Inaugural greeting from the new president

Dr. Ai Sekizawa, Professor at Tokyo University of Science
President of JAFPE (The Japan Association of Fire Protection Engineers) and SFPE Japan Chapter
　　
On March 1, 2023, I was elected as the President of the Board of Directors of the Japan Association of Fire Protection Engineers (JAFPE), an NPO in Japan. At the same time, I am also responsible for the Japan Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE). Learning from the excellent leadership and management skills of my predecessor, Mr. Kiyoshi Fukui, and with the cooperation of all members, I intend to make efforts for the further development of both organizations.

JAFPE celebrated its 20th anniversary this year since its establishment in June 2003. During this time, the number of members has steadily increased from less than 40 when it was first established to 157 today. We have organized various seminars and facility tours, and exchange meetings with the SFPE Asia and Oceania chapters. Also, we have been running working group activities to meet the requests of our members, such as Profession Competency of Fire Protection Engineers, Elevator Evacuation, Fire Safety for Elderly Care Facilities and Childcare Facilities, and others.

Furthermore, when the fire safety regulations of the Building Standards Act were revised, we submitted public comments as a social dissemination from a professional group of fire protection engineers in Japan.

I would like to inherit the activities and achievements so far and work towards further development in the future.

March 31, 2023

3rd SFPE Asia & SFPE Oceania Collaborative Meeting

On February 10th 3rd SFPE Asia & SFPE Oceania Collaborative Meeting was held as a web conference. Summery of this conference is as follows.
・Reports on current situation in each chapter
・Presentation of Japan chapter
“Wooden buildings based on the current fire protection technology in Japan”
Introducing two timber structure buildings that Japan chapter had site tours last year with buck ground technology and legal approval process.
・Presentation of Australian chapter
“Fire safety of timber building-A review of existing knowledge and practice in Australia”
Introducing several examples of timber buildings in Australia with buck ground technology and legal approval process.
You can see the video of conference from following link.
https://youtu.be/N7AcENxC7_o

The 2022 General Assembly was held online on February 7th. Please see here for details.

The 2022 General Assembly of the Japan Association of Fire Protection Engineers was held online on February 7th. The meeting was approved by a majority of all members, including proxies.
The general meeting agenda for FY2022 activity policy and settlement of accounts, and FY2023 activity schedule and budget were explained and discussed, and both proposals were approved.
At the end of the general meeting, a certificate awarding ceremony was held for Mitsuho Enomoto, who was certified as a JAFPE fire prevention engineer last year.
Following the general meeting, we introduced the working group activities that were highly evaluated when receiving the achievement award of Japan Association for Fire Science and Engineering. We reported on the activities of the four working groups: fire safety at welfare facilities for the elderly, fire safety of capsule hotels, evacuation using elevators, and ideal fire prevention engineers, and received their opinions.
Following the general meeting, a case study on “Extension of an Existing Office Building” was introduced. The case study was presented at the SFPE-sponsored international conference held online in March 2022.
　

Site Tour to the New research center of Sumitomo Forestry

The site tour to the new research center of Sumitomo Forestry, three-story wooden quasi fire-resistant building was held on 17th of November. We introduced this building by the web seminar in 2020, and this time, we had a chance to have a real tour through the kindness of Sumitomo Forestry. Only 13 people could attend this tour du to the number restriction for covid 19. This building is a wooden quasi fire-resistant building realized by char method for wooden structural members. Performance based design for safe evacuation was used to realize the wooden interior finish and continuous void spaces without fire compartment. For wooden construction design, CLT panels, 1200mmH×1200mmW×300D were piled up with a checkered patten and tied by vertical steel rods giving a post tension. Wooden panels as a structural member were used for interior finish, warm and comfortable.

Front Facade

Tour group