Fire Safety and Historic Buildings Lecture with David Jacoby

Join us on Wednesday, August 28th from 6:30-8:30PM for a lecture on fire safety and historic buildings with David Jacoby, a Principal and leader of the Fire Engineering Practice for Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc!

Recent fires at Notre Dame and the National Museum of Brazil have raised awareness of potential fire impacts to and vulnerabilities of historic structures. Adaptive re-use of historic or existing buildings often have similar life safety challenges. The building may not have been built to any specific code, documentation of the buildings can be sparse and life safety requirements have changed since the building’s construction. Common issues with historic buildings generally revolve around providing protection without affecting the historic fabric of the building. Issues with archaic construction and fire ratings, as well as existing interconnected spaces are among the many issues that need to be addressed.

Many places have adopted the International Existing Building Code to address the existing building stock in their cities. Performance based design is an option to address life safety while maintaining the historic fabric of the building. Guidelines have been developed by organizations such as the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, National Fire Protection Association and the International Code Council to address performance based design. Performance based design often provides the best way to utilize the existing inherent fire resistant properties of archaic/historic construction and marry that with new systems such as suppression, detection and smoke control to provide a level of safety equal to better than that prescribed by the code while minimizing the impact on the historic fabric of the building. Case studies will be utilized to present common problems and solutions for fire safety in historic buildings.

David Jacoby is a Principal and leader of the Fire Engineering Practice for Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc.  David has more than 20 years of experience in fire protection engineering and is a licensed professional engineer and LEED AP.  He has worked on a broad range of projects from historic preservation/adaptive reuse to campus/city planning.  His work also includes large assembly occupancies, stadiums, arenas, convention centers, mixed-use high-rise facilities, airports, hospitals, federal courthouses, office buildings, casinos, and residential facilities.  He is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).  David is involved with various committees in the fire industry, including the New York City Department of Buildings – New NYC Build Code Committees – Fire Protection Committee and Use, Occupancy, Construction and Egress Committee; New York City Fire Code Revisions Project – Fire Advisory Committee member; and is a principal member of the Fundamentals Committee of NFPA 101/NFPA 5000.  He is a Past President of the NYC Metro Chapter of SFPE.  He is a registered engineer in New York, NJ and nine other states.

Please join us for what is sure to be an enlightening evening! We'll begin the evening with a half hour of light refreshments and mingling, and the presentation will begin promptly at 7PM. A question and answer session will follow.

St. Patrick's Cathedral attic space (Photo courtesy of SGH)