SFPE Scientific and Educational Foundation Awards First Round of the Chief Burns Grant to the University of Texas

Chief Donald Burns 

The SFPE Scientific and Educational Foundation has awarded the first round grant for the Chief Donald J. Burns Research Grant to Dr. Ofodike Ezekoye and Austin Anderson, of the University of Texas Fire Research Group (UTFRG). 

Funding for this grant was provided by Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. 

The $25,000 grant is named in memory of FDNY Assistant Chief Donald Burns, who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001, while setting up his command post to direct the evacuation. 

The purpose of this grant is to help advance the integration of information modeling as a means of improving infrastructure safety and first-responder preparedness.

With this grant, UTFRG hopes to produce software and hardware solutions to better predict fire hazards and mitigate their impact in commercial and governmental buildings, thereby reducing both civilian and firefighter deaths and injuries caused by fires.  The project seeks to create a statistical fire heat release rate (HRR) distribution for a structure that has been described by a building information model.  This can be used to create a fire risk map of a burning structure that will be useful to firefighters as they initiate operations within it. Knowledge of the fire propagation through alarms, coupled with a model that uses best likely estimates for the fire intensity (HRR) in a building’s compartments, would allow arriving first responders to better allocate their firefighting resources.

Each year, over a five-year period, the Chief Donald J. Burns Memorial Research Grant will fund one or more baccalaureate, master’s, or doctorate student global research projects that apply information modeling to improving emergency responder safety when training for, responding to, and operating during building emergencies. 

Eurofire 2013 to be Held on October 9-10 in Basel Switzerland

Eurofire is “the” European Fire Safety Engineering Conference held in a European country every two years.

Over the last two decades five EUROFIRE Conferences have taken place in Belgium and France. Following the last successful conference in Paris 2011 (280 participants) EUROFIRE is now very firmly established in the events calendar. The next EUROFIRE conference will take place in Basel, Switzerland on 9 & 10 October 2013.

The main aim of this event is to support knowledge advancement and to facilitate information exchange with regard to fire engineering protection. The main topics for 2013 will be:-

• Measuring Quality of Fire Safety Engineering Designs
• Architectural Trends – sub-zero; multi use; high rise
• Measuring the Cost Efficiency of Fire Engineering Design – the Cost over the Life Cycle
• How to define the goals of the Fire Safety Engineer?
• What price is paid for the level of fire safety?
• Risk Analysis

For more information, see http://www.eurofireconference.com/.

2013 Fire Protection Engineering P.E. Exam Online Preparation Seminar sponsored by SFPE and XL Gaps, July 9 - October 10, 2013

Prepare for the 2013 Fire Protection Engineering P.E. Exam from wherever you can access the Internet. This effective, on-line review class will help you organize and navigate through the massive amount of reference material. 

Each session is taught live by an expert instructor using the advanced web conferencing technology.  You will work with a live instructor over several weeks and can ask questions as they arise throughout the review period. 

Revised to meet the current NCEES exam specifications, this course is an excellent exam preparation tool.  The 14 live 1.5 hour sessions allow for maximum retention. 

Who Should attend?

Anyone preparing for the P.E. Exam!  Even if you are not taking the exam this year but want to assess your readiness for a future exam, this course is for you.  The course is also an excellent refresher for existing engineers, fire marshals, loss control specialists, and anyone else who needs to understand the principles of fire protection engineering.

Topics Include:

·         Exam Preparation & Exam Taking Strategies

·         Fire Protection Analysis

·         Fire Protection Management

·         Human Behavior

·         Fire Dynamics

·         Fire Protection Systems

·         Fire Alarm Systems

·         Smoke Management

·         Explosion Protection

·         Passive Building Systems

Enrollment Includes:

·         Participation in either the Tuesday or Thursday session

·         Two-hours of access to instructors outside class hours

·         Electronic Copies of the Course Slides

Course Schedule:

14 live 1.5-hours On-line Sessions:

·         July 9 – October 8  (Every Tuesday) from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST

·         July 11 - October 10 (Every Thursday) from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST 

You may attend either the Tuesday or Thursday Session.  You may switch between sessions each week as your schedule dictates. 

To find out more go to: http://www.sfpe.org/SharpenYourExpertise/Education/2013FireProtectionEngineeringPEExam.aspx.

SFPE Vice-President Madrzykowski Named Service to America Finalist

SFPE Vice-President Madrzykowski

SFPE Vice-President Daniel Madrzykowski, a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) fire protection engineer with a 25-year track record of conducting research that saves lives and improves the effectiveness of fire-fighting techniques, has been named as a finalist for the 2013 Service to America Medals.

The awards are presented annually by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service to celebrate excellence in the federal civil service. Honorees are chosen on the basis of their commitment and innovation, as well as the impact of their work on addressing the needs of the nation.

A registered professional engineer, Madrzykowski has conducted studies on fire suppressants, gas and oil well fires, the effects of sprinkler systems on temperature and toxic concentrations of fire gases, fire incident simulations, and an array of innovative fire-fighting methods. His research often is carried out in cooperation with fire departments across the nation during “live burns” of abandoned homes and buildings.

To read about the research being conducted by the NIST Fire Fighting Technology Group, which Madrzykowski currently leads, go to: www.nist.gov/fire

The 2013 finalists are contenders for eight Service to America Medals, including Federal Employee of the Year. Medal recipients will be announced on October 3, 2013, at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Read more about the finalists at http://servicetoamericamedals.org/SAM/finalists/index.shtml.

SFPE Corporate 100 Spotlight – Koffel Associates and Randal Brown and Associates Engineering

SFPE wants to thank all of its Corporate 100 members for their continued support of our program. In an effort to give more recognition to our Corporate 100 members we have implemented a Corporate 100 Members of the Month program. This month SFPE wants to recognize Koffel Associates Inc. and Randal Brown and AssociatesEngineering, Ltd. To learn more about how your company can become a member of the Corporate 100 Program please contact Sean Kelleher at skelleher@sfpe.org.

Koffel Associates Inc…internationally-recognized as experts for our knowledge of all aspects of fire protection related codes and standards, and all aspects of fire protection engineering design and code consulting.  Our expertise is evidenced by our active participation in the codes and standards development process as well as design guidelines generated from our close involvement in numerous SFPE and industry task groups — effecting change, developing design guidelines, and protecting people and structures.  Our comprehensive knowledge of fire, life safety and model building codes, our ability to incorporate the rationale of these codes and standards, is beneficial to new, expansion, renovation and existing building projects where people learn, live, work and play.  From government buildings, high-rises, hospitals and medical facilities, office buildings, K – 12 schools, universities and colleges, industrial facilities, theaters, shopping centers, hotels, conventions centers, our 20 engineers (all of whom have at least a BS or MS in Fire Protection Engineering) are committed to providing you their best.  Expertly Engineering Safety From Fire.

Randal Brown and Associates Engineering, Ltd.  is a fire and life safety consulting engineering firm specializing in Canadian National and Provincial building and fire codes.  As recognized industry leaders, we’ve been consistently involved in the development committees of Codes and Standards for both Canada and the United States.  RBA Engineering was formed in 1984. With more and more of our projects expanding in size and complexity, we’ve worked on numerous large scale, high value and high profile projects in Canada and globally.  Our projects involve health care, high rise mixed use residential condominiums, nuclear fire safety, hospitals, industrial high hazards and universities/schools. Over the years, our firm has continued to grow in depth of expertise, providing a complete range of services including building code consulting, fire code consulting, life safety consulting, fire alarm and voice communication engineered system design, sprinkler/standpipe engineered system design, alternative solution development and review, third party review, product consulting / material evaluations, legal consulting, industrial hazard analysis, electrical equipment classification, and due diligence.

New Issue of Fire Protection Engineering Magazine Published

The second quarter issue of Fire Protection Engineering magazine is now available for free access at http://magazine.sfpe.org.

This issue addresses the topic of designing fire safety in very tall buildings.  There are now 68 buildings over 1000 feet (300 meters) worldwide, plus more than 100 under construction.  Very tall buildings present unique fire safety challenges due to difficulties with fire fighter access, long evacuation times, water supply, potential for vertical smoke movement, and their iconic nature. 

Dr. Bryan Hoskins, a professor at Oklahoma State University, summarizes the challenges that fire protection engineers face when designing evacuation strategies for very tall buildings.  Erik Anderson of fire protection engineering consulting firm Koffel Associates reviews past and present approaches for controlling smoke movement in very tall buildings.  Joe McElvaney, a fire protection engineer with the Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department, suggests ways in which building designers can work with the local fire service to facilitate fire department operations in very tall buildings.  Also, an article by John Klote, Michael Ferreira, and James Milke, authors of the Handbook of Smoke Control Engineering, addresses the design challenges associated with limiting smoke spread through elevator shafts.

Suggested References for the 2013 Fire Protection PE Exam Now Available

The suggested list of references for the 2013 Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) Exam in Fire Protection is now available. The exam is scheduled for October 25, 2013.

The following are the suggested references:

·         The SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering (4^th Edition)

·         NFPA Fire Protection Handbook (20th Edition)

·         NFPA 13, 2013 Edition

·         NFPA 20, 2013 Edition ·         NFPA 24, 2013 Edition ·          NFPA 25, 2011 Edition

·         NFPA 30, 2012 Edition ·         NFPA 72, 2013 Edition ·         NFPA 92, 2012 Edition

·         NFPA 101, 2012 Edition

·         NFPA 251, 2006 Edition ·         NFPA 2001, 2012 Edition

More information about becoming a licensed engineer and the PE Exam in Fire Protection can be found on the Licensure Page on the SFPE website athttp://www.sfpe.org/SharpenYourExpertise/LicensurePEExam.aspx.