The subject of fire suppression – and how design consultants are factoring fire prevention and suppression into the design and specification stages of a project – was debated at length by an expert panel at HostMilano 2025.
Sponsored by Ansul, the panel saw three experts on the subject address how fire suppression innovation is evolving, plus the impact of fire standards – CEN standards EN 16282-7 and EN 17446 – on foodservice projects.
Recorded on October 18, 2025, the session was moderated by Michael Jones of FCSI’s Foodservice Consultant magazine and features the following participants:
- Ed Bircham FCSI, Humble Arnold Associates
- Volker Eckmann, GIF Activevent, and convenor of working group in charge of EN 16282-7
- Andrea Ferrari, Jensen Hughes
- Jan Waldow, ANSUL
A fundamental requirement
“When we are designing kitchens, I can’t promise that [fire suppression] is the focus right the way through the entire design process, but it is absolutely underpinning that, in that it is one of the few components that are genuine life/safety issues in the kitchen,” says Ed Bircham FCSI of Humble Arnold Associates.
“So when we are talking to clients there is an absolutely fundamental acceptance of that requirement from day one.”
Watch the video of the panel below:
Further details:
Find out more at fcsi.org/ and ansul.com/restaurant-systems.
