A Message from the SFPE Europe Council Chair

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Welcome

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Dear SFPE Europe members,

In case you have not heard it yet: SFPE Europe has officially been established! As an official part of becoming a legal entity in Belgium, putting in effect a Royal Decree, SFPE Europe is an international non-profit organization, run by four Board members: Nicole Boston, Armelle Müller, David Grossmann and the undersigned. Many, many thanks for all that have contributed to this – it is a major step forward to develop and contribute to the fire engineering profession in Europe. Inspired by Swiss clockwork precision and efficiency, we would like to try and develop SFPE Europe accordingly – the how and what will be explained in more detail in the coming months. The rough outlines you may have seen already in the webinars we have provided last month. Bottom line: if we really want something, it takes a bit of endurance, but eventually success is there to celebrate!

When writing this column, we have had the first touch of nice frost. That normally invokes some pondering about the coming winter and the holiday season … Such pondering is of course influenced, apart from the above, by the influence on the vaccines. The pondering turns into wondering … Bottom line: when we really throw a lot of effort into resolving a challenge (to find a vaccine), we can achieve it in a record-breaking period (a couple of months) and with mind-blowing effectiveness (>90%). 

So, 2021 will be the year to experience the new normal, with a vaccine … and with SFPE Europe …. Hopefully, this will generate new options for meeting face to face again. For a networking entity and essentially existing for you, our members, we do appreciate the added value brought about by face-to-face meetings. But if anything, we have learned it is that video-calls and virtual conferences deserve a permanent place in our new normal: a more frequent and efficient exchange of thoughts and information is certainly possible and desirable. Traveling and its consequences on the environment will be positively impacted.

Together we can achieve great things, setting aside our differences, and focusing on a common objective makes the world a better and (fire) a safer place to live in. As fire engineers, we have a responsibility to contribute to this. Now let us prove that we bear the responsibility, and with pride.

A healthy and prosperous 2021 for you and your beloved ones – hope to see and meet you soon,
Kees Both SFPE Europe Council Chair 2019-2020

PS: I am happy to hand over the pen to David Grossmann, who will be the next SFPE Europe Council chair.