Welcome
The decision was made last year to have a SFPE Director for Europe to develop chapters, create new chapters and increase SFPE sales, as well as SFPE’s visibility and image in Europe. This a very good news for us as European chapters.
The job description and requirements were prepared by a task group composed of Armelle Muller, convenor; Brian Meacham, Jimmy Jönsson and John Ivison). To help in understanding the priorities for Europe, we undertook an inquiry with SFPE Europe chapter presidents. I thank them for their time and their answers.
We released the request for proposals in August with a deadline of September 20, 2018, for responses to reach our SFPE CEO, Nicole Boston.
This job involves exacting tasks to meet ambitious targets for SFPE Europe. I am sure that we will find the appropriate person for the job.
This is my last message in the SFPE Europe magazine as the president of SFPE Europe since I will leave this position at the end of the year. I will pass the baton to the new president, who will be elected in November. I will remain active in the French chapter, at the European level and on the board where I serve for three years.
I wish the best for SFPE in Europe.
Best regards,
Armelle Muller
SFPE Europe President
Chapter News
France
At a general meeting in June, two new members joined the board, which now has 15 people. The number of local members is also increasing, currently reaching 44 people. This is directly connected to the success of our conferences, where we promote SFPE.
We are working hard to organize our next events:
- Breakfast conference on Grenfell tower disaster, October 18, 2018
- Full-day conference on fire risk in the nuclear industry, February 14, 2019
Norway
SFPE Norway held a meeting in June and made some adjustments to the chapter constitution. It was agreed to form a committee to work on a national guide for high-consequence projects, where performance-based design is mandatory. It was agreed to investigate solutions for better informal interaction among chapter members between meetings. SFPE Norway is also considering a mentoring program.
Portugal
In July, the Portugal chapter held our last event before the summer vacations: a roundtable in Lisbon about fire risk assessment in the Portuguese fire code.
Our first event after the vacations is the course “Introduction to Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) and Smokeview” in Oporto (north of Portugal), with Gabriele Vigne as tutor.
In October, we will have a practical course in firefighting with live fire. The course includes the use of fire blankets, portable extinguishers, fire hoses, foam and aerial fire trucks. Attendees will experience firefighting with full protection equipment in confined spaces and a flashover environment. The goal of the course is to allow fire safety designers to learn about the complexity of firefighting operations and the difficulties that firefighters face during the operations.
In November, SFPE Portugal is going to hold its second event in one of the Portuguese archipelagos. This time, we are traveling to Madeira for a seminar about performance-based design. (Although SFPE Portugal HQ is in Lisbon, we try to hold events all over the country. In January, we went to the Azores archipelago.)
In November, we also will present in “Conferência Proteger,” the biggest fire and safety conference & expo in Portugal. SFPE Portugal has organized a workshop about fire safety fundamentals (fire chemistry, thermodynamics, human behaviour, etc.) for this event with Paulo Ramos as instructor.
Spain
The Spanish chapter is busy forming part of the SFPE Europe 2019 Conference to take place in Malaga (Spain).
We are really looking forward to this event and this will be our main task for the reminder of the year.
In November we are also planning to celebrate a chapter event for the technical working groups.
United Kingdom
As of 1 September 2018, Gary Daniels has stepped down as the SFPE UK chapter president after four successful years and has become secretary. Karl Wallasch, the former secretary, has become the new president.
The whole executive committee thanks Gary for his work as chapter president over the past four years. We have worked closely with Gary during this time and seen the chapter becoming active again and growing in terms of number of memberships and supporters. We wish him and Karl all the best in their new roles.
The SFPE UK Chapter award deadline was 3 September 2018. All submissions are will be reviewed and we hope to announce successful winners in October 2018.
The chapter is also planning several CPD events for autumn/winter 2018/19 to continue to spreading knowledge and bringing the UK fire community together.