SFPE Foundation

Our latest GCI Blog post takes a look at our new report, Fire Testing of Resilient & Sustainable Building Materials! It's a sneak peek at what's in the report and why fire protection engineers should be thinking about the topic. https://lnkd.in/gukvzb7k For all of our blog posts, please visit https://lnkd.in/eaykqEsn

Prof Richard Walls presented “Fire Testing of Sustainable Materials” at the recent SFPE Annual Conference & Expo, in Vancouver, sharing evidence to inform safer, more resilient design. The presentation is based on a SFPE’s report, "Fire Testing of Resilient and Sustainable Building Materials". Abstract (in brief): “This report provides technical guidance on the fire testing of these materials, establishing a framework that links material properties to fire dynamics. It presents a state-of-the-art review of key material categories (biomass-based, non-combustible, and synthetic) and critically assesses the strengths and shortcomings of existing standards for fire resistance, reaction-to-fire, façades, and photovoltaic (PV) systems.” 📄 Full report: https://lnkd.in/daDibVMZ 🌐 Research & programmes: fire.sun.ac.za #FireEngineering #SustainableConstruction #BuildingSafety #FireTesting #SFPE #Research

We are happy to announce the Plenary Speaker Dr. Jamie McAllister (Halliwell Fire Research, USA) at the 4th International Symposium on Lithium Battery Fire Safety (ISLBFS 2025), 30 Oct - 2 Nov 2025, Hong Kong. Plenary Lecture Title: Lithium-Ion BESS Failure Events- Challenges in Characterizing Emissions and Plume Dispersion Welcome to join our event! https://lnkd.in/gY5rrH2J Dr. McAllister is the Director of Halliwell Fire Research- US. She is a licensed fire protection engineer, a toxicologist, a certified fire investigator (CFI), and a certified safety professional (CSP). She holds Bachelor and Masters degrees in Fire Protection Engineering and a PhD in Toxicology with a specialized focus in fire-related deaths and injuries and combustion toxicity. She was actively involved in the volunteer fire service for 15 years where she served as a firefighter and emergency medical technician. She has more than two decades of experience in research and investigation of fire, combustion, and toxicological incidents and has investigated hundreds of fire incidents. Her work in combustion toxicity includes characterization of lithium-ion BESS gas and particulate emissions and assessment of human and environmental impacts from failure events. Dr. McAllister is also an adjunct professor in the Fire Protection Engineering Graduate Program at the University of Maryland, College Park where she teaches graduate students about advanced life safety, combustion toxicity, and human behavior in fire.

We had an amazing time last week at #SFPE25! From the WUI Workshop to the VIP reception at the Vancouver Aquarium, to the poster session, to the Foundation Awards, and more, we enjoyed getting to spend time with our grant recipients, our generous supporters, and the new faces we met. We hope you'll join us in Atlanta for the 2026 Annual Conference, and/or at the Foundation's 2026 events: 🔥 2026 WUI Fire Engineering Summit at University of Maryland (https://lnkd.in/evvdUN4a) ☀️ 2026 Emerging Energy Technologies Summit at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa (https://lnkd.in/eJ4nxjbQ) #fireprotection #fireengineering #firescience #firesafety

On October 21, the SFPE Foundation led a pre-conference workshop: Advanced Wildland-Urban Interface Training for the U.S. Fire Service. The workshop presented an abbreviated curriculum of three new training modules in advanced WUI fire protection topics, which will be piloted at several U.S. fire departments over the next year: WUI Fire Dynamics WUI Fire Modeling Human Behavior in WUI Fires

It was a big day for the SFPE Foundation at #SFPE25! We honored our award winners first thing in the morning. Congratulations again to Glenn Forney, Leo Willem Menzemer, Mohammad Javad Moradi, Mahdis Borhani, Dia Luan, David Morrisset, Jonny Reep, Ian Ojwang, Rory Hadden, and Angus Law! Additionally, we heard several presentations today from researchers who are working on or who have worked on SFPE foundation funded projects. Huge thanks to Karli Steranka, P.E., Bishoy N. Awad, Ph.D., PMSFPE, PMP®, Richard Walls, and Nils Johansson for taking the trip to Vancouver to share their research, and to their respective teams for all their hard work.

Thank you to all who attended the Corporate 100 VIP and Emerging Professionals reception! It was an excellent event at the Vancouver Aquarium. Thank you to SenezCo for sponsoring the Emerging Professionals and HRS Systems, Inc. for supporting the SFPE Foundation A special thank you to our C100 partners: https://ow.ly/ivPB50Xh6BC #SFPE25

SFPE Foundation Chair Peter Senez, SFPE Foundation Governor Sean Donohue, PE, FSFPE PEng, FSFPE, SFPE Foundation Vice-Chair, Maria B. Marks, CFPS, SET, and SFPE Foundation Interim Executive Director Leslie Marshall, PhD welcome attendees to day three of the 2025 SFPE Annual Conference & Expo. SFPE Foundation #SFPE25 #SFPEFoundation 

This year, we are proud and excited to have one applied research fellow, two student award winners, and five student research grant recipients presenting at #SFPE25! Many of these students also received student travel grants that made their attendance possible. They shared their research during this afternoon’s poster session. Congratulations and a huge thank you to Amy Metz, Leo Willem Menzemer, Mohammad Javad Moradi, Darko Glujić, Josh Madden, Maria Binte Mannan, Wenxuan Wu, and Tadele Getu!