BC Chapter

The provincial push for exploration and development of natural gas in British Columbia requires significant investment in liquefied natural gas (LNG).  The hazards of liquefied natural gas are well documented but the extraction, processing and storage hazards as well as fire prevention and fire protection of LNG facilities require careful analysis and engineering judgement.

Don Delcourt of Jensen Hughes Consulting Canada will present an overview of Liquefied Natural Gas plants, LNG properties, LNG plant hazards, fire & explosion risks and typical mitigation measures.  He was involved in a three year project with BC Hydro to determine the fire & explosion risks, and major fire protection upgrades to the Tilbury Island LNG plant before it was sold to BC Gas/Terasen/FortisBC's.  Don will also provide lessons learned on our current approach to risk assessment and deterministic gas  modeling.

Jack Mawhinney, P. Eng., FSFPE, will provide a retrospective of his nearly 50-year career in fire protection in Canada and the United States.  Between 1965 and 2015, Jack’s career included 19 years in fire protection contracting in B. C., five years as technical advisor to the fire code committees at IRC in Ottawa, six years as a Senior Research Officer at the National Fire Laboratory in Ottawa, and 19 years in the U.S. as a senior engineer involved in fire testing of suppression systems and forensic analysis as an expert witness.  Mr. Mawhinney will reflect on the people, opportunities and personal decisions involved in the evolution of an interesting career in fire protection engineering.

This will be a rare opportunity to attend a presentation from an internationally renowned fire protection engineer, speaking on a variety of subjects.

Date: January 26, 2016
Time: Registration and Reception 5:30pm 
Location: Langara Golf Club (6706 Alberta St, Vancouver) 
Cost: Members - $30; Non-members $35. Please bring cash or a cheque payable to BC Society of Fire Protection Engineers to cover the cost of dinner.
Registration Deadline: January 22, 2016

The development of more sophisticated networks for fire alarm and

communications systems may have widened the gap between the manufacturer

and the electrical engineer/fire protection engineer responsible for defining the

project requirements and articulating this is the design and specifications. The

complexity of codes and standards also makes this an increasing challenge for manufacturers, engineers and authorities.

Donald Brown has spent the last 30 years in the fire alarm industry. He worked his

way up through the technical side of various fire alarm companies including

Edwards and Siemens.

He was has acted as the Branch Sales manager for Siemens and is now in Siemens

Control Products and Systems in the position of Western Canadian Territory

Manager. Don is a founding member of the Canadian Fire Alarm Association BC

Chapter and is currently the CFAA secretary in BC.

Mike van Geyn of Firestance Professional Services Ltd and John Ivison and Associates have spent almost 3 years working on two vintage wood frame buildings in the lower mainland. The first building had property use issues, rodent infestations, mould, plumbing leaks and remediation issues associated with asbestos containing materials. The decision by the Owners was to replace the plumbing systems and the building boilers/plumbing fixtures, kitchen and bathroom cabinets etc. Existing patches in fire separations had to be fire tested.

The risk of transformer loss due to fire and explosion have been studied for over half a century; however, failure to fully address transformer risks in underground, transportation and other networks, in commercial -and also existing building projects- continues to be a concern. Recent losses have shown the impact and subsequent damage that can occur. While transportation network fires for instance are often the subject of CFD modelling, this tends to focus on different fire scenarios that can understate the risk arising from fires originating in transformers in the system.