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Fire Safety in Buildings Revised and Reissued

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards has published a redesigned and updated version of Fire Safety in Buildings, the fourth title in NCARB’s Professional Development Program’s health, safety, and welfare-enriched monograph series.

Originally released in 1996, Fire Safety in Buildings encourages architects to take a leadership role in “developing design objectives that describe a tolerable level of risk for life safety, property protection, and continuity of operations.” Monograph authors Larry Grosse, Ph.D., and Fred Malven, Ph.D., further explain, “. . . to properly design fire-safe buildings, architects must adopt a systematic approach to the design process. This systematic approach should seek to satisfy the following three general objectives: prevent ignition; control the effects of a fire should one start; and protect the building occupants and contents from a fire’s effects.”

As the authors note, “The most important fire-safety tool architects can bring to the users of buildings is their educated deliberation and judgment.” FSB provides an overview of fire behavior, reviews fire department operations, and fully details a model of building fire safety. The monograph concludes with a case study on the 1980 MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas, NV.

The newly redesigned Fire Safety in Buildings sells for $125 (current NCARB File holders) and $195 (non-NCARB File holders). Those successfully completing the FSB quiz will earn 10 professional development units and 10 AIA learning units in health, safety, and welfare. All monograph quizzes may now be taken online through the NCARB web site—an added convenience that eliminates processing time and provides test takers with immediate results and a printable certificate of completion.

The NCARB monograph series was created in 1993 in order to address the increasing need for continuing education and professional development verification. In addition to Fire Safety in Buildings, the following titles are currently available: Cracking the Codes, Design Within a Community Context, Energy-Conscious Architecture, Indoor Environment, Low-Slope Roofing I, the award-winning Low-Slope Roofing II, Professional Conduct, Seismic Mitigation, Subsurface Conditions, Sustainable Design, Why Buildings Fail, and Wind Forces.

NCARB’s newest monograph, Improving Building Performance, is scheduled to be published prior to the Council’s June 2003 Annual Meeting and Conference. Future monographs will explore topics including crime prevention in the context of design, building security, the building envelope, and smart growth.

NCARB monographs are a portable and economical professional development resource that investigate subject matter of interest to practicing architects and allied design professionals. All U.S. jurisdictions accept PDP monographs for compliance with state continuing education/professional development requirements. To order an NCARB monograph, visit the the publications section of the Council web site.

About NCARB
NCARB comprises the architectural registration boards of all 50 states as well as those of the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. NCARB assists its member state registration boards in carrying out their duties and provides a certification program for individual architects.

The mission of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards is to work together as a council of member boards to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the public and to assist member boards in carrying out their duties. In order to achieve these goals, the Council develops and recommends standards to be required of an applicant for architectural registration; develops and recommends standards regulating the practice of architecture; provides to member boards a process for certifying the qualifications of an architect for registration; and represents the interests of member boards before public and private agencies. With the Committee of Canadian Architectural Councils (CCAC), NCARB has also established guidelines for the reciprocal registration of U.S. and Canadian architects.