Source: School of Engineering
Written by: School of Engineering
Translated by: Wang Yue, Meng Lin
Proofread by: Zhan Jiemin
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

From May 6th to 8th, the inFIRE Conference 2014 was held in Guangzhou. More than 100 experts and scholars from institutions and universities at home and abroad, including Illinois Fire Service Institute of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, New Zealand Fire Service, Chinese Association of Fire Protection (Taipei), Hong Kong Fire Services Department, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, City University of Hong Kong, Shenyang Fire Research Institute, Shanghai Fire Research Institute, Guangdong Public Security Fire Service Department, Chinese People's Armed Police Force Academy, University of Science and Technology of China, Wuhan University, Central South University, Beijing University of Technology, China University of Mining and Technology, South China University of Technology, Jinan University, Institute of Industry Technology-Guangzhou & Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Sun Yat-sen University, attended the conference.

On the morning of May 6th, the opening ceremony of the conference was held in Swasey Hall of SYSU. The attendants included Prof. Liang Dong, Secretary of School of Engineering of SYSU, Chief of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fire Science and Technology, and Chairman of inFIRE Conference 2014; Prof. Zhan Jiemin, Associate Dean of School of Engineering of SYSU; Mr. Royal P. Mortenson, Director of the Illinois Fire Service Institute of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Mr. Zhao Changzheng, Deputy Director of Shenyang Fire Research Institute; Prof. Yuen Kwok Kit Richard from City University of Hong Kong;
and Mr. Luo Yunqing, Chief Engineer from Guangdong Public Security Fire Service Department.

The theme of the conference was “New Information, New Technologies, and New Products: Fire Emergency Management Issues in the 21st Century and the Challenges”. Prof. Chow Wan-ki, Fellow of Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences and Chair Professor of Architectural Science and Fire Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Mr. Royal P. Mortenson, Director of IFSI from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Mr. Leung Kwan-hong, Deputy Chief Fire Officer from Hong Kong Fire Services Department; Mr. Zhao Gang, Director General of Chinese Association of Fire Protection (Taipei); Ms. Emma Roache, Librarian from New Zealand Fire Service; Mr. Mats Bornström, Librarian from Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency; Prof. Yuen Kwok Kit Richard from City University of Hong Kong; Mr. Gao Wei, Research Fellow from Shenyang Fire Research Institute; Prof. Xu Zhisheng from Central South University gave plenary lectures, and many other delegates including Ms. Wang Helan, Engineer from Shanghai Fire Research Institute, made academic reports.

During the conference, the participants had heated discussions on several topics, including new fire suppression system, fire service challenges, firefighting tactics to building fires, intelligent fire hydrant system and fire combination system, building risk assessment, and the latest research trends and developments in fire science and engineering.

On the morning of May 8th, the conference representatives visited the new firefighting and rescue equipments in Guangdong Special Firefighting and Rescue Detachment and held a discussion meeting.

Since 1986, the inFire Conference has had great international influence in the field of fire prevention, and has been successfully held 27 times in famous fire emergency research institutes in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia and other countries. The inFire Conference 2014 was co-sponsored by Sun Yat-sen University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Key Laboratory of Fire Science Investigation and Evidence Identification of Ministry of Public Security at Shenyang Fire Research Institute, and co-organized by Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering of City University of Hong Kong, and Chinese Association of Fire Protection (Taipei). This is the first time the inFIRE Conference was held in China. It provides a platform for experts and scholars to communicate, and promotes the exploration of new trends of firefighting and emergence management.