Society demands that the buildings it occupies be free of threat from fire.
As a result, a significant portion of the cost of modern building construction is devoted to fire protection features. These features may include structural fire resistance, detection and suppression systems, egress systems, alerting systems, and limitation of combustibles. These features must all work together as a system to combat the single phenomenon fire. Furthermore, these features are required to conform to multiple codes, and installation, use and maintenance requirements, which are enforced by various regulatory officials before, during and after construction. Fire protection engineers are uniquely qualified to assure that these requirements are met in a timely, cost effective manner.