For the first time ever the FIRE Magazine/Gore Research Excellence Award has been split between two winners: David Wales and Owain Thompson from Kent Fire and Rescue Service, and Mark Hobbs of East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.

This year's Fire Related Research and Developments (RE11) event from the Fire Service College saw a record number of entries for the FIRE Magazine/Gore Research Excellence Awards for best overall research project and presentation with a prize of £1,000, and poster display with a prize of £250. W.L. Gore and Associate's Product Specialist Dave Frodsham presented the awards with FIRE Editor Andrew Lynch at the close of the seminar held on November 17th.

RE11 is an annual event organised by the Institution of Fire Engineers and the Fire Service College, and has been supported by the FIRE and Gore awards for the last five years. Speaking on behalf of the panel at the presentation, FIRE Editor Andrew Lynch said that many of the entrants should consider resubmitting next year as they were of a very high standard, although in the early stages of development. The panel also faced a dilemma in not being able to choose between the two eventual winners, so opted for the joint award.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service's David Wales and Owain Thompson presented on 'Human Behaviour in Dwelling Fires: A Qualitative Insight' describing Kent's ground-breaking pilot study. East Sussex's Mark Hobbs paper, 'A Journey in Fire Investigation: Achieving Wider Outcomes' focussed on fires involving electrical intakes and has already led to improvements in the industry.

The Best Poster Award was presented to the display, 'What do V-signs do to drivers?', a challenging investigation into the inadequacies of warning signage at incidents. The award went to Graham Edgar, Di Catherwood, Geoff Sallis, Helen Edgar and Andrew Medley.

FIRE will feature exclusive reports from the winners and other RE11 presenters in forthcoming issues. Visit www.fire-magazine.com for video footage from the event. Also coming soon will be regular blog updates on fire-related research.

Photo: Research Excellence Award Winners David Wales and Owain Thompson flanked by FIRE's Andrew Lynch and Gore's Dave Frodsham

 

Posted November 18th, 2011 at 1100 by Andrew. Comment by emailing: andrew.lynch@pavpub.com