News

Indian Waters Council conducted their 23rd annual Merit Badge University. The event allows 400 Scouts from the Columbia Midlands area to earn a merit badge in one day. This year, two of our chapter members taught classes on careers in the fire service. Patrick Bradshaw taught Fire Safety, where 15 Scouts spoke with an Engineer who introduced them to a career in Fire Protection Engineering. Paul Anslow taught Engineering Merit Badge and also exposed 20 Scouts to a career in Fire Protection Engineering. The Scouts asked a host of questions and several said they would consider a career in Fire Protection Engineering.

(Pictured above is Stan Maciaszek showing the differences between ionization and photoelectric smoke detectors.)

Stan Maciaszek and Jason Butler attended Paul Knox Middle School on February 26th, 2016, for several fire protection classroom demonstrations. There were a total of five STEM classroom demonstrations, each lasting an hour long. Students were actively engaged during the fire science experiments, and by the end of each class, a few were ready to become Fire Protection Engineers!

(Pictured, from left to right: Jason Butler and Rob Plonski at our booth during the influx of students)

Members of the CSRA SFPE Chapter attended the 2015 College Night in Augusta, GA, to inform high school students and parents about the vast array of careers in Fire Science and Fire Protection Engineering. Tom Allison, Jason Butler, and Rob Plonski represented the Chapter at this event. Students and parents were given information on colleges that offer degrees in fire protection and career opportunities available upon graduation. Over 6,000 students were in attendance.

(Left to Right: Rob Plonski, Andre Da Vitoria, Willy Ramos, John DePaoli, Barbara Hall, Richard Mellish, Jared Harbold)

Order of the Engineer: Jason Butler, Eric Johnson, Stan Maciaszek, and Paul Anslow conducted the Order of the Engineer ceremony on May 19th, 2015.

Inductees: 
Mr. Rob Plonski
Mr. Andre Da Vitoria
Mr. Willy Ramos
Mr. John DePaoli
Ms. Barbara Hall
Mr. Richard Mellish
Mr. Jared Harbold

Guest Speaker: Mr. William “Bernie” Till, MSFPE, CFPS, FSFPE
Organization: Bernie Till & Associates
Topic: Knowing What is Right Isn’t Enough; Crashes, Culture, Communication and Character

(Pictured above: Bernie Till providing a classroom demonstration.)

Bernie Till, Stan Maciaszek, and Jason Butler attended Paul Knox Middle School Career Day on May 15, 2015, for several fire protection classroom demonstrations. Fire science experiments were conducted and information was presented to the students about the field of Fire Protection Engineering.

The CSRA chapter member Paul Anslow taught fire protection engineering to the Indian Waters Council of the Boy Scouts of America on March 28, 2015, at USC’s Swearingen Engineering Center in Columbia, SC.

CSRA-SFPE Chapter Vice President, Paul Anslow, taught Engineering merit badge, which teaches scouts about engineering and career opportunities available to them. Paul said, “It’s always great to see our future leaders enthusiastic about the field of Engineering.”

Paul had 20 scouts learning about careers available to them in Engineering and why Fire Protection Engineering is the BEST field to go into!

Our second work weekend went slower than expected as we continued resolving conflict with the design and the existing conditions at the facility. We are pleased with the progress made by our 10 volunteers. Spirits were high and the CAPA staff is getting more excited with every visit.

Our next work day is scheduled for Saturday, March 28, starting at 9 AM. Please join us as we finish the project!

We want to thank our donors again for their support of this project:

Ferguson Fire & Fab—Jeff Mackey
Foster Engineering—Ralph Foster
Lifeguard Fire Protection—Jamie Patterson
TYCO—Dave Able
PASCO—Rick Mill
Victaulic—William Morrill

Twelve members from the chapter as well as the firefighters from the Beaufort Fire Department showed up to start the installation of the CAPA House sprinkler system. Everyone was excited and Channel 11 From Savannah did a brief segment on our work. (Click Here)

As with all project, we hit a few snags, but we regrouped quickly to revise the plans as needed and start our installation. We greatly appreciate the Beaufort Fire Department for providing lunch—no one went hungry!

We also want to thank our donors for their support of the project:

TYCO—Dave Able
PASCO—Rick Mill
Victaulic—William Morrill

A special thanks goes to Jeff Mackey with Ferguson Fire & Fab, Inc. for overnight shipping materials to us in Beaufort!

The CSRA Chapter had a joint meeting with the Columbia ASCE Chapter on December 17, 2014 at the Brookland Baptist Church’s Conference Center.

Ralph Foster made a presentation about fire protection underground piping. The presentation detailed the requirements in NFPA 24, Fire Sprinkler Specification Sheets of underground piping, and the requirements of the State Fire Marshal’s Office of plan review.

Civil engineers frequently get pulled in to the plan review process when a utility contractor installed the underground fire protection piping as allowed by the Sprinkler Act. Utility contractors don’t generate shop drawings but install the piping based on the engineer’s drawings for the project. Making the engineer’s drawings the only drawing for the SFM to review.

The presentation was well received. One attendee said “This was the most complete and concise presentation on fire protection systems he had seen!”

(Pictured Above: Ralph Foster teaching the class to local officials)

Ralph Foster taught his second class this year for the Florence area code officials on reviewing sprinkler shop drawings. The 6 hour class covers basic topics from how to use an Architectural Scale, to reading shop drawings and reviewing hydraulic calculations. The class is a mixture of lecture and hands on review of actual shop drawings, hydraulic calculations and seismic bracing calculations.

The class is provided free of charge to the local officials. Ralph said, “I know AHJs have very small training budgets and I want to give back to the folks who helped me while I was working with the State Fire Marshal’s Office."

Ralph donates his time and expenses for teaching the classes.