SFPE Fire Protection Person of the Year

Nominate a colleague for the 2024 SFPE Fire Protection Person of the Year Award HERE

The Fire Protection Person of the Year Award was created in 1973 to recognize significant achievement in the protection of humanity and the environment from the ravages of unwanted fire and an outstanding contribution to fire protection from outside the membership of SFPE which is broad in scope and has apparent lasting effects. Specifically, the individual must have made an outstanding contribution to fire protection within recent years, the contribution must be broad in scope and of national importance, the contribution must have lasting effects, and the individual must come from beyond SFPE (cannot be a Fellow, Professional Member or Member).

2023 Recipient

Lori_Moore-Merrell_Headshot.jpg

Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell

Prior Recipients

  • Arthur Sampson, Administrator, General Services Administration (1973)
  • Richard E. Bland, Chairman, National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control (1974)
  • Anne W. Phillips, M.D., Founder and Executive Director, The National Smoke, Fire and Burn Institute (1975)
  • Dick Van Dyke, Movie and Television Star (1976)
  • Dr. John L. Bryan, Professor and Chairman, Department of Fire Protection Engineering, University of Maryland (1977)
  • Duane D. Pearsall, President, Small Business Development Corporation (1978)
  • Jackson Weaver,the voice of "Smokey Bear," WMAL Radio (1981)
  • Dr. Howard W. Emmons, Gordon McKay Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Harvard University (1982)
  • Dr. Dougal Drysdale, Lecturer, Fire Safety, University of Edinburgh (1983)
  • Dr. Gunnar Heskestad, Factory Mutual Research Corporation (1984)
  • Congressman Doug Walgren, Chairman, Science, Research and Technology Subcommittee, U.S. House of Representatives (1985)
  • Dr. Richard A. Waters, Environmental Physicist, Ove Arup and Partners (1987)
  • Congressman Curt Weldon, Chairman, Congressional Fire Services Caucus (1989)
  • C. Douglas Woodward, OBE, Director, Fire Protection Association (1990)
  • Robert W. Grant, National Fire Protection Association (1991)
  • G. Richard Morris, Chairman, Cerberus Pyrotronics Inc. (1992)
  • Edward G. "Chris" Watkins, President, Simplex Time Recorder (1994)
  • Jennifer Garland, ABC, Canadian Tire Child Protection Foundation (1995)
  • George D. Miller, President, National Fire Protection Association (1996)
  • Dr. Frederick W. Williams, U.S. Department of the Navy (1999)
  • Meri-K Appy, Vice President, National Fire Protection Association (2000)
  • Chief Daniel A. Nigro, Fire Department New York, (2002)
  • R. David Paulson, U.S. Fire Administration (2003)
  • William E. Barnard, Maryland State Fire Marshal (2006)
  • John R. Hall, Jr., Ph.D., National Fire Protection Association (2007)
  • Raymond E. Orozco, Chicago Fire Department (2008)
  • James M. Shannon, National Fire Protection Association (2009)
  • Dennis "Skip" Parks, Ed.D., California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (2010)
  • Christopher C. Pascual, Ph.D., P.E., California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (2010)
  • Jim Crawford, Vision 20/20 (2011)
  • John "Sonny" Scarff, Marriott International's Global Fire & Life Safety (2013)
  • Tonya L. Hoover, State of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (2014)
  • John Lentini, American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) (2015)
  • John E. "Jack" Crowley (2016)
  • Jim "JD" Dalton (2019)
  • Laurie L. Christensen, CFPS, FM, Harris County Fire Marshal (2020)
  • Jennifer Evans, Springer (2021)
  • Gary Lewis (2022)