Featured Articles

John August Denhardt, PE, FSFPE The American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) has selected John August Denhardt, P.E., FSFPE, as its new Vice President of Engineering & Technical Services, effective January 6, 2020. Denhardt will be responsible for strengthening AFSA’s engineering and technical approaches to meeting member, industry and operational priorities, …

San Diego Hosts America’s Largest Fire Sprinkler Event  The American Fire Sprinkler Association’s (AFSA) 38th annual AFSA38: Convention, Exhibition & Apprentice Competition was held October 1-4 in San Diego, California. The beautiful weather and relaxed atmosphere of the Golden State offered the perfect backdrop for the annual “education vacation.” Nearly …

Are You Protected? Cybersecurity is a hot topic with a recent rise in robocalls, email phishing scams, and other digital attacks on our personal information becoming the norm, rather than the occasional annoyance they used to be. With the rise in attempted attacks, there also comes a new level of …

AFSA Member American Automatic Sprinkler’s Project Nears Completion Construction commenced at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas with a “Let the Dirt Fly” groundbreaking ceremony held on April 18, 2017, but for AFSA member American Automatic Sprinkler, Inc. (AAS) of Fort Worth, one of the largest merit-shop fire protection contractors …

What are Laterals? One of the aspects of NFPA 14, Standard for the Installation of Standpipe and Hose Systems, that has been regularly edited over the last several cycles of the standard is the protection of piping against fire damage. This article will look at these changes with a particular …

Application and Pitfalls When reviewing a set of contract documents, I often find myself gravitating to the life-safety drawings. These drawings spell out several items which help me in evaluating the overall sprinkler needs for a project. Among the most common items identified are the location and rating of the …

Members Celebrate Milestone Anniversaries As the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) celebrates its 38th anniversary in 2019, we also recognize those members who are celebrating milestone membership anniversaries. The member companies featured this issue have belonged to AFSA for 15 or more years of continuous membership. Several members are celebrating …

What is it? Exposure protection refers to the protecting of a structure from a nearby fire. This can be in the form of radiation from a nearby fire, exposure to flames from a jetting fire, from a burning building or roof at a lower elevation than the exposed building, or …

Contributions Support Exceptional Fire Protection Engineers Each year, the Center for Life Safety Education (CLSE) and the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) come together to award the Philip L. De Camara, Jr. Scholarship, established to honor a man who was dedicated to the fire sprinkler industry. That scholarship awards $3,500 …

Texas Development is a Model Using Incentives to Achieve Community Risk Reduction On average, seven people die in home fires in the U.S. every day (NFPA). Of all structures, homes are where we are most vulnerable, accounting for four of every five fire deaths and three of every four fire …