Today, we are named RISE Fire Research AS, but when it all started 90 years ago, the organization was called the Norwegian Fire Engineering Laboratory (in Norwegian: “Norsk brannteknisk laboratorium”).

Back then it was two insurance companies, Norges Brandkasse and Norske Brandtarifforening, that financed the founding, by donating NOK 60,000 to the Norwegian Technical University (NTH) in Trondheim. The laboratory was built on the university´s campus.

The first laboratory had a floor space of 157 m² and was equipped with a vertical test furnace with an exposure surface of 1×2 meters, as well as a slightly larger horizontal furnace.

Today's fire laboratory is placed in rural surroundings approximately eight km from the city center of Trondheim, next to the salmon river Nidelva. Here we have over 5,700 m² gross floor space, which includes a reaction to fire lab, a fire resistance test hall, an outdoor test area and one of Europe's tallest halls for fire development and extinguishing tests.

“The dimensions have changed since 1934, but the fire laboratory in Trondheim, RISE Fire Research, remains the largest and leading center of fire expertise in Norway. The 90-year-old is in very good shape”, says CEO Nina K. Reitan.