With the Society

THE SOCIETY OF FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEERS Joseph E. Johnson, President

Robert A. Pedersen, First Vice President Edward F. Tabisz, Second Vice President

Richard E. Stevens, Secretary-Treasurer

A N E W M E M B E R S H I P G R A D E ?

Qualifications for membership in the S F P E is a subject that has been dis- cussed frequently for more than a year. A good deal of the commentary was st imulated by the rejection of appli- cants who are considered borderline insofar as their qualifications are con- cerned. Because fire protection engi- neers are striving through their Society to gain acceptance as professionals, the qualification s tandards are high.

Out of all the discussion to date, two schools of thought have emerged. One believes tha t there can be no deviat ion from the Society 's current membership s tandards if fire protection engineering is to a t ta in the professional recognition it so strongly desires and needs to function effectively. The other feels tha t it would be in the best interests of fire protect ion engineering to create a grade of Society membership tha t would admi t persons engaged in cer- tain vocations and professions outside of, but akin to, fire protection engineer- ing. I t does not, however, advocate lowering the qualification s tandards for existing grades of membership.

Earlier this year, the Executive Committee of the S F P E ' s Chicago Chapter submit ted a series of constitu- tional amendments , which had a c o m -

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mon objective - - the es tabl ishment of an Affiliate Member grade in the Society.

Wha t is an Affiliate Member? As defined by one of the proposed amend- ments, "an Affiliate Member shall be a person who is engaged in an ac t iv i ty and possesses scientific a t t a inmen t s or practical experience which qualify him to cooperate with fire protect ion engi- neers and ,o r render service to the field of fire protection engineering." Another proposed amendment s t ipulated tha t an Affiliate Member may not vote.

Why establish such a grade of mem- bership? Proponents of the amend- ments point out t ha t there is a short- age of trained engineers in all fields; therefore, it is vi tal t ha t the technician and the semi-professional be developed and prepared for promotion. There are persons making valuable contribu- tions to fire protect ion engineering who, because of the lack of an engineering education or the prescribed number of years of engineering experience, do not measure up to the Society 's qualifica- tions. I t is necessary tha t unders tand- ing and communicat ion exist between those individuals and the fire protec- t ion engineer. W h a t be t te r way is there to facil i tate such intercourse than

W i t h the Soc ie ty

through membership in the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. This was recognized some time ago by many of the older respected engineering so- cieties.

Who would be eligible for Affiliate membership? The Chicago Chapter 's Executive Committee recommended that the grade include insurance in- spectors, fire prevention bureau in- spectors, chief officers of public fire de- partments, graduate engineers who are not practicing fire protection engi- neering, salesmen of fire protection equipment, and employees of industrial firms who are charged with fire preven- tion and protection responsibilities.

The proposals received considerable attention at a meeting of the SFPE Executive Committee just prior to the Society's annual meeting in May. A major objection to the amendments was that they did not specify in any detail the qualifications for Affiliate membership; the requirements were too broad.

Before they could be acted upon, the proposed amendments were withdrawn by their sponsors. The matter of a grade of membership requiring some- what less rigid qualifications, however, is not a dead issue. President Johnson appointed a committee to consider methods of broadening the base of So- ciety membership and to solicit the opinion of its membership. The com- mittee is also charged with presenting its findings to the chapters for their consideration and with preparing pro- posed revisions to the SFPE constitu- tion for submission at the next annual meeting.

Will the establishment of an Affiliate Member grade be beneficial or detri- mental to the profession? This is a question that the fire protection engi- neer must decide for himself. The mat- ter is of such great importance that it behooves every member of the Society

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to give it careful thought and make his feelings known.

SOCIETY CHAPTERS

To date, 19 chapters have been or- ganized in accordance with the SFPE Constitution. When a group of mem- bers in a geographical area desires to form a local chapter for purposes of discussion and advancement of the ob- jectives of the Society, it may organize and apply to the Executive Committee for chapter status. The existing chap- ters and their presidents are:

C H E S A P E A K E

Edward Schoolfield, Jr. Maryland Underwriters Rating Bureau First National Bank Building Baltimore, Maryland

CHICAGO Gerald L. Maatman Kemper Insurance Company 4750 N. Sheridan Road Chicago, Illinois

DELAWARE VALLEY Joseph A. Smith Factory Mutual Engineering Corp. One East Penn Square Philadelphia, Penn.

GREATER ST. LOUIS Richard G. Shisslak W. I-I. Markham and Company 506 Olive Street St. Louis, Missouri

H A W A I I

Roger W. Parlee 1614 Emerson Street Honolulu, Hawaii

M I C H I G A N

Richard H. Yapp Ford Motor Company 1700 Oakwood Building P.O. Box 187 Dearborn, Michigan

M I N N E S O T A

Uno B. Magnuson Fire Underwriters Inspection Bureau 1229 Plymouth Building Minneapolis, Minn.

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MO-KAN (MISSOURI-KANSAS)

MacDonald Curless General Services Administration Public Buildings Service BMD Federal Building 1500 E. Bannister Road Kansas City, Missouri

MONTREAL*OTTAWA

A. Delmour Curl Wal ter Kidde & Co. of Canada, Ltd. 5500 Royalmount Avenue Montreal 9, P.Q., Canada

N E W E N G L A N D

Joseph B. Shattuck, Jr. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. 175 Berkeley Street Boston, Mass.

N E W YORK

Mart in M. Brown Commerce and Indust ry Insurance Co. Two Park Avenue New York, New York

NORTH T E X A S

Thomas E. Duke Fire Prevention & Engineering Bureau

of Texas 520 Mercantile Securities Building Dallas, Texas

N O R T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A - N E V A D A

Paul D. Smith Gage Babcock and Associates, Inc. 3099 Telegraph Ave. Berkeley, California

O H I O - P E N N S Y L V A N I A

Robert E. Parsons Ohio Inspection Bureau Room 243, Ohio Edison Building Youngstown, Ohio

F i r e T e c h n o l o g y

PACIFIC N O R T H W E S T

Carrol E. Burtner Boeing Company Box 3707 Seattle, Washington

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

John G. Degenkolb Consultant 5940 Echo Street Los Angeles, California

S O U T H E R N ONTARIO

G. R. Beach Reed, Shaw, and McNaught 25 Adelaide Street, West Toronto, Ontario, Canada

WEST VIRGINIA

M. V. Bickel West Virginia Rating Bureau 1120 Kanawha Blvd., East Charleston, West Virginia

W I S C O N S I N

Gene J. Birchler Kimberly Clark Corporation Neenah, Wisconsin

T h e r e are also two s t u d e n t chap te r s ,

one a t the I l l inois I n s t i t u t e of Tech-

nology and the o t h e r a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y

of M a r y l a n d .

Ful l de ta i l s on the S o c i e t y and ap-

p l ica t ions for m e m b e r s h i p can be ob-

t a ined f rom S F P E h e a d q u a r t e r s , 60

B a t t e r y m a r c h St . , Bos ton , M a s s . 02110.