Sprinkler Age A Publication of the American Fire Sprinkler Association
Well, it’s that time of year again! Many of you will be seeing this edition of Sprinkler Age at AFSA43, our annual convention at the beautiful Gaylord Rockies Hotel & Convention Center. On a clear day, you can see the majestic Rocky Mountains—in fact, you can probably see them on a hazy day, too. They’re really big and a sight to see for anyone. I hope to see many of you there.
Speaking of our convention, anyone who thinks they’re a good party planner has no idea what putting one of these events together is all about. With Marlene Garrett’s departure from AFSA at the end of last year, I have had the misfortune… I mean honor… of being involved in a lot of the details normally handled by her. Some people may have thought she was crazy during the month of August, but now I understand what made her that way: it was me! Well, me and most of the rest of us. Let me explain just a small piece of this. When we (AFSA) book the hotel, we have to do so about three years ahead of the event—more in some cases. For example, AFSA44 will be in Washington, DC, next year, back to San Antonio in 2026, and San Diego in 2027. When we sign the agreements three years in advance, we also have to tell the hotel how many rooms we want, and if we don’t use at least 80% of the room block we commit to, we pay for the unused rooms. This year, for example, we have had to add rooms multiple times to accommodate what has turned out to be either close to, or exceeding last year’s attendance. This is not a bad thing; in fact, it’s a great problem to have! Who in their right mind would ever complain that we have 25% more people registered for our event than we planned for? That, plus the fact that we’re sold out of booth space, and we have had to add booths out in the foyer area to accommodate some of the companies on the waiting list. That’s awesome, and the staff and Board thank you all for the support. We look forward to setting another record for attendance, enjoying each other’s company, and enjoying the camaraderie the convention creates every year. AFSA has certainly become “The Show” as it relates to our industry, and we hope every sponsor, vendor, and attendee knows that we’re in it together.
Not only am I not complaining, but I want to take this opportunity to say thank you sincerely to the staff who have all stepped up to fill the gaps, ensure nothing is missed, and remind me every day why I love this job! Welcome to AFSA43. Speaking of staff, we have outsourced the running of this year’s event to an amazing outside service called Aventsia, based in Houston. Be sure to say hello to Tara Wilson and Kristen Webster, who are clearly no strangers to running conventions and meetings. We are excited to have them on our team.
Of course, that’s not all that has been going on here at the AFSA international world headquarters. Our tech team continues to update existing programs and add new ones to our training schedule while keeping up with codes and standards and preparing for convention.
We’re partnering with an amazing group of people in Lima, Peru to handle our activities in Latin America and to help us with Spanish language training here in the U.S. If you happen to meet a very tall lady with a Peruvian accent during the convention, please take the time to welcome Mariana Berrios of ENGINZONE to our AFSA family. They have a broad base of experience in the region, having represented ASME, ASTM, NFPA, SFPE, and others for many years. While Latin America has 9% of the world’s population, only 1% of the sprinklers manufactured are installed in the region. With help from AFSA’s training programs, Mariana and her team hope to change those numbers while helping us to provide our programs in the Spanish language, including apprenticeship books and bilingual webinars simultaneously broadcast. I know Juan Denhardt and his team are looking forward to this new challenge.
Many of you know we have a strong team of volunteers working with our technical writer, Veronica Westfall (aka Granny Clampett) to deliver a new manual for layout technicians. So far, everything I’ve seen looks amazing and will be the gold standard for training fire sprinkler layout trainees well into the future. A small screen demonstration of this new manual will be on display in the AFSA booth during AFSA43. Stop by and take a look.
Lastly, for this column, I want to encourage our members to take a strong look at our VIP program. I recently had a member tell me his people were skeptical about using this virtual classroom opportunity for apprenticeship training out of concern for the sustainability of the program. I wanted to share with anyone having similar concerns that AFSA was formed solely to provide training programs for merit shop sprinkler fitters and apprenticeships. Our program has been admitted by the U.S. Department of Labor for longer than a lot of our members have been in business. Our books were recently updated, and we’re not going anywhere. We are in the process of having our ITM program accepted by the U.S. Department of Labor as an apprenticeship program. AFSA staff isn’t playing with ideas; we are leading the way in providing the kinds and types of training programs to enhance the membership experience and help you grow your companies.
Perhaps some of the larger sprinkler companies out there don’t have a need for AFSA to provide these training opportunities, but let’s do the math. For the minimal cost of $200 per month, AFSA will provide your apprentices with proactive, live classroom training online with any device, anywhere. Forget traffic or geography or whatever challenges keep your trainees from a classroom whether you have one or twenty apprentices. It’s a lot more cost-effective than having your administrative people manage the apprentices and the program. This is still a relatively new program for AFSA, but the bigger it gets, the better it will be. Besides, don’t your people have better things to spend their time doing when we can take on this part of the training experience? This is the reason we exist—and a big reason your membership matters. Stop by the AFSA booth, and let’s talk more about it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Bob Caputo, CFPS, is president of AFSA. He has been an important part of the fire sprinkler industry for over 41 years and is a long-time member of AFSA and promoter of merit shop contracting. He has chaired and served on many NFPA committees. Caputo has written and presented seminars throughout the world on fire protection and life-safety systems and is a regular speaker at AFSA and NFPA conventions. He has developed AFSA education and training materials, and chaired two chapters of AFSA—Arizona and Southern California. Caputo is the recipient of numerous awards, including Fire Protection Contractor magazine’s “Industry person of the Year,” San Diego County Fire Chief’s Association’s “Fire Prevention Officer of the Year,” and AFSA’s highest honor, the Henry S. Parmelee Award.
