The Society of Fire Protection Engineers, or SFPE, today announced the 5th anniversary of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center mark occasion to evaluate fire protection engineers’ contributions to building safety.
“We believe that we have a very important mission to serve our communities,” says Chris Jelenewicz, engineering program manager for SFPE. “Our knowledge base can be tapped to help limit damage and loss of lives in an extreme emergency.”
“We have seen our work sought more frequently among the building community,” says Dr. Jim Milke, fire protection engineering professor at the University of Maryland.
Fire protection engineers analyze how buildings are used, how fires start and grow, and how fires affect people and property. They use the latest technologies to design systems to control fires, alert people to danger, and provide means for escape.
Fire protection engineers also work closely with other professionals, including engineers of other disciplines, architects, state and local building officials, and fire departments to build fire safe communities.
Since 9/11, fire protection engineers have increased scrutiny of how buildings react under extreme conditions, seeking to improve the science and technology needed to make tall buildings safer. Although better building methods and codes cannot stop terrorists, they can dramatically increase the number of lives saved in the event of an attack.
Last year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, as part of the investigation into the collapse of the World Trade Center, recommended including fire protection engineers in design teams to prevent similar devastation on high-rise buildings.
NIST also recommended that engineers in other fields receive continuing education in fire protection engineering, so they too can know how buildings react under extreme conditions.
Recently, Bethesda, MD-based SFPE collaborated with engineering departments at several colleges and universities across the country to help develop courses that teach principles of fire protection engineering to engineers of every discipline.
The Society also developed distance-learning programs to increase access to fire protection-engineering education.
The Society of Fire Protection Engineers is the professional society for engineers involved in the field of fire protection engineering. Purposes of SFPE are to advance the science and practice of fire protection engineering, maintain a high ethical standing among its members and foster fire protection engineering education.
SFPE’s worldwide members include engineers in private practice, in industry, and in local, regional and national government. Chapters are located in Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the United States. More information can be found at www.sfpe.org
