The 2019 New York State Fire Marshals and Inspectors Seminar, October 22-25, will showcase some of the nation’s foremost experts in technological and code changes impacting the field of fire prevention. These include Telgian Engineering & Consulting President Leonard Ramo who will present “Egress Considerations: Back to the Basics” and “Subtle Changes over Time… Impact to Fire Protection” at the event. Ramo has had a distinguished career spanning more than 20 years within the fire protection industry. His professional accreditations include registration as a Professional Engineer (PE) in all 50 U.S. States, District of Columbia and select Territories, as well…

When designing security for Veterans Administration healthcare facilities, we are cognizant that security must provide protection to safeguard the veterans, visitors, administrators, clinical staff and VA staff, and to ensure the continued operation of the VA facility on a 24/7/365 basis, during a national emergency, and during natural disasters or events involving a security breach. The security program for VA facilities must be highly flexible so that its security posture can be ramped-up or ramped-down in response to changes in the national Department of Homeland Security (DHS) threat level and changing risk environment at each facility.  Its goal must be…

How often has a life safety code requirement mandated a design change that impacts your vision for your design project? It happens often. When those requirements relate to egress size and location, there are alternative approaches that can help preserve the vision and still provide the code-mandated level of protection, and most importantly, ensure the occupants are safe. Performance-based egress solutions are a tool  that all design professionals and owners should have in their toolbox. I recently attended an event that included three speakers each presenting a recent adaptive re-use project. Each presenting firm indicated that one of the challenges…

As a brand new fire protection system designer (almost 40 years ago), I was furnished with several NFPA standards.  These standards provided the “rules” for designing and installing sprinkler systems, fire pumps, and underground piping systems.  I did not know anything about the creation or publishing of the documents.  I assumed some really smart and experienced people sat down and came up with the right way to design and install the systems each standard addressed.  I never questioned any of the requirements.  Instead, I focused on following the rules, so that the systems I designed were acceptable to those in…

  According to the National Association of Fire Equipment Distributors’ report The Effectiveness of Portable Fire Extinguishers, “Time and time again, portable fire extinguishers have proven to be the most effective means of defense against fires of limited size. The National Association of Fire Equipment Distributors (NAFED) has conducted four extensive surveys since 1976 to measure the effectiveness of fire extinguishers… and the data collected during these surveys shows that portable fire extinguishers were effective in extinguishing fires 95% of the time.” A fire extinguisher can only put out a fire, however, if it is in proper working condition, which…