Tomorrow 35 Hazelab alumni who conducted research and their PhDs in fire science with me at Imperial are coming back to their alma mater. It is such a diverse, kind, smart and fascinating group of amazing people.

To our colleagues, collaborators, sponsors and friends: Wherever you are, Imperial Hazelab wishes you a Happy New Year. Let 2025 be a year when we meet again during visits, meetings, or conferences. Or at least online!

From the United Kingdom🇬🇧, the Imperial College and HAZELAB research Group of Prof. Guillermo Rein, leading SEMEDFIRE's Work Package 2 - Fire Modelling and Evacuation Tools @imperialcollege @ImperialHazelab @GuillermoRein imperial.ac.uk/hazelab/

Zombie fires burn even in -20°. — It's the same situation in drought-stricken western Canada. As last year's gigantic fires – some started by humans, some by lightning – burned through the forests, they ignited dried-out peat below. And once peat starts burning, it can go for months, burning up to five metres (16.4ft) below the surface and creeping through the soil. Normally, firefighters in the remote expanses of Alaska, Canada and Siberia rely on the icy grip of winter to put out wildfires. But in peat, winter doesn't always stop the burn. Behind the two ceramic containers in Hazelab is a glass-doored refrigerator where Rein has performed similar peat-burning experiments. "It doesn't care about the cold weather," he says. Even at -20C (-4F), the fire keeps smouldering. "It's very scary, actually."

The Power of Peat Behind two sets of thick metal doors in Imperial College London, there's a race on, and the dried peat is winning. Peat is the dark, damp soil that forms when dead plant matter piles up in waterlogged, oxygen-poor environments like the bogs of Canada, or Scotland. Because this matter can't fully decompose, it's rich in carbon, making it potentially potent fuel for zombie fires. It just depends on how wet it is. In their "Hazelab," Guillermo Rein, a professor of fire science, and his graduate students have filled two square, foil-wrapped ceramic containers with Canadian peat and ignited the back ends with glowing hot wires. Because of the limited oxygen content within the soil, they're smouldering, or burning without a flame. White smoke wafts out as the fire creeps forward through the brown peat. The lab takes on a smell like Scotch whisky. The peat in the container on the left is unaltered, with a moisture content of about 100%. The peat on the right was dried out in an oven to less than 1% moisture. After about two hours of burning, only a quarter of the moist peat has burned, versus more than half of the dry peat. "This is the natural, pristine condition," Rein says, pointing to the moist peat. "It can still burn, but it's relatively easy to stop because it's propagating so slowly." Next he gestures to the dry peat. "Now imagine that someone has drained the peatland, or that climate change has arrived and it's a really, really dry year. And this is the situation."

Great to get Hazelab together today to welcome Fernando from ETH for a short visit, and the return of Dimitra from TUC for a second stay with us. Oh! And I am back from China.

I just saw this painting. Roman ships attacked Siracusa in the year 212 BC, but Archimedes knew that wood is flammable and that mirrors concentrate solar radiation. Fitting story for Hazelab, our fire research group at @ImpEngineering.

The fishbone technique to write paper sections at Hazelab.

As a scientist, I've learnt a lot about facade fires since 2015 with Matt, Ben and Francesca of Hazelab (even more learning after 2017 for tragic reasons). After years of research, time has arrived for facade safety to be part my exam of fire dynamics. I wrote this ACM question:

I love the mega desk that Hazelab has put up. It is now our favourite meeting place.

Thank for listening and for the cake. I love Hazelab 🥰

Imperial Hazelab is delighted to work with our European colleagues in Cyprus et al. to tackle wildfires in a way that goes well beyond suppression but includes actual understanding of the hazard and more ways to provide protection to people, communities and the environment.

Hazelab pizza night! Thank you to Alex for the expert pizza place recommendation 😁🍕

About 20 of our MEng students of the Fire Dynamics module visited the fire lab today ✨. They observed a swirling turbulent flame, fire spread over a porous fuel bed, and smouldering combustion of peat. So many questions! Thank you Hazelab 🙏🏻

Welcome Alexander to Imperial Hazelab. He starts his PhD studies on timber fires and wants to help engineers design a safer buildings. His research is funded by Arup and EPSRC. He graduated last summer from Imperial College in Mechanical Engineering. He is from Siracusa!

This week Hazelab showed our wildfire research at the Imperial reception celebrating that UK has rejoined EU Horizon. We showed Sirocco, a live demo of wind and fire dynamics. We talked about peat fires, and wildfire protection of communities. imperial.ac.uk/news/250078/i…

I am no expert, but am copying one on this response. He is worthy of a follow. @GuillermoRein from Imperial Hazelab, UK.

Prof Rein and Prof Boustras both stressed that the collaboration between Hazelab and CΕRIDES has exceeded expectations and acknowledged that the @semedfire project has laid the foundation for further collaborations in #wildfires and buildings fire research.

It was also agreed that the Hazelab team and Prof Guillermo Rein would continue to receive updates from the other project WPs, participate in meetings and support future project activities.