Jan. 7, 2023 (San Diego, Calif.) —Ivey Engineering (IEI) recently announced that Kevin Hastings, senior consultant, received the Certified Fire Protection Specialist (CFPS) credential.

The CFPS certification, sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), is globally recognized and is the standard for fire protection credibility and competence. The certification helps demonstrate Hastings’ ability to provide high-level fire protection consulting.

“The main purpose of the CFPS certification,” Hastings explained, “is to give clients confidence that we understand the broad field that is fire protection, from water supplies, sprinklers, alarms, fire ratings, to egress and other human factors.”

After 45 hours of instruction, Hastings, who has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, was required to pass a three-hour closed-book exam that demonstrated knowledge on various topics, such as fire suppression, fire alarm and signaling, life safety and fire prevention, fire science and analysis, human behavior and fire rescue, and confining fire and special hazards.

To be eligible to take the exam, candidates had to meet certain criteria, such as hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a fire-protection related discipline, including the engineering fields, plus have two years of related work experience.

According to the NFPA, fires occur in building structures every minute of every day, putting thousands of lives in danger and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage annually. Therefore, Certified Fire Protection Specialists are a valuable asset to a company like IEI that offers fire-suppression expert witness consulting.

“There is increasing overlap and coordination between fire protection systems and the mechanical and plumbing systems we have historically focused on,” Hastings said. “In the past few years, I’ve performed consulting and forensic services on about 30 fire protection projects.”

Bill Ivey, president of IEI, believes the CFPS certification will definitely enhance IEI’s fire-suppression expert consulting services, as well as help Hastings in his career advancement.

“Kevin’s CFPS certification is a meaningful achievement that substantiates his expertise in state-of-the-art fire protection and fire prevention practices,” Ivey said. “His certification will help strengthen our fire-suppression expert witness services even more.”

Besides the recent CFPS certification, Hastings is also a Certified Carbon Monoxide and Combustion Analyst, and a licensed Professional Engineer in 12 states. He has over 18 years of experience as an expert witness and mechanical design professional. His responsibilities at IEI include the design and forensic analysis of mechanical, plumbing, fire protection and energy management systems.

Hastings is required to recertify as a CFPS every three years through professional development activities and education.