Presenter: Joseph Cervantes,  Secretary of the Board for the California Automatic Fire Alarm Association

Discussion on the scope, scale, impact and avoidance of fires in under-construction residential buildings.  

In the Bay Area over the last ten years, at least 10 multi-unit residential buildings under construction have burned prior to COO.  The most recent was the 7-story 2067 University Avenue project that burned for four days.  The total losses in the Bay Area in that period likely exceed $2 billion. Mr Cervantes will provide an overview of the trends and risks associated with these buildings, focusing on: why fires happen, where fires happen, and what can be done to prevent them.

Joseph Cervantes is in business development with Space Age Electronics, a manufacturing company specializing in fire protection equipment and accessories.  He has 25 Years of Fire Protection installation/design experience, is Secretary of the Board for the California Automatic Fire Alarm Association, and a member of the FCAC Working Group Action Committee on the Reorganization of the 2021 International Fire Code, Ch 33. Armin Wolski, a fire engineer with Reax Engineering and David Trachtenberg with Trachtenberg Architects will act as respondents during the presentation.