Featured Articles

NAWIC President-Elect Shares Vision Catherine Schoenenberger, president of Stay Safe Traffic Products Inc., Westford, Massachusetts, and national president-elect of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) grew up in a construction family. “My parents had a commercial landscaping business and Dad sold heavy equipment,” she recalls. “However, the girls …

AFSA Offers a “Second Chance” with $5,000 in Scholarships Are you currently in college or would like to return but need financial assistance? For individuals who have already graduated from high school or earned a GED, the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) offers its Second Chance Scholarship contest. Those seeking …

Getting Products to Market Research and development (R&D) in the fire sprinkler world is a fascinating, frustrating, regulated, fun, rewarding, and slow process. In the fire sprinkler industry we often confuse R&D with good, old-fashioned product engineering. I have had the pleasure to be involved with the R&D process for …

“Truth or Consequences” was originally a television show in the early 1950s. On that show, contestants received roughly two seconds to answer a trivia question correctly. The way the show went, if the contestant could not complete the “truth” portion, there would be a “consequence.” They were usually required to …

Tyco Sponsors Program for High School Students AFSA Associate Member Tyco Fire Protection Products believes in supporting diversity and generating awareness about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers to young women. With its Women in Technology (WIT) program, it hopes to fulfill these students’ passion and potential. Established in …

Fully Protect Your Financial Interests Today within the fire sprinkler industry, each sprinkler contractor owner looks to fully protect his or her financial interests both during and after completion of any contractual work performed. The American Fire Sprinkler Association’s (AFSA) program provided through Robert Leonhart and Blue River Underwriters has …

In Part 1 of this article, I discussed the many signs that are required by NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems. I tried to provide some of the reasons and history behind those requirements. In this follow-up article, I will extend the discussion to NFPA 13D, Standard …

Up-and-Coming Leaders Spill Their Secrets to Success In the fire sprinkler industry, the experience and wisdom gained from years of service is highly respected. At the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA), we regularly look to our Board of Directors, and to our founding members and lifetime members, for their vast …

Donations Fund the Future of the Fire Sprinkler Industry The Center for Life Safety Education (CLSE), an educational affiliate of the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA), is proud to sponsor two scholarship programs: the Philip L. DeCamara, Jr. Scholarship and the Thomas S. Waller Memorial Scholarship. These programs honor dedicated …

Eliminate Freeze-Ups and Inefficiencies Flexible technology was recently introduced into the dry sprinkler market, bringing with it a simpler and safer solution for eliminating system freeze-ups and installation and maintenance inefficiencies. By infusing flexible technology into the VicFlex™ Dry Sprinkler Style VS1, Victaulic gave owners, architects, engineers and contractors a …