8th International Symposium on Fire Safety Science
September 18-23, 2005, Beijing, China

OVERVIEW
The Eighth International Symposium on Fire Safety Science was held at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, from 18-23 September 2005. The symposium was organized by the China Fire Protection Association (CFPA) with Tsinghua University and University of Science and Technology of China as co-organizers. There were 456 registrants attending three parallel sessions in which 123 papers and 8 invited lectures were presented and a poster session in which 60 posters were displayed. Twenty-five countries were represented: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States of America. Papers and poster abstracts were accepted on the basis of their quality and originality in the science of fire safety and its applications.

The opening ceremony was conducted by representatives from the host country and IAFSS. His Excellency Zhou Yong Kang, Councilor and Minister of the Public Security of the Peoples Republic of China provided the initial remarks followed by Prof. Dougal Drysdale, the IAFSS Chairman.

Following the opening ceremony, Dr. Howard Baum, National Institute of Standards and Technology, delivered the Howard W. Emmons Plenary Lecture entitled "Simulating Fire Effects on Complex Building Structures.” Seven invited papers were also presented during the course of the symposium by Prof. Jean-Marc Franssen, Prof. Dorothy Bruck, Dr. Kevin McGrattan, Prof. Fan Weicheng , Prof. Ai Sekizawa, Prof. Richard Hull (for Prof. Giovanni Camino) and Major General Guo Tienan, Head of the Fire Department of the Ministry of Public Security who delivered a special invited lecture. “The Fire Situation and the Needs for Science and Technology on Fire Protection in China”.

At the Award Reception and Banquet, Prof. D. Drysdale, Chair of the Symposium Awards Committee, presented the Howard W. Emmons Lectureship Award to Dr. Howard Baum. The P.H. Thomas Silver Medal of Excellence for the best paper at the Seventh Symposium was awarded to D.W. Weinert, T.G. Cleary, G.W. Mulholland, and P.F. Beever for their paper entitled “Light Scattering Characteristics and Size Distribution of Smoke and Nuisance Aerosols.” The K. Kawagoe Gold Medal for outstanding lifelong contributions to fire safety science was presented to Prof. Sizuo Yokoi and accepted by his son. Dr. P.A. Croce, Chair of the Forum for International Cooperation on Fire Research, presented the V. Sjolin Award to Prof. Dougal Drysdale in recognition of his contributions to fire safety science.

The Symposium Proceedings include all papers delivered at the Eighth Symposium and available January 2006. Proceedings will be mailed out to attendees and then available for purchase from the IAFSS Secretariat. Papers are organized in the proceedings by the session topics at the symposium. The content of the symposium proceedings have also been recorded in electronic form and provided on CD-ROM in color. The CD will come be included with the hardback proceedings and also available to purchase as a separate item .

The Association would like to thank FM Global for being the principal sponsor of the symposium. In addition, the Association would like to extend its gratitude to all the organizations, committee members, and other volunteers that assisted in making this symposium so successful. A special thanks is given to the organizers, China Fire Protection Association (CFPA), Tsinghua University, and University of Science and Technology of China, who provided first class hospitality as well as an excellent forum for the exchange of ideas on fire safety science. The Association would also like to greatly thank all of those involved in the review, selection, and editing of the papers for the conference. A special thanks is given to Dr. Craig Beyler, Chair of the Program Committee, for organizing and leading the committee on the selection of papers, and all of the program committee members who interacted with authors and reviewers as well as reviewed final manuscripts to ensure all reviewer comments were addressed. Many thanks go to Ms. Judy Hanacek-Kameid along with Ms. U. Isfahani and Ms. K. Tooren of Hughes Associates, Inc. for their great effort in assembling the printed and CD-ROM version of the Symposium Proceedings.

The Chairs of the Publication Committee also wish to thank Dr. Dave Evans, Chair of the Publication Committee of the Seventh Symposium, for his advice and suggestions in preparing this symposium volume.

Daniel T. Gottuk, Brian Y. Lattimer
Chairs, Publications Committee
Hughes Associates, Inc. Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
October 2005