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Ryan J. Smith
Prior to working directly in the fire protection industry, Ryan spent six years working in the property insurance industry working closely with homeowners and insurance underwriters. In 2003 Ryan joined the senior management team of what is now one of the largest and most successful fire protection companies in North America. During this time he became intimately involved in the serious hazards resulting from uncontrolled fires and the dependable benefits of properly designed, installed and maintained fire protection systems. In 2008, he retired from his position to focus on improving home fire protection. As a husband and father of four, residing in Arizona, he is committed to educating the public on the pros and cons of residential fire sprinklers so that informed decisions can be made at the national, state and local levels. As a former business executive in the industry he is committed to the professional training and certification of designers and contractors working with residential fire sprinklers. View Articles
Russ Leavitt
Russ is the Chairman and CEO of Telgian Corporation. Telgian is an international firm providing fire, life safety, and asset protection engineering and consulting services. Under his direction, Telgian provides a wide range of fire protection and life safety services including fire systems engineering and design, code consulting, loss control engineering, installation, and the inspection and testing of systems.
He is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and holds a Level IV certification from NICET in Fire Sprinkler Layout. He is a licensed contractor and has over 27 years of experience in the design, installation, and testing of fire protection systems. Russ has worked on projects throughout North, Central, and South America, the Far East, and Europe.
He serves on the NFPA 25 technical committee and the NFPA 5000 (building code) correlating committee. Russ conducts seminars internationally on a variety of fire and life safety related subjects and has authored a number of articles and training materials including the AFSA study guide for NICET certification in Inspections and Testing. Russ is a member of NFPA, AFSA, NFSA, and SFPE.
Gary D. Turner
Owner and President of Urban Fire Protection since 1993 with corporate offices located in Mesquite, Texas and one branch office located in Houston, Texas. Gary worked as a structural steel detailer for seven years preparing fabrication drawings for fabricators of heavy steel for projects like the World Trade Center, Dallas, Texas and the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Station, Glen Rose, Texas prior to entering the fire sprinkler arena. Gary began his fire protection career designing fire sprinkler systems in March of 1979.
Gary currently holds a NICET Level III Certification in Automatic Fire Sprinkler Layout, Texas State SCR License, Texas State RME License with a GD attached suffix designation for Residential Fire Sprinkler System Inspections and is a Vice President of the Texas Fire Sprinkler Contractors Association (TxFSCA). Gary is a member of NFPA, AFSA, NFSA, NAHB, TxHBA, TxFSCA. View Articles
George L. Church, Jr.
George has been the President and Co-Owner of Rowe Sprinkler Systems Inc. since 1998 with corporate offices located in Selinsgrove, PA. George has worked in the fire protection industry for over three decades starting as a design trainee in 1974. George currently holds a NICET Level III Certification in Water-Based Fire Protection System Layout. He holds numerous safety certifications and has been a Certified Sprinkler Contractor in the City of Philadelphia since 1989. George is currently President of the Central PA Fire Protection Chapter of the American Society of Certified Engineering Technicians. George is a member of NFPA Technical Committees for NFPA #3 Commissioning of Fire Protection and Life Safety Systems and NFPA #22 Standard for Water Tanks for Private Fire Protection, and the Technical Advisory Board of the American Fire Sprinkler Association. View Articles
Steve Leyton
Steve Leyton is President of Protection Design & Consulting in San Diego, CA. Steve is a member of the NFPA 14 and Residential Sprinkler Systems Technical Committees and served on the ICC Residential Sprinkler Ad Hoc Committee. His wife, Terri Leyton, is Vice President of Protection Design & Consulting and a paid consultant to AFSA for AB-2288. Among their many associations and affiliations, both Steve and Terri are members of the California Fire Chiefs Association, Fire Prevention Officers Sections for Northern and Southern California. Both are long-time advocates of residential fire sprinklers and have spent a combined 46 years in the fire and life safety community. View Articles
Justin D. Reid, P.E.
Justin Reid is a Project Engineer at RLH Fire Protection out of their Van Nuys, CA office providing fire protection contracting services in California, Nevada and Hawaii. Justin is a registered Professional Engineer in Fire Protection in the State of California. Prior to working at RLH, Justin worked for three years as a consultant at Schirmer Engineering Corporation in their Los Angeles office where he provided building code analysis, performance based design, smoke control third party testing/design and a wide range of other services to numerous clients. Justin graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a Bachelor of Science degree in Fire Protection Engineering in 2004. While in school, Justin completed an internship at the Schirmer Engineering Washington DC office, worked on Capitol Hill in the Office of Compliance and worked at the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Fire Research Laboratory in Beltsville, MD. Justin is the current President of the Southern California Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, is a national SFPE Member, NFPA Member and member of the Salamander Fire Protection Engineering Honor Society, Beta Chapter. View Articles
Rick Ruh
Rick Ruh has over 30 years experience in Fire and Building Codes. He is presently the Fire Marshal of Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services, a medium size department 25 miles north of Atlanta, GA. Prior to that he spent five years with TVA Fire and Life Safety as a Fire Protection Consultant serving some of the largest retailers in world. He has worked for the City of Raleigh, NC as both a Building and Fire Code Official providing plan review services to the design community. Rick retired from Broward County Fire Rescue (Ft. Lauderdale, Fl) as a Battalion Chief responsible for technical services in the plan review section. View Articles
Randy D. Roxson
Randy D. Roxson is Legislative Advocate for the California Sprinkler Fitters Association, Government Relations liaison for the USA Sprinkler Fitters Association, Principal/General Counsel for Fire Design Inc., and Attorney at Law for the Law Office of Randy D. Roxson. Randy is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI), and a retired Chief of Operations for the California State Fire Marshal’s Office. Randy has served over 30 years in the fire service, and is a member of the National Fire Protection Association, International Association of Fire Chiefs, California State Firefighters’ Association, International Code Council, and various national, state and local trial lawyer associations. View Articles
Robert L. Rowe
Robert L. Rowe is a Retired Deputy Fire Marshal for the City of Downey Fire Department, Certified Fire Investigator (CFI) and Licensed Private Investigator in the State of California. Robert, is the current Director of the Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board of Southern California and is President of Pyrocop, Inc, a fire and life safety consulting firm located in Southern California. Robert holds a California State Certification as a Fire Investigator, Fire Prevention Officer and Hazardous Materials Specialist and currently serves chair of the Fire Code Development and Interpretation Committee for the National Code Services Association and the Western Fire Chiefs Association. Robert has served over 27 years in the fire service and is a member of the National Fire Protection Association, International Association of Fire Marshals, International Association of Arson Investigators, California Conference of Fire Investigators, International Code Council, National Association of Fire Investigators and the National Code Services Association. Robert is also a member and Programs Co-Chair of the Forensic Expert Witness Association’s Orange County Chapter. View Articles
