The Suit Magazine

Ed Spahn makes his living putting out fires—even before they start. The business of fire prevention is one that demands creativity. Every case is unique, so Spahn is always thinking on his toes. “You’re not going to find a ready-built fire prevention system that allows a company to transfer ethanol from large rail tankers to trucks and then transport that over the road. So you have to engineer it, supervise it into construction, test it and be done,” explained Spahn, a process engineer who meets the fire prevention needs of medium-sized companies. “When a company has a problem, they come to me to solve that problem,” he added.

Spahn has had a long and storied career. For 35 years he was a fire combat officer. Today, he leads the efforts to prevent a destructive blaze before it begins. He has fire-proofed the largest garages in the United States for Universal Studios. He also does a great deal of contract work with local hotels. “The owner of a hotel came and told me he couldn’t get his fire alarm to work,” Spahn said. As in every case, his solution had to be not only effective, but economical. “You have to ask, ‘How do we get this thing back in service with a minimal cost to the owner?’” he explained.

In today’s environment of ever-evolving technology, Spahn knows that in his field, computer programs still don’t hold a candle to human ingenuity. “You can’t really [use computers] to solve every problem,” he said. Of course there are plenty of codes and protocols in the fire prevention industry, but he knows that codes can fail; in the end, everything comes down to the basic laws of physics.

“You know there are codes and standards. They are prescriptive codes, which means they are written down and given to the designer to use. But those prescriptions don’t fit all,” he explained. Upon entering Spahn’s office, visitors will see on the wall a favored phrase that reads: “The laws of physics rule in this office, despite the prescriptive codes.”
Despite thorough plans for prevention, it’s impossible to eliminate every risk all the time. “You never know when an emergency is going to arise,” he said. “Your plan has to be in place within five minutes. You must immediately surround your problem. Property conservation is a secondary concern; the primary concern is life.” Even in emergency situations, Spahn takes a level-headed approach to leadership. “I try to exhibit patience and control,” he said.

In the Midwest, grain elevator explosions are relatively common, and they present particularly tricky challenges. “In Nebraska, there are a lot of grain elevators. There’s nothing more impressive than a grain elevator explosion,” Spahn said “You never know when it’s going to blow. The dust from the explosion can settle in the various nooks and crannies in the area and lead to more fatal explosions that could occur suddenly, at any time and without any warning.”

Working in fire prevention is an extraordinary undertaking, but there is always an element of danger. “I’ve been forced to provide terrible news to the families of team members who are killed in action,” Spahn said. It’s not an easy career, but fire prevention is in his blood. In fact, one of his sons followed him into firefighting, and another is a lieutenant on the bomb squad. Spahn is proud to pass his passion along to his sons, but he’s not done yet. “I don’t want to have to retire until I’m 80,” he said with a laugh.

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