SFPE Founders Day – Celebrating 50 Years of Engineering A Fire Safe World

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of SFPEs incorporation as an independent professional society on this day in 1971 (21 years before as an NFPA section). In less than a year of incorporation, the society had 21 local Chapters and membership stood at 1,438 under the leadership of the first Executive Director, D. Peter Lund and first President, John J. Ahern. Over the last 50 years the Society:

  • Has grown to 86 Chapters, 22 Student Chapters, over 4,700 members from 79 countries
  • Published five editions of the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering with the 6th edition is coming out in 2022
  • Published over 20 years of the Fire Protection Engineering Magazine
  • Published the Journal of Fire Protection Engineering (JFPE) from January 1989 through November 2013 and now continues through the Fire Technology Journal
  • Supported the development of the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) Exam in Fire Protection, which is recognized by NCEES as the national exam in the United States and nine other countries
  • Published two engineering standards and 13 engineering guides
  • Has become a leader in providing continuing education in the form of conferences, symposiums, seminars, and webinars to thousands of fire protection and fire safety engineers across the globe

Today, under our current leadership, Nicole Testa Boston, CEO and 2021 President Jack Poole, PE, FSFPE, we would like to thank our past presidents, members, and countless volunteers who have played a crucial role in our history and encourage you to participate in celebrating our society's achievements.



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