John Frank Presenting
Lunch will be served during presentation
1) Addressing Warehouse Sprinkler Design and Fire Service Disconnects
John will discuss the disconnects he sees between what is allowed in warehouse perspective standards and how the fire service sees storage occupancies. He will share personal examples, losses where the disconnect resulted in large loss, and what the fire protection engineer can do.
The presentation will discuss insurance company efforts to manage this issue from the Maximum Reliability Concept to recent Final Extinguishment designs.
Although not a warehouse fire, John will share the message from the Copenhagen, Denmark Fire Chief given during a special presentation to the 2024 SFPE Performance Based Design Conference. This was in the aftermath of the major fire at the historic Copenhagen Stock Exchange on April 16th, 2024.
2) Foam system changes in NFPA 409 Standard on Aircraft Hangars
- Group II, foam no longer required in many cases
- Group I, new options besides foam
- USAF Position
- Group I options
- Fire Risk-Based Approach
- Ignitable Liquid Drainage Floor Assembly
- Next Cycle Public Inputs
- Intelligent monitors (will still require some kind of water additive)
- Water mist
- Other agents, such as NFPA 18A
John will also give a brief presentation on what SFPE is doing nationally and internationally.
Schedule
11:00 Doors open; select your lunch
11:30 Meeting begins
- Update chapter
- Plans for the year
- Tradeshow at Five Rivers
11:45 Technical Presentation by John
Biography for John Frank
John began his career as a professional firefighter and rose to the rank of Assistant Fire Chief at a major industrial logistics center and aircraft overhaul facility for the United States Air Force. He subsequently joined the Highly Protected Risk insurance industry as a property loss control engineer. John is currently the Property Center of Expertise Leader at AXA XL Risk Consulting, where he and his team provide advanced fire protection engineering support to the organization and its customers.
As a volunteer firefighter in metro-Atlanta, he was part of the hose team that affected final extinguishment of a large bin box carousel ASRS fire that was controlled by four sprinklers. The residual fire was deep in an inaccessible part of the carousel. Because of his successful experience with this fire, final extinguishment of ASAR fires are among his areas of focus.
John was also a technical advisor at a tire warehouse fire and rolled paper warehouse fire.
For more than 20 years, John has conducted custom pre-emergency planning classes for insured properties and their fire departments. These departments range in size from small volunteer to large urban. He has also evaluated fire department response capability in for sites in Germany, Switzerland, Russia, and throughout the United States.
John’s education includes an undergraduate degree in Fire and Safety Engineering Technology, a Graduate Certificate in Fire Protection Engineering, and an MBA. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Fire Protection Engineering, a Certified Fire Protection Specialist, and holds numerous fire service certifications. In 2014, John was elected to the grade of Fellow in the SFPE.
John has a total of 44 years in the fire protection industry. He is currently a Director at Large for the SFPE.
john.frank@axaxl.com 404-431-2673
