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Lives in:: College Park, MD

Department:: College Park Volunteer Fire Dept.

Title/rank:: Deputy Chief

Years of public service:: 11

Agency structure:: Combination fire department

Topics you provide training for:: PPV
Fire Dynamics

Areas of expertise:: PPV
Fire Dynamics

Bio:: Steve Kerber joined the UL team in January as a Research Engineer in the Corporate Research Division. Steve’s focus will be working as part of a team on projects to include: DHS grants to improve fire fighter safety, next generation smoke detectors, fire service thermal imaging camera research, sprinkler spray measurements, and smoke management fire modeling. This includes working with stakeholders such as the Chicago Fire Department, University of Maryland, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) and United States Fire Administration (USFA). Steve will also provide liaison support to FSS between UL and the fire service. Steve received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland. When not working Steve is the Deputy Chief and Training Officer of the College Park Volunteer Fire Department in Prince George’s County, Maryland. His department responds to over 4,000 fire and emergency medical calls each year.

Prior to joining the UL team, Steve spent 7 years in the Firefighting Technology Group at NIST conducting research to improve the safety and effectiveness of the fire service. He led research on fire department ventilation tactics, specifically positive pressure ventilation and tactics to mitigate wind driven structure fires. He has completed numerous experimental series ranging from furnished rooms in the laboratory to live fire experiments in high-rise buildings. Steve brought together positive pressure fan manufacturers from all over the country and fire departments such as Chicago, New York, Toledo and Ottawa to participate in these experiments. In 2007, Steve led a series of experiments in a 16-story high-rise apartment building in Chicago to examine the use of fans to protect the stairwells from smoke infiltration, increasing safety for occupant egress as well as fire department operations. In 2008, he led a series of experiments with the Fire Department of New York examining wind driven fires and the fire fighting strategies that are available to mitigate them. Steve has published all of his results and has shared them at fire department and engineering conferences around the world. While at NIST, Steve was awarded two Department of Commerce bronze medals and a gold medal for his research.

Web site:: http://www.ul.com

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At 4:02pm on May 17, 2015, John said…: Hello Steve, my name is John Schutt and I am a Captain with the Mesa Fire Department in Mesa Az. I am on a IFSTA validation committee and through Dan Madrazkowski I learned that you conducted research on the tactic of PPA. This is a tactic that my department is currently considering. I am wanting to know if it would be possible for me to obtain any of the results of your tests. My email address is john_schutt@msn.com any information you would be willing to share with me would be greatly appreciated

At 9:02pm on March 24, 2012, Colin Kelley said…: Mr. Kerber, can you provide me the list and background of the "project advisory panel" for the U.L. Vertical Ventilation study? I amm extremely curious as to who is on the panel and what there background is. Any help is very much appreciated. Thanks for your time.

At 2:30pm on November 11, 2008, Jay Blake said…: What stealth profile, I wasn't sure it was you?

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