From time to time audio of presentaions and interviews with SFPE members and others leaders in the fire protection community will be made available so as to enhance the distribution of this information beyond the original venue.

2007 President's Report to the Membership

 SFPE President Ray Grill addresses the membership at the 2007 Annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, October 14, 2007.  His presentation titled, "What the Society is Doing for You," may be downloaded using the following links: Powerpoint visuals (2.3 MB) and MP3 Audio (4.0 MB). 

2007 Foundation Student Scholar Lecture

 Kevin J. LaMalva, a recent graduate of WPI currently with Simpson, Gumpertz and Hegar, received the Foundation Student Scholar Award from Foundation Chair Doug Brandes.  Kevin delivered his award lecture,"Failure Analysis of World Trade Center 5" at the annual meeting. The audio visual lecture (44 MB PowerPoint) may be downloaded by clicking on the following link: La Malva Lecture. 

2006 Guise Medal Lecture

This invited lecture was presented at the SFPE Annual Meeting in October, 2006 in Ellicott City, Maryland, by Educational and Scientific Foundation 2006 Guise Medal Award recipient, Professor James G. Quintiere, FSFPE of the University of Maryland.  The topic of his lecture was "Fire Science and Education."  In the lecture, Professor Quintiere reminded everyone about the history of fire science and education and gave his opinion of the present state of affiars.  He concludes his lecture with a discussion of the harmony needed between science, education and practice. The presention available below consists of a 46 minutes audio MP3 file and a PDF file of the visuals presented.  The audio can be downloaded in a 7.9 MB MP3 file.  Click here to download lecture audio>.  The visuals from the lecture may be downloaded in a 1.2 MB PDF file. Click here to download lecture visuals>. 

2005 Guise Medal Lecture

This invited lecture was presented at the SFPE Annual Meeting in October, 2005 in San Diego California, by Educational and Scientific Foundation 2005 Guise Medal Award recipient, Philip DiNenno, P.E., FSFPE and President of Hughes Associates Inc.  The topic of his lecture was "Twenty-five Years of Progress."  In the lecture, Mr. DiNenno reminded everyone about progress in fire protection engineering using the expansion of topics addressed in the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering over the first three editions.  Phil concludes his lecture with his thoughts about present needs to prepare for the furture of fire protection engineering.  The 49 minutes audio starts 2 minutes into the lecture.  It can be downloaded in a 5.6MB MP3 file.  Click here to download lecture audio>.  The visuals from the lecture may be downloaded in a 160KB PDF file. Click here to download lecture visuals>.

Educational and Scientific Foundation

Legacy Project

IN THEIR WORDS 

Harold "Bud" Nelson conducted interviews in 1990 and 2001 with with leading developers of the science and technology that underpins important aspects of Fire Protection Engineering. 

The 1990 interviews came about when Bud was assigned the task of developing a paper for the Conference on Firesafety Design in the 21st Century held May 8-10 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Bud was asked to trace the typical development paths of fire protection methods with emphasis on the forces driving the developments, the barriers faced and how fire protection engineering got to where it is today.

In 2000 Bud joined the team that produced the 2003 book "History of Fire Protection Engineering". Bud took on authorship for the fire technology subject areas of Fire Severity and Fire Resistance, Fire Properties of Materials, Fire Dynamics, Management of Smoke and Heat, Human Behavior Factors, and Risk Assessment. In support of development of this assignment, Bud conducted more interviews. 

Under support from the SFPE Educational and Scientific Foundation, the interviews are being transferred from original magnetic tape recordings to digital format and posted on this site.  As the original purpose of the interviews was simply to collect information for publication in a different form, the recorded conversations are very informal.  The recordings have great value as they have captured leaders in the profession describing the history of advances in Fire Protection Engineering in their words. 

Professor James Quintiere, University of Maryland, in his 1990 interview discusses the development of flame spread modeling.  The 40 minutes interview may be downloaded in a 10 MB MP3 file.  Click here to download>

Richard Gewain, FSFPE, Hughes Associates Inc., in his 1990 interview discusses how the use of exposed external steel in buildings came about and the development of testing and prediction methods for the performance of steel at elevated temperatures.  The 50 minutes interview may be downloaded in a 10 MB MP3 file.  Click here to download>

Jack Bono, Underwriters Laboratories Inc., discusses: the flooring furnace, the development of the Steiner tunnel, fire testing of plastics, fire extinguishers, and his first day on the job at UL.  Bud Nelson interviewed Jack Bono on May 10, 2001 after Jack retirement from his position as President of UL.  The 35 minute interview may be downloaded in a 4.0 MB MP3 file.  Click here to download>

Vytenus Babrauskas, Ph. D., SFPE Fellow, discusses: the early history of fire testing, the development of heat release rate measurement including the Cone Calorimeter, the prediction of flashover and toxic potency of fires.  The 1 hour and 25 minutes interview was conducted in 2001. It can be downloaded in a 9.7 MB MP3 file.  Click here to download>

Professor Howard Emmons, Harvard University, discusses: the work of the National Academy dealing with fire in the 1950s, the origins of Fire Research Abstracts and Reviews, the 1962 Woods Hole Conference, the efforts to pass the Fire Research and Safety Bill of 1963, his trip around the world to visit 40 fire laboratories, the origins of the FM Global fire research program, the beginning of the NIST, Center for Fire Research, fire modeling, and the bedroom fire experiments in 1973-75.  The one hour interview was conducted in 1990.  It can be down loaded in a 10.2 MB MP3 file.  Click here to download>

Voices of Innovation broadcasts presented by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES)

(1) Kevin McGrattan, Honorary Member of SFPE, discusses some of the challenges that fire protection engineers face in modeling of building fires.

[2 minutes of audio, 2 MB MP3 file] Click here to download>.

(2) Kevin McGrattan, Honorary Member of SFPE, discusses the need for active forms of fire protection in modern buildings to help contain fires and aid firefighters.

[2 minutes, 2 MB MP3 file] Click here to download>.

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