Bigger Than a Woodchip: Building & Fire Sciences

media release: Celebrate National Forest Products Week with the Forest Products Laboratory.

The Forest Products Laboratory, the only federally funded wood product research Laboratory in the nation, produces high-quality, science-based innovation. Wood is a versatile, durable, abundant, and cost-effective renewable resource that provides many environmental benefits. Forest Service scientists are developing innovative wood products that contribute creative new materials for construction including housing, furniture production, consumer products, packaging, bioenergy, and the automotive, aerospace, electronics, and medical device industries.

The Lab partners with industry to support the development of new wood products and provide data that can be used to justify the use of more wood in building applications, including data used to support the construction of the Ascent building (currently the world’s tallest wood building). The unique experimental capabilities of the fire laboratory allow us to assess a wide range of fuels including solid timber, engineered wood products, wood based composites, and forest and grassland vegetation in collaboration with and in support of Forest Service research stations.

Dr. Sam Zelinka, Fire Lab Project Leaders, Dr. Laura Hasberg, Kara Yedinak, and Sam Glass will provide an overview of Building and Fire Sciences, structural fire resistance topics, Wildfire and Urban interface issues, and other building and science research.