“In a wind-driven fire, day turns into night. There’s so much particle in the air that you have no idea that it’s daytime.”

-Derek Alkonis, Researcher, Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI)

Derek has served with the LA Fire Department for over thirty years, and now leads research at Underwriter’s Labratory on how to prevent home loss from fire.

“You've got flames 50 feet high, and embers spreading at 50 miles an hour about a mile in front of you, and to think that you're gonna stop it by putting a hand line or a bulldozer around it; it's not going to happen.”

- Derek Alkonis

Derek Alkonis has served over 30 years with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and oversaw the Air and Wildland Fire Division. This division was responsible for tracking and stopping fires with a highly coordinated 24-hour aerial monitoring system. Over the course of his career, Derek helped establish the LA Fire Department as a leader in fire ground safety.

Featuring David Alkonis

Keynote presentation by David Alkonis at the annual international fire and rescue conference, Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC)(2020)

Preview of presentation by David Alkonis at annual fire and rescue expo, Firehouse World, in San Diego (2015)

“When it's so windy that the water literally isn't even really hitting the ground, then what are you doing but accepting a large level of risk?”