The European Fire Safety Week was organised for its second year in 2020 and aimed to improve awareness of fire safety for stakeholders and EU policy makers. It included seven webinars, covering vulnerable communities, reduction in escape times, data, awareness and collaboration. In total, there were 500 registrants for the seven webinars, of which 120 were participants at the pinfa webinar on fire safety in the energy transition to electric vehicles.
Elie van Strien,
European Fire Safety Alliance
European Fire Safety Week is organised by European Fire Safety Alliance, an organisation with the mission to reduce the risk from fire in the home, led by the Dutch Burns Foundation and the Fire Service Academy (IFV), with support from industry partners including pinfa.
The pinfa webinar on fire safety in the energy transition to electric vehicles was opened by Elie van Strien, Chair of the European Fire Safety Alliance, and former fire chief in Eindhoven, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
Fire continues to kill and injure too many people in Europe. Fire deaths in Europe are equivalent to two Grenfell fires per week.
The first European Fire Safety Week, 2019, led to a proposed EU “Fire safety action plan”, with ten actions to improve fire safety in homes:
- Establish a European approach to improve the fire safety of the most vulnerable
- Introduce an EU fire safety standard for upholstered furniture and mattresses
- Increase application of smoke detectors
- Improve the functioning of LIP (lower ignition propensity) cigarettes
- Address fire risks of new energy systems
- Raise fire safety awareness through community fire safety projects
- Research into fire safe behaviour
- Put in place coherent EU fire data collection
- Widen the EU FIEP (Fire Information Exchange Platform)
- Improve Member States and industry cooperation on market surveillance