Interdisciplinary Fire Research at Waterloo
Fire safety demands expertise across engineering, science, health, policy, and community resilience. Waterloo’s Fire Research & Safety program brings together specialists and partners to study fire from every angle.
What We Study
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Engineering: Fire dynamics, combustion, heat transfer, mass timber performance, smoke movement, CFD modelling.
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Batteries & materials: Lithium-ion safety, thermal runaway, explosion behaviour, advanced diagnostics.
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Wildfire science: Fire behaviour, heat flux modelling, smoke dispersion, vegetation-driven dynamics.
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Human factors: Fire-gas exposure, cognitive and mobility impacts during evacuation, VR egress simulations.
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Data & modelling: Computational fire models, digital WUI tools, performance-based design analysis.
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Community & policy: Indigenous-led fire resilience, wildfire preparedness, risk communication, code modernization.
Our Partnerships
We collaborate with the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council, UL FSRI, federal agencies, municipal and naval fire services, and universities across Canada and internationally. These partnerships support joint experiments, mass timber research, wildfire modelling, and human-behaviour studies.
Why It Matters
Today’s fire challenges—wildfires, mass timber construction, lithium-ion systems, aging populations and a changing climate—require integrated solutions. By uniting engineering, science, health, and community expertise, Waterloo advances safer buildings, resilient communities, and innovative fire-safety technologies.
Advanced fire research facility available
We welcome requests from outside companies or research centres interested in booking the facilities or collaborating on studies related to any aspect of fire performance, testing and development. Our large cross-flow test area is also suited to a variety of other wind driven experiments.
Visit our research areas page for more information about ongoing, and recently completed, areas of research activity.
To learn more about potential research opportunities or to book any of the resources of the University of Waterloo Fire Research facility please contact us.
Principal Investigators
Elizabeth Weckman
Elizabeth Weckman is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, as well as a member of the Fire Research Group at the University of Waterloo. She is also a Professional Engineer of Ontario. Her current research revolves around improving our understanding of wildfire emissions and developing community-based risk assessment methods, as well as fire performance of mass timber systems and compartment fire behaviour.
Vinny Gupta
Assistant Professor in Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Research focus includes understanding and quantifying fire behaviour of complex systems such as Li-ion batteries, timber compartment fire dynamics, flame spread over solids, gaseous and water mist fire suppression, and the burning of materials.
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For information on Fire Safety courses, registration, and admissions: |
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Fire Safety Program Coordinator Phone: (519) 888-4567, ext. 43625 |
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