Fire Research Board
1936 a Home Office Committee on Fire Brigade Services recommended that the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) set up a Fire Prevention Research Board to initiate and supervise scientific research into questions of fire prevention and extinction
1938 the Department's Advisory Council recommended the establishment of an organisation for research on fire fighting.
1938 A Fire Resistance Research Committee was set up by the Building Research Board. The Fire Offices' Committee also organised research on fire resistance of elements of structure; a joint committee was set up to study fire-grading of buildings.
WWII The outbreak of war prevented the implementation of the proposals for a strategic board
Fire research was undertaken by the Fire Research Division of the Ministry of Home Security; this was taken over by the DSIR in 1946.
1946 The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Fire Offices' Committee (representing fire insurance companies) established a Joint Fire Research Organisation to conduct research on all aspects of prevention and extinction of fires, safety of life in fires and the mitigation of damage, working in collaboration with the Building Research Organisation on fire resistance of buildings.
The costs of the organisation were shared equally by the department and the committee; as part of its contribution to the capital cost, the committee transferred its Fire Testing Station to the government.
The Fire Research Board was appointed to make recommendation for fire research and to supervise the conduct of investigations at the station
1949 The Fire Testing Station was renamed the Fire Research Station.
1965 Responsibility for the Joint Fire Research Organisation was passed to the Ministry of Technology and the board ceased to exist.
See Also
Sources of Information
- National Archives [1]