MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
All,
Looking forward to this 2021 and the opportunities to share knowledge among us.
This is our seventh year of delivering high-quality articles, and finally, I start to feel that we are going into a nice routine of identifying and delivering articles to you.
The magazine is making a difference; with our current 20K+ subscribers we have become truly global. The possibilities of sharing information, identifying peers and learn from each other has reached a significant level. We do not see it clearly yet and we might not ever, but I am confident that we are creating “sub-activities” on a whole range of different levels, and this is very positive. It is not just a matter of being able to learn and read about fire safety a great part of it is to understand what is going on in other places and to identify people and contacts, and this is what will lead to these “sub-activities”. The magazine has turned into a very effective Mission tool for SFPE (SFPE’s mission is to define, develop, and advance the use of engineering best practices; expand the scientific and technical knowledge base; and educate the global fire safety community, in order to reduce fire risk) and that is way more than we hoped for at the beginning.
I want to put some focus on our first article, which in my mind is a bit of a sunshine story. One of the objectives behind the development of the SFPE Core Competencies document “Recommended Minimum Technical Core Competencies for the Practice of Fire Protection Engineering.” was that educational institutions should be able to identify and learn about the knowledge and competencies a fire safety engineer should possess, and based on that develop courses and programs that are specifically tailored towards the practice of Fire Engineering, you use this together with the SFPE curriculum and we got a fruitful recipe. This is exactly what ETH Zurich did and you can read about it in our first article. I am confident that this will turn into a success story.
ETH is also cooperating with other universities (through the IMFSE, International Master in Fire Safety Engineering) in Europe. Cooperation will be the key to future educational programs for Fire Safety Engineering, one single entity cannot do it all by themselves, there will always be areas where there will be a lack of knowledge. This last year all of us have learned how to do things virtually and to be honest I think that it has shown to be something useful. Hopefully, this year of “virtual” experiences of will open up new ways of cooperation between new and existing universities. Its difficult to do something on your own but with the help and support of others it can be done.
If there are readers out there that feel that you have an important subject that you would like to share with the industry do not hesitate to contact us, we can make that happen.
As always, a great thanks to the people who have put in a lot of time and effort to make this issue a reality. The next issue will come in July.
Yours sincerely,
Jimmy Jönsson, Managing Editor
MESSAGE FROM THE SFPE EUROPE COUNCIL CHAIR
Dear SFPE Europe members,
It is a great honour to take over the role as SFPE Europe Council Chair from Kees. A special thanks to Kees for his great leadership over the last two years. It will be a tough act to follow!
As you know SFPE celebrated 50 Years of Engineering A Fire Safe World this year. Maya Angelou once said: « I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going. » I believe it is worth looking back to understand what it took to get us where we are now in Europe. In 1948 NFPA President John L. Wilds appointed a special committee « to consider the professional status of fire protection engineering … ». Professor Ahern was appointed chairman of this special committee. After considerable work on the part of the committee and NFPA staff, in July 1950, the NFPA Board voted to implement the concepts presented by Prof. Ahern. The provisional organization was completed in October 1950 with John J. Ahern elected president and the first SFPE Annual Meeting was held in May 1951 in Michigan. After another 20 years, the Society of Fire Protection Engineers was incorporated as an independent professional society on February 10, 1971.
The first European Chapter was established by the SFPE in Italy in March 1993. As the number of chapters grew the chapter leaders expressed the desire for a more formal structure and the European Chapters Coordination Group (ECCG) was established in 2013 with « the purpose of fostering inter-chapter exchange of information and sharing of activities among the SFPE chapters throughout Europe. » To my amazement, even at that time there was no Swiss chapter, the statement was signed on 8th October 2013 in Basel. SFPE Europe continues to grow with currently 15 chapters and 4 student chapters. Due to the growth in numbers of chapters and members, the regular meetings amongst the chapter leaders and the establishment of SFPE Europe conferences (this year will be the 4th SFPE Europe conference) there was the desire to introduce a formal SFPE entity in Europe. Just as Prof. Ahern set the tone at the first Annual Meeting, this still holds with SFPE Europe: « This society, with your active participation and help well be a real asset to the fire protection field and will focus attention on the vital part which the fire protection engineer plays in our national life. »
With this in mind the most important part for SFPE Europe starts now – through our active participation and exchange we get it working to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves! The first SFPE Europe board meeting will take place in March, which will be followed by the first General Assembly meeting sometime before the summer. I look forward to working together with you to further SFPE in Europe and hope that this venture will be as successful as that of our forefathers in the US!
Reflecting on last year it is also incredible how much has changed within the space of one year. Whereas previously I had hardly used videoconferencing, in the last three months I have probably spent 70% of my working hours in online meetings. So, with the first daffodils appearing I really hope this summer may bring us back the possibilities to meet and travel again! I really miss the in-person conferences and networking that goes with it.
David Grossmann, SFPE Europe Council Chair 2021