Research Needs for the Fire Safety Engineering

Profession: The SFPE Roadmap

CHRIS JELENEWICZ, P.E., FSFPE

SFPE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Where We Started

SFPE Strategic Plan (2015-2017), Appoint a Committee to:

Identify, develop, and oversee SFPE’s technical products and research work, review new innovations, and help to establish the research agenda for the fire safety engineering profession

2000 Research AgendaIdentify research needed to reduce fire related costs, improve life safety, improve international competitiveness and facilitate regulatory reform. Four areas were identified:◦Fire phenomena◦Human behavior◦Risk◦Data collection

Vision for a RoadmapDefine future of SFPEs technical initiatives

Transparency & member input (over 500 members)

What is needed by practicing FSEs

Be a living document

Global Document

A means of coordinating research initiatives (Foundation)

A basis for forming partnerships with research & fire safety organizations

Act as a bridge between research and practice

Become a subtheme of future SFPE conferences

Drafting the RoadmapPreliminary List by Subcommittee – Early 2016

Warsaw Workshop – May 2016

Denver Workshop – September 2016

SFPE AOCCG (Taiwan) – November 2016

SFPE Dubai Conference – March 2017

Survey

Other Fire Organizations

Workshop at IAFSS, Lund – June 2017

Original List of Topics

1. Structures in firea. Tall timber buildings

2. Human behaviour3. Environmental protection and sustainability

a. Tall timber buildingsb. Hazards of new building materialsc. Batteries and energy storaged. PV arrayse. Impact of fire on the environmentf. Eco-impact of FPg. Toxicity of fire retardants

4. Big data and FPa. Smart fire fightingb. Smart buildingsc. Smart enforcement

5. Economic impact of firea. Value of Fire Departments to communityb. Cost/benefit of proposed code/standards changes

6. Demographicsa. Aging populationb. Mobilityc. Accessibilityd. Aging in place and home healthcare

1. Health and wellbeing of FS personnela. Risk of cancer

2. Resiliencya. Reliability of FP Systems

3. Wildland fires4. Tunnels and underground FP5. Risk management6. Models

a. Things that models can’t do today

7. Dataa. Gaps in the Datab. Data accessibility

8. Fire Protection Systemsa. Smoke Detection Nuisance b. New system technologies (i.e. O2 reduction)c. Reliability of systems/aging of systems

Survey375 Participants

Survey Questions are Listed on Roadmap Report

3 – Questions Based on Revised List◦What is Missing from List◦Prioritize List◦Any other comments

Outreach to Other Organizations

Workshop at IAFSS, Lund – June 2017

“Better Linking Fire Safety Science and Fire Safety Engineering Research Priorities for Fire Safety Engineering”

NEMA, FSSA, etc.

Human Behavior

Building Fires

Resilience/Sustainability

Fire Service

Fire Dynamics

Fire Safety Systems

Forensics/Investigations

Wildland Urban Interface

Non-Building Fires

Research Roadmap Moving Forward

• Coordinating with the SFPE Foundation

• Presentations at international FSE conferences

• Publish Articles in fire safety publications

• Publicize on social media sites

• Engagement with funding organizations

• Targeting research providers

• Start Process to Update in 2019

• Three Symposiums in 2020

SFPE Foundation

• Mission -- advance the science and practice of fire protection engineering internationally by advocating and supporting engineering research, technology transfer and education.

• Completed New Strategic Plan

• Linking the SFPE Roadmap to Future Activities

• Current Grants/Awards:

Proulx Scholarship

Chief Donald Burns Grant

London Imperial College -- Computational Investigation of Timber Response to Fire

University of Maryland -- Introduction to Math and Physics through Fire Dynamics

Arthur B. Guise, Student Scholar & Jack Bono Awards

6th Edition SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering

• Finalizing New Format into Sections

• Selecting Editorial Board

• New Peer Review Process

• Consistency in Variables & Definitions

• Avoiding Duplication

Fire Technology Journal

• SFPE and NFPA

• Impact Factor – 1.471

SFPE WebsiteRoadmap and Roadmap report can be found at:

http://www.sfpe.org

Click “Technical Areas/Research and Innovation”

Thanks Chris@SFPE.ORG