When you set up your burn building, burn room, or burn trailer for training, what do you use for fuel? In my experience, sometimes it’s just a few old wooden pallets or some leftover 2x4s.

And, sure, that makes smoke and flames, but how realistic are they? Modern furniture burns faster and hotter than the older stuff. Since structure fires are becoming less common, it’s important that the training simulations are as realistic as possible.

That’s where our friends at Underwriters Laboratory come in. They conducted some tests to see how typical training fires compare with real-world room-and contents fires.

My guest today is Jack Regan.

He’s a UL FSRI Research Engineer, a job he’s had since 2017. He’s also a volunteer firefighter/EMT with the College Park, Maryland Volunteer Fire Department. At the UL, he’s worked on projects that examined occupant tenability and firefighter training.