJK Fire & Safety 

12:30 pm – 1:20 pm

Lunch

Tradeshow Hall

Stream:


Room:

1:25 pm – 1:45 pm

Other


Central Room A

Australia’s strong Ozone protection laws. Can we do more?

Paul Hodgson, Executive Officer – Ozone Protection, Fire Protection Industry Board

Bushfire


Central Room B

Latest research – Timber construction in bushfire-prone areas

Boris Iskra, National Codes and Standards Manager, Forest and Wood Products Australia

Innovation


Central Room C

AI Innovation in Fire Protection

Russell Porteous, Chief Executive Officer, Firewize

1:50 pm – 2:10 pm

Solving the combustible cladding issue in Victoria: a Cladding Safety Victoria update

Ashley Hunt, Executive Director Program Delivery, Cladding Safety Victoria

AI, Fire Fighting Robots, and the Future of Fire Safety

Noah Ryder, Chief Operating Officer, Fire & Risk Alliance, LLC 

Stream:


Room:

2:15 pm – 3:00 pm

Other


Central Room A

Safely Managing Fires Involving Solar and Static Battery Systems

Capt. Richard Birt, Commissioner (Retired), City of Las Vegas

Bushfire


Central Room B

Challenges of BPAD

Kathryn Kinnear, Director/Principal Environmental & Bushfire Consultant, Bio Diverse Solutions

Innovation


Central Room C

Technology in asset management strategy

Antonio Serianni, NSW Business Development Manager, Wormald

Inspect and Test


Meeting Room 5

Fire Protection – is it box ticking, best practice or the space in between?

Anita Kingdom, General Manager, Total Concept Industries

3:00 pm – 3:30 pm

Afternoon Tea

Tradeshow Hall

Stream:


Room:

3:30 pm – 4:10 pm

Other


Central Room A

Working with your customers to understand their fire protection risk appetite

Simon Rickard, National Technical Manager, FPA Australia

Bushfire


Central Room B

Hear from industry experts on all things Bushfire. The perfect way to round out the conference.

Panellists:

Dr. Maria Kornakova, Manager Bushfire Services, FPA Australia

Mark Potter, President, FPA Australia

Innovation


Central Room C

Fire safety at caravan parks

Matt Allen, Specialist Risk And Fire Safety Manager, Country Fire Authority

Inspect and Test


Meeting Room 5

Best Practice for Battery Testing: AS 1851 Compliance

Warren Makings, Technical Manager, FPA Australia

Plenary Sessions

Room:

4:15 pm – 4:55 pm

Central Room A

Silkyara-Bardot Tunnel Collapse – the Disaster with a Silver Lining

Prof. Arnold Dix, Barrister, Scientist, Professor of Engineering

4:55 pm – 5:00 pm

Conference Close

Brett de Hoedt, Fire Australia MC