INFORMATION FOR ANALYSIS

Joe Meyer, PE is a St. Louis-based Fire Protection Engineer and creator of MeyerFire, an online resource platform for professionals in the fire protection industry. Passionate about the field, Joe is committed to creating impactful resources to help grow and improve the practice of fire protection engineering.

Joe's engineering journey started at the University of Kansas and continued at the University of Maryland. Before founding MeyerFire, he led a fire protection group in St. Louis and worked for a large MEP group in Kansas City. Joe is also an avid illustrator and ran an online art shop from 2012 to 2020.

Today, Joe is the creative lead for MeyerFire among other roles. He has authored the leading prep guide for the Fire Protection PE Exam, contributed to NFSA’s Layout Book, compiled the NFSA Expert of the Day volumes, has served as a Chapter President in SFPE, and lectured at the university level.

Joe is driven to make the world a little better each day by working to provide industry professionals (engineers, contractors, architects, and building owners) with the resources they need to create a more firesafe world.

Max Newton is a licensed fire protection engineer and has a Level IV certification from NICET in water-based systems layout. He has experience in fire alarm, fire suppression, special hazards, building code, life safety, commissioning, inspections, plan review and business. He has extensive experience in water-based layout of fire suppression systems including water storage tanks, pumps, underground pipe, wet pipe, dry pipe, deluge, ESFR fire sprinkler systems, standpipe systems, and Novec 1230 systems. Max also has extensive experience in estimating, bidding, contracts, administration, and business operations for contracting and engineering companies. He has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and is currently pursuing an MBA at Rice University. 

Derek Duval is a licensed Fire Protection Engineering and Fire/Life Safety Code Consulting Expert in the Southern California Region. Mr. Duval holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Fire Protection Engineering, both from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Since graduating from WPI, he built his experience in Fire Protection Engineering from a diverse background having worked for several organizations. Realizing a need for expanding fire safety education, Mr. Duval working UCSD Extended Studies developed and instructs course work in Fire Protection Engineering intended to help bridge the gap between traditional engineering disciplines and fire protection engineering. Currently, he is working as a Fire Protection Engineer for the City of San Diego, part-time Instructor for UCSD Extended Studies teaching about fire protection engineering, and Owner/Principal of Duval Fire Codes, a small firm dedicated to expanding fire protection engineering knowledge and code consulting. When not working or talking about fire and life safety, he and his wife enjoy the outdoors, visiting new places, taking care of old dogs, movies, Broadway shows, various board and video games. 

Franck is a fire loss prevention engineer working in the insurance business. After 15 years within a conventional international insurance company based in France visiting industrial facilities – mostly in Europe – to perform technical risk assessments as support to underwriting and claims adjustment departments, as well as technical support to insured clients, Franck joined a mutual organization for nuclear facilities in 2010. He now performs loss prevention visits worldwide for fire prevention, fire protection and natural hazards evaluations and provide technical support in nuclear power plants, research centers, waste management facilities, nuclear fuel manufacturing facilities, etc. Since 2018, Franck is also a Member of the NFPA Technical Committee “Fire Protection for Nuclear Facilities (FIF-AAA) – NFPA standards 801, 804, 805 and 806. With a background of Chemical Engineer, he was trained as a fire loss prevention engineer in the USA by Kemper International in Long Grove in the mid-90’s. 

Steven Barrett is a licensed professional engineer in the discipline of fire protection with over 14 years of design experience in the practice of fire protection, fire alarm, building code, and life safety in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry. Mr. Barrett is the Fire Protection Discipline Leader for the SmithGroup Midwest Region (including Madison, Milwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Chicago – the office where he is based). Mr. Barrett is also an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois where he teaches Plumbing and Fire Protection Design in the Civil and Architectural Engineering Department to bachelor’s and master’s students.

Christine is a passionate Fire Protection Engineer who has worked as a consultant for the last 10 years. Christine graduated with her M.S./B.S. from University of Maryland in Fire Protection Engineering. Her MS thesis used Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) to study the effects of make-up air velocity on atria smoke control systems. Her work has since been added to NFPA 92 and the SFPE Handbook. After graduation Christine started her career in London, where she developed an understanding of performance-based design, and risk-based methods to fire protection applications. Her projects span from historic parliament building in London, new 80-story residential towers, and the opening stadium for the 2022 world cup in Qatar. Christine has since moved back to the US and is currently working for Siemens as a Fire solutions consultant. Over the last decade Christine has enjoyed teaching smoke control for the University of Maryland, and Society of Fire Protection Engineering, along with volunteering for STEM activities for young students. She currently lives in Los Angeles and enjoys playing beach volleyball and mountain biking with her Vizsla puppy.