NEWSLETTER
Speaker: Chris Jelenewicz, P.E., FSFPE
Organization: SFPE International
Topic: Proliferation of Structural Fire Engineering
Abstract -- Despite its merits, the application of structural fire engineering remains relatively limited. Presently, the vast majority of structures are designed to resist fire exposure in accordance with standard fire resistance requirements. As an alternative approach, structural fire engineering explicitly evaluates the demand and capacity of structural systems under fire loading in a similar manner as other design loads are treated in structural engineering practice. This emerging field of structural fire engineering is fast approaching a “renaissance period” with recent and prospective releases of industry-consensus standards that help to consolidate the knowledge database. These standards pertain directly to structural fire engineering practice by providing guidance on the evaluation of fuel loads, fire exposure, thermal response of structures, and structural system response to fire effects. This presentation will discuss how these standards will serve to cultivate the future proliferation of structural fire engineering.
BIO -- Chris Jelenewicz, P.E., FSFPE
Chris is the Technical Director at SFPE. He serves as the Technical Editor of SFPEs Fire Protection Engineering magazine and Associate Editor of SFPEs Journal Fire Technology. He is responsible overseeing SFPE’s technical activities. Chris was featured in hundreds of articles and broadcast interviews, including the New York Times, CBS Nightly News, Public Television, USA Today, The Washington Post and the Philadelphia Daily News. Chris has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in fire protection engineering and a Master’s in Management from the University of Maryland. He is an SFPE Fellow and received the Distinguished Alumni Award in its inaugural year from the University of Maryland’s Department of Fire Protection Engineering. Chris is a licensed engineer in the States of California and Delaware.
