FPEeXTRA Issue 110

If you’ve been feeling proud of your fire protection engineering credentials lately, you’re not alone. Coming off the 2025 NFPA Conference in Las Vegas, I left the convention center sun-dazed and dehydrated, but energized by the sheer volume of conversations happening across every corner of our field. Vegas in June delivered a blistering 110°F reminder that building systems—especially HVAC—matter, and that even desert heat doesn’t slow down a room full of fire safety professionals.

There’s something about being in the same space as thousands of people who care about safety, innovation, and solving tough problems that hits differently in a time when our work is getting the spotlight it deserves. Whether you were walking the expo floor, speaking on stage, or catching up over cold coffee between sessions, the conference buzzed with a sense of momentum.

Engineering in the Public Eye

It’s rare that the fire protection engineer gets a starring role in a mainstream production, but that’s exactly what happened with the new Netflix documentary “Grenfell Uncovered”. The film lays out a sobering, painful history—one many of us are familiar with—but it also presents the opportunity to educate a much broader audience about systemic regulatory gaps and material failures that have been lurking in plain sight for decades.

I want to give a special shoutout to SFPE member Professor Guillermo Rein of Imperial College London, who appeared in the documentary. His contributions were a standout. He broke down the highly technical issues surrounding combustible cladding and façade systems in a way that was clear and incredibly accessible to viewers with or without a technical background.

It’s a heavy story, and no documentary can capture every layer of nuance—but I hope this one opens doors to more conversations around policy, design, and ethics in our field. If nothing else, it underscores how deeply consequential our work is when regulations fall short or corners are cut.

Reflections from Las Vegas

One of the more striking things about this year’s NFPA conference was the broad mix of attendees. It wasn’t just AHJs and product reps—though there were plenty of both—but a growing number of engineers, researchers, students, and code officials who were all there to ask big questions. Where are we going? What does fire protection look like in the era of mass timber, battery storage, AI, and wildfires?

There were sessions on emerging technologies, fire dynamics in extreme environments, and case studies that dug into the messiness of real-world decision making. The quality of discussion was high—but what struck me most was how collaborative it all felt. Gone are the days where engineers sit in one corner, suppression folks in another, and code enforcement somewhere else. Increasingly, we’re all part of the same messy, interconnected conversation.

That’s the kind of energy I love to see. That’s where innovation actually happens.

The Current Moment

At SFPE, we’ve been saying for a while that it’s a good time to be a fire protection engineer. But I’d argue it’s more than that—it’s a critical time. From housing developments that push deeper into the wildland-urban interface, to lithium-ion battery fires, to persistent regulatory loopholes in high-rise safety—it’s never been clearer that this profession has a role to play in shaping the world we live in.

It’s not just about extinguishment or compliance anymore. It’s about systems thinking. About integrating fire protection into climate resilience strategies, sustainability planning, and urban design. About asking: “What could go wrong?” in places where no one else is asking that question.

The next generation of fire protection engineers won’t just be code-literate—they’ll be interdisciplinary collaborators, educators, and advocates. And we’re already seeing that shift. This year’s conference hosted more student presentations than I can remember in years past, and the depth of technical work coming out of university labs around the world is impressive.

People Are Paying Attention

For years, fire protection has been an invisible discipline. That’s changing. “Grenfell Uncovered” is just one example, but I’ve noticed more and more people in my life—people outside the field—bringing up questions about fire safety, regulation, and risk. They’re starting to see the gaps and ask how we fill them.

I think there’s an opportunity here. As engineers, we’re often taught to focus on precision, not persuasion—but I’d argue we need both. We need engineers who can tell a compelling story about why cladding choices matter, why egress routes aren’t just a checkbox, and why codes that aren’t enforced might as well not exist.

We need engineers who can talk to the public, to policymakers, and to each other with humility and clarity.

Where We Go From Here

So yes—it’s a great time to be a fire protection engineer. Not because the challenges are easy, but because they matter more than ever. Because we have the tools, the community, and the momentum to make real change. Because we’re no longer just reacting to tragedies—we’re anticipating them, mitigating them, and reshaping the systems that enable them in the first place.

If you were at the NFPA Conference, I hope you left feeling energized— and not too sunburnt! If you watched Grenfell Uncovered, I hope it reinforced the weight and value of what we do. And if you’re looking around wondering what’s next—I’d say now is a pretty great time to find out.

Let’s keep going.