Fire Protection Engineering - Education

Education

Fire protection engineers, like their counterparts in other engineering and scientific disciplines, undertake a formal course of education and continuing professional development to acquire and maintain their competence. This education typically includes foundation studies in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and technical writing. Professional engineering studies focus students on acquiring proficiency in material science, statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, engineering economics, ethics, Systems in engineering, reliability, and environmental psychology. Studies in combustion, probabilistic risk assessment or risk management, the design of fire suppression systems, the application and interpretation of model building codes, and the measurement and simulation of fire phenomena complete most curricula.

New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to introduce Performance based assessment methods into their building codes in regard to fire safety. This occurred with the introduction of their 1991 Building Act. Professor Andy Buchanan, of the University of Canterbury, established the first post graduate and only course available in New Zealand, at the time, in fire safety engineering in 1995. Applicants to the course require a minimum qualification of a bachelors degree in engineering or bachelors degree in a limited list of science course. Notable alumni from the university of Canterbury include but is not limited to Sir Ernest Rutherford, Robert (Bob) Park, Roy Kerr, Michael P. Collins, John Britten and many others. A masters degree in fire engineering from the University of Canterbury is recognized under the Washington Accord.

In the United States, the University of Maryland (UMD), and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) offer the only ABET-accredited B.S. degree programs in Fire Protection Engineering, as well as graduate degrees and a distance M.Eng. program. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) offers a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Fire Protection Engineering. As of 2011, Cal Poly offers a M.S. in Fire Protection Engineering. Oklahoma State University offers a ABET-accredited B.S. in Fire Protection and Safety Engineering Technology (established in 1937), the University of Houston–Downtown (UHD) is ABET-accredited for a B.S. in Fire Protection Engineering Technology, and the University of Cincinnati offers an associate degree in Fire Science and a bachelor's degree in Fire and Safety Engineering Technology as distance learning options, the only university in the U.S. and Canada to hold this distinction. Other institutions, such as the University of New Haven, University of Kansas, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Eastern Kentucky University, and the University of Texas at Austin have offered courses in Fire Protection Engineering or technology.

The practice of final fire sprinkler systems design and hydraulic calculations is commonly performed by design technicians who are often educated in-house at contracting firms throughout North America, with the objective of preparing designers for certification by testing by associations such as NICET (National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies). NICET certification is commonly used as a proof of competency for securing a license to design and install fire protection systems.

In Europe, the University of Edinburgh offers a degree in Fire Engineering and had its first fire research group in the 1970s. These activities are now conducted at the new BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering. Other European Universities active in the fire engineering are Luleå tekniska universitet, Lund University, Stord/Haugesund University College, University of Central Lancashire, University of Manchester, University of Ulster, University of Sheffield, University of Leeds, University of Greenwich, London South Bank University, University of Wales, Newport, Letterkenny Institute of Technology in Ireland and Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg and Bergische Universität Wuppertal in Germany.

In Australia, Victoria University in Melbourne offers postgraduate courses in Building Fire Safety and Risk Engineering as does the University of Western Sydney. The Centre for Environmental Safety and Risk Engineering (CESARE) is a research unit under Victoria University and has facilities for research and testing of fire behaviour.