Society of Fire Protection Engineers - Houston Chapter News

Dallas-Ft. Worth SFPE Texas Fire and Life Safety Symposium

William Gilthorpe — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 16:38:43 GMT

Happy New Year and New Technical Presentations

Raymundo Rodriguez — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:24:23 GMT

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed the holiday break and that you and your families are doing well during this winter weather.

Our team is excited to kick off the new year with more dynamic technical presentations. We are currently coordinating presenter confirmations and will post details for our upcoming meetings soon.

SFPE–Houston Chapter

Critical Security Alert – Fraudulent Email Circulating

Raymundo Rodriguez — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 15:38:51 GMT

Subject: Critical Security Alert – Fraudulent Email Circulating

Team,

Please be advised that there is a phishing email currently circulating, requesting funds under the heading “SFPE Operating and Administrative Expenses.”

This communication is NOT legitimate. It is unauthorized, unsanctioned, and poses a cybersecurity risk. Do NOT click any links, open attachments, or provide any personal or financial information in response. Doing so could compromise your system and expose sensitive data.

This email did not originate from the SFPE Club and is not an official request. Treat it as malicious and delete it immediately.

If you have already interacted with the email, please report it to IT Security without delay.

Stay vigilant.

Ray Rodriguez

Invitation to Present

Raymundo Rodriguez — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 15:09:52 GMT

We are looking for Technical Presentations:

We invite you to present at an upcoming SFPE Houston Chapter meeting.
If you have a topic or idea you'd like to share, please email us @ president@sfpehouston.org

Alternatively, let us know what subjects interest you—we’ll work to bring that technical presentation to Houston.

See you at our September meeting.

Invitation to Observe VEFD Flame Detection Testing

Raymundo Rodriguez — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 15:06:39 GMT

Invitation to Observe VEFD Flame Detection Testing

Shared on behalf of Fire & Gas Detection Technologies Inc.

Location: BakerRisk Facility, San Antonio

️Timing: Targeting September–October 2025

One of our technology partners is preparing a round of testing for their AI-enabled Video Enhanced Flame Detection (VEFD) system, the FGD Blade, and is inviting members of the SFPE Houston Chapter and affiliated companies (including Wood) to participate as observers or independent validators.

What’s Being Tested

The program will include:

FM3260 performance validation
Advanced scenarios, such as:
- Reflected flame conditions
- Partial flame obstructions
- Saturation from high-intensity fires

The vendor is also open to side-by-side testing with other detectors for comparative evaluation.

Your Expertise Is Welcome please send inquiries or comments/ideas to me @ president@sfpehouston.org

As the scope and duration are being finalized, the vendor is seeking input from FPEs and end users on:

Preferred fuel types
Specific application conditions
Real-world scenarios you'd like to see reflected in the testing

Let’s Connect ( president@sfpehouston.org)

If you or your colleagues are interested in:

Attending the test as observers
Sharing feedback on the test scope
Exploring or are willing to give our Chapter a Technical presentation at an upcoming SFPE Houston Chapter meeting, please send me @ president@sfpehouston.org

Please reach out—we’d be happy to help coordinate a conversation with the vendor.

Contact: Raymundo Rodriguez, [SFPE, President] On behalf of Fire & Gas Detection Technologies Inc., jbonilla@fg-detection.com

SFPE Houston Chapter meeting on May 29, 2025, hosted at the iconic Saint Arnold Brewing Company.

Raymundo Rodriguez — Fri, 30 May 2025 16:29:23 GMT

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Fire & Gas Detection Technologies, Inc. for graciously hosting this enlightening presentation. Our SFPE Houston Chapter was thoroughly engaged, and we eagerly anticipate the innovative advancements you will bring forth. You have an open invitation to present before our team again.

The venue at Saint Arnold Brewing Company was exceptional, from the inviting space to the delectable food served.

A special thanks to Juan Bonilla, Eliot Sizeland, and Chaviv Perlman for generously sharing their expertise with our SFPE Houston Chapter.

Thank you Karen Vilas, FORTRESS Protective Buildings, for presenting at our SFPE Houston April 24th, 2025, meeting.

Raymundo Rodriguez — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 15:52:06 GMT

Thank youKaren Vilas,FORTRESS Protective Buildings, for presenting at our SFPE Houston April 24th, 2025, meeting. It was a full house and very near capacity. The members and guests of SFPE-Houston enjoyed the very thorough presentation on a subject that plagues our industry,“Goldilocks and the Three Fuels”. You have an open invitation to present anytime, thank you!!!SFPE Houston,

linkedin.com/in/sfpe-houston-b4086b16a

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sfpe-houston-b4086b16a_thank-you-karen-vilas-fortress-protective-activity-7321542835416047617-KxPd?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAChZtqABzEXFVw3mv-35NM0VHvi4h_Jatj0

AI-Driven Flame Detection

Raymundo Rodriguez — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 15:28:07 GMT

AI-Driven Flame Detection - Currently working with a manufacturer to bring a discussion to our Houston Team on the advancing technology of AI and the use of this technology in Flame Detection. We are hopefully they will be able to secure a date before our summer break!!

March Meeting American Flow Technology - Presented by Alex Young @ Dooley Tackaberry

Raymundo Rodriguez — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 17:00:05 GMT

Great Time @ the SFPE- Houston March 2025 meeting at Dooley Tackaberry.

Thank you to the Entire Dooley Tackaberry team, the facility, the space and the generosity was very much appreciated.

Alex Young Presented a very impressive High Flow Mega Hydrant that American Flow Control offers. Thank you! Great to see and speak to everyone in attendance.

New Officers 2024-2026 - Meet and Greet of the new officers (Event to come soon))

Raymundo Rodriguez — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 14:40:04 GMT

Executive Committee
Title	Officer	Company Name
President	Ray Rodriguez	Wood
Vice-President	Katie Render	Coffman Engineering
Treasurer	Will Gilthorpe	Autronica/Det-tronics
Secretary	Josh Page	Marsol Technologies
Past President	Dale Jenkins	WSP USA

Bronze Award for Chapter Excellence

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 15:38:37 GMT

Annual Business Meeting (Elections)

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 23:00:00 GMT

In our upcoming annual business meeting we will hold elections for our new officers. Please come out for elections, dinner, and a presentation.

Proposed Bylaws Revisions

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 19:17:06 GMT

For those who are interested, please review the new "Proposed Bylaws revisions" page. We will vote on these changes during our August 2023 meeting.

SFPE Houston Membership Level

Sun, 01 May 2022 22:41:04 GMT

We have discontinued the student membership level.

Please apply for full membership if you have received one of the following:

notification that your student membership application was not approved
notification requesting you to change your membership level

2022-2024 Chapter Officer Nominations And Elections

Scott Herreth — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 14:57:08 GMT

If you would like to participate in directing the path of the SFPE Houston Chapter, Here Is Your Opportunity..............................

It is time to compile interested people. So please Nominate Yourself, or a trusted Colleague, to one of the 2022-2024 Houston Chapter Officer positions.

- President

- Vice-President

- Treasurer

- Secretary

In order to qualify for an SFPE-Houston Chapter officer position, you are required to be a paid member in good standing for both the Houston Chapter and the National SFPE Organization.

The Election for the 2022-2024 Officers will be held at the April 20, 2022 meeting.

Please contact with any questions, nominations, or comments.

Scott Herreth - Current President - president@sfpehouston.org

Dale Jenkins - Current Vice-President - vicepresident@sfpehouston.org

SFPE Announces Its 2020 Society Awards

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 15:37:46 GMT

The Society of Fire Protection Engineers has formally announced their 2020 Society Awards. Our very own Harris County Fire Marshal, Laurie Christensen, CFPS, FM, was nominated by members of SFPE Houston's board and was selected as Fire Protection Person of the Year. Congratulations Laurie on this well deserved award.

Our Houston chapter was also selected for the Bronze Award for Chapter Excellence.

Membership Dues Payment Not Due Until February 1st 2021

William Gilthorpe — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 21:03:53 GMT

Please disregard the membership renewal email sent out this morning 17-Apr-2020. SFPE Houston has changed the annual renewal date to February 1st of each year. SFPE Houston membership fees will be waived for current members in good standing for the remainder of 2020.

We will now be collecting dues and hope to begin holding hybrid events soon.

Please contact Dale Jenkins or Will Gilthorpe if you receive additional renewal emails before December 2020 or if you have any questions.

March Meeting Cancelled due to COVID-19

Jared Thibodaux — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:36:58 GMT

I'm sorry to say we cancelled this weeks meeting due to COVID-19.

We decided to follow the CDC recommendations and cancel.

We'll let you know the status of the April meeting in a few weeks.

Take Care!

Harris County New Fire Protection Water Supply Standard

Jared Thibodaux — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 14:45:41 GMT

The new Fire Protection Water Supply Standard for unincorporated Harris County is now posted on the Harris County Engineering website. Check out the second document on the line under "Supporting Information" as well. Any questions contact Charles Vento or Bryan Clevenger at Harris County Engineering.

http://www.eng.hctx.net/permits/Fire/Fire-Code/Fire-Code-Review

Great Meeting Last Night (50 attendees)

Jared Thibodaux — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:27:31 GMT

We had a great meeting last night.

Thanks to Advantage for hosting and thanks to the Harris County Fire Marshal for presenting.

We had 50 people attend, the largest meeting we've had in years.

Chapter Bronze Award

Jared Thibodaux — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 19:21:49 GMT

Just letting everyone know, the chapter was Awarded the Bronze Award for Chapter Excellence. Congrats!

Holiday Party/Toys for Tots

Jared Thibodaux — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:41:23 GMT

We collected $300.00 for Toy for Tots and lots of toys. Thanks everyone for donating. The party was fun. Have a safe Holiday and Happy New Year.

Active Shooter Presentation Last Night - Information

Jared Thibodaux — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 15:00:48 GMT

Thanks Sargeant DeMilia for the presentation and Advantage Interests for hosting the event last night.

Anyone who is interesting in information on last night's event, see the website below.

https://alerrt.org/

2018 SFPE Annual Conference & Expo

Jared Thibodaux — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 17:40:10 GMT

I’m happy to share with you some exciting news. Soon, our SFPE Chapter will be joining with SFPE at the 2018 SFPE Annual Conference & Expo, which is shaping up to be our strongest annual conference to date. This two and a half days conference (October 28-30) with post optional Professional Development Seminars (October 31 – November 2) will provide fire safety and fire protection engineers with the knowledge, resources and connections that they need to excel.

Attendees can access over 55 sessions to get up-to-date on technical trends and case studies. Earn 14 PDHs over these two and a half days (plus up to 21 PDHs available from the optional Professional Development Seminars offered after the conference.)

I would like to personally invite you to join me and participate in this engaging conference. Don’t miss your chance to network with other fire safety and fire protection engineers in the vibrant and beautiful music city capital of the world, Nashville — at the heart of our SFPE North America Chapters — and further your career and connections.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Fire Service Scholarship Applications for SFPE Annul Conference Due August 10

Jared Thibodaux — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 13:11:23 GMT

The Fire Service Subcommittee is proud to announce that there will be scholarships for up to 10 full-time fire service personnel that will cover registration for the 2018 SFPE Annual Conference & Expo in Nashville, Tennessee, this October 27–November 2. Application requirements and forms can be found at the below link. Applications are due August 10, 2018.

In addition to the scholarship, the Fire Service Subcommittee is sponsoring a dedicated track at the annual conference focused on fire service. Topics in this track help to bridge the gap in knowledge needed by both the fire protection engineer and fire service personnel. See the conference agenda for additional information about this event and the speakers involved, link to website below.

Link to Application and Requirements

SFPE Nashville 2018

Volunteer's needed for Fire Protection PE Exam Developement

Jared Thibodaux — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 15:54:29 GMT

SFPE National is asking for volunteers from Licensed PE Members.

See below.

As background, the October 2018 administration of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) fire protection engineering professional licensing exam will be the inaugural administration for the most recent exam blueprint. Upon completion of the October 2018 exam, the cut score, which is the lowest raw score required to pass the exam, must be established.

WHAT: A procedure called a standard-setting study is used to establish the cut score for benchmark exams or for exams to which the equating process is not applicable. The benchmark exam is the first administration of a new exam or the first exam after a specification change. For subsequent administrations, the equivalent standard is maintained by statistical equating.

WHO: The standard-setting study is conducted with 10-15 practicing licensed professional engineers who are familiar with the level of knowledge a minimally competent candidate should possess to satisfy this step in the licensing process. This cadre must be diverse in field of practice, business sector, years, of experience, gender and geography. Volunteers will be evaluated and accepted on a first come, first serve basis, with a need to ensure an inclusive and representative distribution.

WHEN: The cut score session will take place in on November 28-29, 2018. Both days will be all day sessions and volunteers must attend both days.

WHERE: Chicago, Illinois

Anyone interested in participating or nominating someone from their company to participate in this exam standard-setting study, can please feel free to contact me, Mr. Tony Militello, PE., at: Anthony.j.militello@navy.mil.

SFPE - New Officers/Board Members

Jared Thibodaux — Tue, 01 May 2018 15:48:07 GMT

At last weeks meeting, the following officers/board members were voted in:

President – Jared Thibodaux

Vice President – Scott Herreth

Treasurer – Will Gilthorpe

Secretary – Dale Jenkins

Immediate Past President – Tony Pyle

Board Members – Will Clay, Ed Cope, Rob Hicks, Peter Rollinger

Thank you to all past officers and board members for your support of the society.

Larry Owen, past SFPE president and benchmark in fire protection engineering

Fri, 05 Feb 2016 16:40:09 GMT

We are saddened to inform you that Larry Owen, Past President of the local Houston SFPE chapter passed away 2/03/16. He and his wife Lina were killed in an auto/pedestrian accident. Larry’s career in the fire protection industry spanned more than 45 years. He served the local SFPE chapter in several capacities in the early 1990’s including serving as President from 1993 to 1995. During his career Larry was able to accomplish several key things:

During his tenure as local SFPE chapter President he included many meetings with new and innovative fire protection solutions and products
Larry was also committed to finding new solutions (and developed or improved existing methods) in fire protection
Larry was highly respected as the consummate professional in how he dealt with his customers and others in the fire protection community.
Larry always continued to improve his knowledge through education, training, and contributions to professional societies and technical committees.

After his early years in the business in the Dallas Fort Worth area Larry moved to Houston in1978 and became an instrumental part of the early success with Webb, Murray and Associates. Larry moved to Dooley Tackaberry in 1996 and finished his career there. Since 1970, Larry had worked in a variety of fire protection roles including Consulting, Project Management, and Business Development. Most of Larry’s experience was directly related to the petrochemical, offshore, and power industries. He held a B.A. in Fire Prevention Technology and Fire Administration and served as Chair of the NFPA 750 Standard on Water Mist Fire Protection Systems. He also was a Committee Member on the NFPA 15 Standard for Water Spray Fixed Systems, the ISA-SP84, Programmable Electronic System (PES) for use in Safety Applications Standard, and ISA-SP12.13, Performance Requirements for Combustible Gas Detectors Standard. Larry was also a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers and Instrument Society of America (ISA).

Larry loved life and tackled his hobbies of fishing, golf, dirt track racing and traveling with the same intensity and dedication that he gave to his professional life. Larry also was highly involved in his church and family life. Larry and Lina were on the way to one of their grandchildren’s school event when the accident occurred.

Larry and Lina are survived by their daughters Michelle Owen and Denise Perry and seven grandchildren.

The memorial services will be at South East Church of Christ at

10:00 am Saturday February 6^th 2016

2400 West Bay Area Boulevard

Friendswood, Texas 77546

281-992-2168

Larry was a benchmark in the fire protection industry and he will be greatly missed.

Sincerely,

The SFPE Officers

SFPE Chapter Excellence Award

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:33:18 GMT

Congratulations!

The Houston SFPE Chapter has been awarded the BRONZE Chapter Excellence Award. This award recognizes our chapter’s accomplishments in demonstrating excellence in contributing to the needs of the members and the Society.

Thank you to the dedication and hard work of several of our members and past presidents for elevating our chapter to the point of being recognized as excellent. There are a few members that it seems would be appropriate to recognize their activities that contributed to the decision to award Houston the SFPE Chapter Excellence Award:

To promote fire protection engineering as a career path, Will Clay and Rob Hicks spoke to the Director of Engineering Program at Memorial High School and David Fiedler spoke to Fire Protection Engineer students at University of Maryland. Mike Crawley shared his expertise at the NFPA expo – his topic was fire protection in health care. Peter Rollinger offers his experience to the Construction Industry Council. Also, thank you to the Houston SFPE Chapter board members and officers for sharing their time and experience.

The award will be presented on Sunday, November 8^th during the SFPE Annual Business meeting from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm as part of the 2015 North America Conference & Expo: Freedom to Design being held November 8 -13 at the Loews Hotel in Philadelphia, PA.

If you plan on attending the North America Conference & Expo and will be in Philadelphia on November 8, please contact me at president@sfpehouston.org. It would be good to have a representative from the Houston chapter to accept the award.