Fire Research Station
1946 this division was taken over by the DSIR. In that year the department and the Fire Offices' Committee 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. Those fire insurance companies who were not members of the committee were also eligible to join. A director of fire research and his staff were to be appointed by the department after consultation with the committee. The costs of the organisation were to be shared equally by the department and the committee, and as part of its contribution to the capital cost the committee transferred its Fire Testing Station to the government. A Fire Research Board was appointed in October 1946 to make recommendation for fire research and to supervise the conduct of investigations at the station, which was in 1949 renamed the Fire Research Station. The members of the board were nominated jointly by the department and the committee, the chairman by the department.
1965 responsibility for the Joint Fire Research Organisation was passed to the Ministry of Technology and the board ceased to function.
1970 The research station was transferred to the Department of Trade and Industry
1971 Transferred to the Department of the Environment
1972 Amalgamated with the Building Research Station and the Forest Products Research Laboratory to form the Building Research Establishment of the Department of the Environment
Some facilities for fire testing undertaken by the station in association with the Fire Offices' Committee, mostly routine in character, were transferred to that committee.
The station is now mainly engaged on research leading to the specification of requirements for fire prevention and to the formulation of suitable testing methods.
1993 Became an executive agency
1994 the Station moved to the Building Research Establishment site at Garston, near Watford.
See Also
Sources of Information
- National Archives [1]