Fire Protection Engineers: Using Science and Technology to Make the College Campus Safe from Fire

Chris Jelenewicz, P.E. Engineering Program Manager, Society of Fire Protection Engineers

As colleges and universities are trying to compete for • Investigate fires to discover how fire spreads, why the best students, there is an increasing demand to protective measures failed, and how those meas- improve and modernize college campus facilities. To ures could have been designed more effectively. keep up with this demand, colleges and universities are building larger stadiums, more modern laboratories and They can also assist campus administrators by working more comfortable housing units. These newer facilities with architects and other engineers, state and local are larger, taller and their designs are more complex. building officials and local fire departments to build Consequently, the fire protection systems that are and maintain fire safe campuses. In addition, they needed to protect students and faculty from fire are make recommendations for cost effective fire protec- also more complex. tion solutions to ensure that the structure, and the property and occupants contained within are ade- Furthermore, recent tragic fires in dormitories and fra- quately protected. ternity houses have placed a new interest in upgrading the fire protection features in existing residential fa- What are the Educational and Licensure Require- cilities. As financial resources are limited for such up- ments for Fire Protection Engineers? grades, it is essential that the most efficient fire pro- Like engineers in other disciplines, fire protection en- tection be provided. gineers are required to earn college degrees from ac- To help make their campuses safe from fire, many col- credited engineering programs. Many fire protection leges and universities are employing the services of fire engineers begin by earning a bachelor’s of science (BS) protection engineers. This article will explain how fire degree in fire protection engineering. Others start off protection engineers make college campuses safe from by first earning a BS degree in civil, electrical, chemi- fire and will answer some of the questions that a cam- cal, or mechanical engineering and then completing a pus administrator may have when deciding to employ a MS degree in fire protection engineering. fire protection engineer on his or her campus. After a fire protection engineer graduates from col- What is a Fire Protection Engineer? lege, he or she usually starts on the path towards becoming a licensed engineer. To legally practice engi- Fire protection engineers design ways to protect peo- neering in the United States, an individual is required ple, property, structures and the environment from to be licensed. To become licensed as a fire protection destructive fires. They use science and technology to engineer, an individual is required to: analyze how buildings are used, how fires start, how fires grow, and how fire and smoke affects people, • Obtain a bachelor’s of science degree in engineer- buildings and property. On the college campus, fire ing from an accredited engineering program at a protection engineers have the knowledge, skills and college or university. abilities to: • Pass an eight hour, 180 question exam on the fun- • Design systems that control fires, alert people to damental principals of engineering. danger and provide means for escape; • Obtain a certain amount of work experience (most • Review building design documents for new and ex- states require 4 years). isting campus buildings to assure compliance with • Pass an eight hour, 80 question exam on the princi- the applicable building and fire regulations; ples and practice of fire protection engineering. • Evaluate campus buildings to pinpoint the risks of • Once this process is completed, he or she is desig- fires and the means to prevent them; nated as a Professional Engineer (P.E.). • >>> PAGE 6

What is a Fire Protection Engineers Role in the De- How Can Fire Protection Engineers Assist in Making a sign and Construction of Structures? College Campus Safe from Fire? When employed by a college or university, most fire Typically, when employed at a college or university, protection engineers work to make structures and the fire protection engineers work in a fire marshal’s of- people and property who occupy these structures safe fice, safety office or a unit that is responsible for de- from fire. sign and construction of new and existing campus buildings. In this capacity the fire protection engineer A significant portion of the cost of campus construction is responsible for reviewing construction and fire pro- is devoted to fire protection features. These features tection system design documents for compliance with may include structural fire resistance, detection and the required fire safety standards. They can also coor- suppression systems, egress systems, alerting systems, dinate design issues early in the planning stages of a and smoke management systems. These features must project. For the campus administrator who is con- all work together as one complete system to protect cerned about campus safety and a successful construc- life and property, and to preserve continuity of opera- tion project, properly prepared and reviewed plans tion. Furthermore, these features are required to con- save time and reduce the financial burden on the cam- form to multiple codes, and installation, use and main- pus. tenance requirements, which are enforced by various regulatory officials before, during and after construc- Fire protection engineer also work with other design tion. By having a fire protection engineers on staff, the professionals such as architects, and engineers to de- campus administrator can assure that these require- termine the best solution to a fire safety problem. In ments are met in a timely, cost-effective manner. this capacity, fire protection engineers can be an in- valuable asset by facilitating successful communication The roles of the traditional construction team in de- between the design professionals, the fire department signing the fire protection system have typically in- and campus administrators, thereby reducing confusion volved the architect for furnishings, finishes, and and frustration over project objectives and require- egress methods; the structural engineer and/or archi- ments. tect for fire resistance; the mechanical engineer for suppression and smoke control systems; and the elec- Given that most campus fire deaths occur in residential trical engineer for fire alarms, secondary power sup- units, fire protection engineers are also designing ways plies and fire detection systems. The coordination of to make existing campus housing units safer. Since the these efforts has sometimes been assigned to one of tragic dormitory fire that occurred on the Seton Hall these team members, or has been abdicated to others. University Campus in 2000, there has been an in- This approach may work for a typical building where creased awareness on the benefits of having sufficient strict application of the code to resolve minor issues is fire protection features installed in all campus residen- all that is necessary. However, it can lead to problems, tial facilities. Because of the limited amount of time either during construction or during the life of the that is available – usually during summer break -- for building, if the coordination and design have not been installing fire protection systems in residential units, it properly considered and documented. When designed is imperative that these retrofit projects be planned by fire protection engineers, these systems are coordi- efficiently. In this case the fire protection engineer can nated into a comprehensive, fire and life safety strat- assist in the planning process. This includes resolving egy. water supply issues, coordinating new equipment with existing fire protection systems, and planning for haz- Moreover, as buildings are becoming taller, larger and ardous materials abatement. more complex, performance-based fire protection design is being used more frequently. Fire protection en- In addition, to making buildings safe from fire, fire pro- gineers can play an important role in judging the ade- tection engineers can assist in performing fire investi- quacy of a performance-based fire protection design or gations to discover how fires start and spread, why a design that is prepared as an equivalency to prescrip- protective measures failed, and how those measures tive code requirements. With performance-based de- could have been designed more effectively. sign, the fire protection engineer can help find solutions that embrace the university’s vision while meet- ing the project’s fire safety goals.

They can also be a resource for information on innova- serves as engineering program manager at Bethesda, MD- tive fire safety such as residential fire sprinklers, voice based Society of Fire Protection Engineers, where his is evacuation systems and water mist, and on other tech- responsible for advancing the organization’s recognition, nical fire safety issues like microbial induced corrosion recruitment and professional practice activities. (MIC) in sprinkler piping. Jelenewicz is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the school Chris Jelenewicz, PE has a wide range of experience of public policy at University of Maryland, Baltimore in the field of fire protection drawing on his experi- County. He holds a master’s in management and bache- ence in the fire service and as a code official. He has lor’s in fire protection engineering. over 20 years of fire service experience. For seven [email protected] | www.sfpe.org years he served as fire chief for Maryland’s Chillum- Adelphi Volunteer Fire Department, in addition to being a licensed fire protection engineer. He currently