COLUMBIA, Md. — Fire service leaders and researchers will meet monthly to share findings and discuss fire safety challenges through international working groups supported by UL Research Institutes’ (ULRI) Fire Safety Research Institute.
The eight groups, called Communities of Practice (CoP), will continue collaboration started at the biennial World Fire Congress gatherings — the first in Washington, D.C., in 2024 and the second event in London in September 2026.
According to a statement from ULRI, the CoPs will work to accelerate progress on several critical issues:
- Climate-Driven Large-Scale Events
- Emerging Technology and Artificial Intelligence
- Data: The Foundation of Evidence-Driven Fire Services
- Fire in Low- and Middle-Income Nations
- Firefighting: Tactics and Training
- Firefighter Health and Safety
- Women in the Fire Service
- Fire and Civil Defense in Conflict and Hostile Environments
The work will focus on sharing training approaches, comparing lessons from incidents and discussing how research can inform fire service operations.
“The inaugural World Fire Congress and Communities of Practice in 2024 established the foundation for sustained and collaborative knowledge exchange, and ULRI is honored to build on that foundation,” said Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, World Fire Congress founder and chief fire safety strategist for the Fire Safety Research Institute. “Drawing on more than a century of fire research and leadership, ULRI is bringing its scientific rigor into the global conversation, ensuring the dialogue is grounded in evidence over anecdote.”
The World Fire Congress is led by an international steering committee, including the host nation, and supported by the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association (Metro Chiefs) as its Secretariat, a section of the National Fire Protection Association and the International Association of Fire Chiefs. The secretariat provides continuity between Congresses and supports international collaboration between events.
The next World Fire Congress will be hosted by Dubai Civil Defence in the United Arab Emirates in February 2028.
