Mass Timber Demonstration Burns

Developers and design teams in Canada are continuing to push the envelope with respect to the use of mass timber in larger and taller building designs, exposing as much of the timber structure as possible. Even as building codes in Canada are beginning to permit up to 12 storey buildings of encapsulated mass timber construction (EMTC), buildings are being designed and approved through alternative solutions that go beyond the limits of these provisions. While laboratory fire test data is available to support such designs, concerns remain among regulators and fire services regarding certain key aspects of the design and construction of tall mass timber buildings.

In order to address some of these concerns, CHM Fire Consultants Ltd. (CHM), in partnership with various agencies and funders including the National Research Council Canada (NRC), Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN), Provincial government organizations, manufacturers, and other consultants, have developed a series of demonstration fire tests. These tests include pilot-scale demonstrations (completed in June 2021 in Richmond, BC), as well as a series of large-scale fire tests scheduled for June 2022 in Ottawa, ON. The project is known as the Mass Timber Demonstration Fire Test Project (MTDFTP).

SPEAKER BIO

Dr. Steven Craft is a founding partner of CHM Fire Consultants Ltd located in Ottawa. He served as an Adjunct Professor in the Fire Safety Engineering Program at Carleton University from 2010- 2019 and was a Research Scientist with Canada’s National Forest Products Research Institute (FPInnovations) from 2006-2011. He has an undergraduate degree in Forest Engineering from the University of New Brunswick and a PhD in Fire Safety Engineering from Carleton University. He is active in codes and standards development. He is the Chair of the ULC S100A Fire Test Committee and, is on the Technical Committee for the Canadian Wood Design Standard, CSA O86, where he Chairs the Task Group on Fire Resistance. Dr. Craft also chaired the NRC Committee on developing the first National Guide for Wildland-Urban Interface Fires which was published earlier this year.