SFPE announce Fire Risk Assessment and Mitigation in the Wildland Urban Interface handbook

by Featured NewsWildland Fire

The Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SPFE) and SFPE Foundation has announced the publication of a free virtual handbook on fire-risk assessment and mitigation in the wildland urban interface (WUI). The Foundation has also awarded new funding to lead the development of a WUI risk assessment and mitigation curriculum targeting fire departments in the US.

The new virtual handbook, titled “WUI Virtual Handbook for Property Fire Risk Assessment & Mitigation,” provides engineering-based resource materials to support firefighters and fire departments operating in the wildland urban interface. 

Funded by a 2020 US DHS FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety grant and developed by an expert team from Jensen Hughes under the guidance of an esteemed advisory panel, the virtual handbook also identifies possible mitigation strategies for use in the field. 

The virtual handbook can be accessed from www.sfpe.org/WUIHandbook as an interactive, mobile-friendly, web-based resource or as a downloadable PDF.

Webinar

To support the new virtual handbook, SFPE will host a free webinar titled “Beyond the Checklist – A Virtual Handbook of Engineering Resources for WUI Property Fire Risk Assessment and Mitigation,” on Monday 13 February. 

The webinar will will be presented live and recorded for on-demand viewing and will introduce the content in the virtual handbook and provide guidance for conducting home risk assessments in the WUI.

To further prioritise education and training on WUI fire risk assessment and mitigation for fire department personnel, the SFPE Foundation has awarded new funding to the Mid-Atlantic Center for Emergency Management & Public Safety at Frederick Community College to lead the development of a WUI risk assessment and mitigation curriculum.

Supported by a 2021 US DHS FEMA FP&S grant, the team will:

  • Review existing training, best practices, and unmet needs to understand potential impacts;
  • Develop a curriculum of engineering-based science to address unmet needs;
  • Solicit feedback from engineering and fire service professionals on the proposed curriculum;
  • Pilot the curriculum at several U.S. fire departments; and
  • Create supportive videos, infographics, and public outreach materials to facilitate the development of partnerships for implementation.

Leslie Marshall, Ph.D., Director, SFPE Foundation, commented: “This virtual handbook and forthcoming curriculum add to SFPE and the SFPE Foundation’s portfolio of research and programs to support firefighters and fire departments operating in the wildland urban interface. Through the FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety grant program and with the generous support of donors and SFPE, the SFPE Foundation is committed to engineering a resilient, sustainable, and fire-safe world for all.”

IFSJ Influencer: Nicole Boston, CEO, SFPE

by Featured NewsIFSJ Influencers
Chief Executive Officer of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), Nicole Boston, shares her views and predictions for the fire and safety industry for the year ahead

As I think about what lies ahead in 2023, it is essential first to recognise how much has changed over the past couple of years. So, with one eye on the past, I see more change ahead regarding our fire safety and fire protection workforce and our collective appetite to learn.

Through my role at SFPE I have the distinct pleasure of talking with our members regularly. Members from across the globe, and so many of them are saying the same thing: that finding and retaining employees is more challenging now than it has been in quite some time. While there are many reasons for today’s workforce challenges, members I have talked with seem to agree that the impact of employee turnover on businesses is substantial.

Recognising this, SFPE is doing more to position the SFPE Career Connect portal as more of a resource – helping employers with an easy-to-use job board that is targeted to professionals in our industry while also providing job seekers with free resources like resume review, networking tips, interviewing best practices, and so much more. The way we see it at SFPE – if we can help connect employers with the right candidates, everyone wins. And the sooner we can return to a steadier workforce, the better.

This brings me to my second prediction – that our appetite for learning will continue to grow. As someone who is energised by in-person educational events and experiential learning, I am so happy that it is safer now for us to convene again and learn from one another. And, apparently, many others in our industry are energised by this, too – the demand for our in-person education has never been this high.

We had record attendance at our recent annual conference and expo, and the desire to speak at our upcoming conference and expo in Berlin this March also far exceeded our targets – and to be honest, I think that the Berlin conference will have another record-setting number of attendees. With additional SFPE in-person events planned and in development for 2023, we hope to see many IFSJ readers at SFPE events, too. 

I want to note, though, that I also expect the demand for virtual learning to remain strong, too. SFPE regularly has 200, 300, or even 500 people register for our webinars — one of our webinars just a couple of months ago had 750 people register – confirming that people continue to find value in learning online from the convenience of their home or office, too.

I also confidently say that the digital engagement that has grown in popularity these past couple of years will continue to grow. The conversations that I see taking place amongst engineers in the fire safety community on LinkedIn are rich and informative, our private virtual community “SFPE Connect” regularly has 1,500 contributors/readers each month, and the demand for SFPE digital publications has never been higher. People value the benefits that are provided through digital engagement. 

To learn more about the Society of Fire Protection Engineers or any of the SFPE programs that I mentioned here, visit sfpe.org. To chat about something I shared, e-mail me at ntboston@sfpe.org.

About the influencer

Nicole Testa Boston, CAE, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, a global professional society of engineers dedicated to reducing fire risk, where she has served in that role since 2013. Nicole has over 25 years of experience in the engineering industry, having previously served as deputy director of Fiatech, an industry-led consortium in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to that, she served as executive director of the Building Futures Council and held senior management positions at the Civil Engineering Research Foundation at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

This article was originally published in the November edition of IFSJ. To read your FREE digital copy, click here.

New research into assessment of sustainable and fire-resilient buildings announced 

by Featured NewsSafety

The SFPE (Society of Fire Protection Engineers) Foundation, a charitable organization focused on enhancing the scientific understanding of fire and its interaction with the natural and built environment, has announced the funding of a research award to prepare for future development of risk-informed performance-based tools for the assessment of sustainable and fire-resilient buildings.

The research will be led by Brian J. Meacham, PhD, PE, CEng, FIFireE, FSFPE, Managing Principal at Meacham Associates, with support from Håkan Frantzich, PhD, FSFPE, Associate Professor, and Margaret McNamee, PhD, Professor, both with the Division of Fire Safety Engineering at Lund University.

It will involve characterizing the problem, researching and identifying appropriate assessment methods, identifying necessary attributes and requirements for input data, and developing a framework to underpin a risk-informed performance-based assessment methodology.

An additional review will focus on consideration of how green attributes and risk factors impact risk assessment, uncertainty treatment, and decision-support methodologies in sustainable and fire resilient buildings.

The findings of the study are expected to be published and presented through SFPE and the SFPE Foundation in 2023.

Leslie Marshall, Ph.D., Director, SFPE Foundation, commented: “To aid in the assessment of sustainable and fire-resilient buildings, the SFPE Foundation’s Board of Governors is pleased to provide funding for another major new research investment in 2022.

“This project aligns with SFPE Research Roadmap priorities and is a foundational step to ultimately provide designers and practitioners with performance-based tools to identify and mitigate fire risk in green buildings.”

Financing for SFPE Foundation-funded research is provided through the support of donors, including SFPE, SFPE chapters, SFPE members, governmental agencies, leading companies and organizations, and others.