National Fire Protection Association

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has been a worldwide leader in providing fire, building, electrical, and life safety to the public since 1896. The mission of the international nonprofit organization is to reduce the worldwide burden for fire and other hazards on the quality of life by providing and advocating scientifically-based consensus codes and standards, research, training, and education. Developer of the National Electrical Code®, and 300 other codes and standards through a full, open-consensus process, NFPA also produces educational curricula, including the Risk Watch® community-based injury prevention curriculum and the Learn Not to Burn® fire safety curriculum. NFPA headquarters is in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Arthur E. Cote, PE

Mr. Cote is former Executive Vice President and Chief Engineer at NFPA. He retired in 2006 after 30 years at NFPA and was responsible for all of the technical operations of the Association including the overall administration of the NFPA codes and standards development process, which develops the 300+ fire safety codes and standards that comprise the National Fire Codes.

Mr. Cote was editor-in-chief of five editions of the Fire Protection Handbook, including the new 20th edition; co-authored the 2nd edition of Principles of Fire Protection; and was editor-in-chief of Fundamentals of Fire Protection and the 3rd edition of the Industrial Fire Hazards Handbook. He has over 40 years experience as a fire protection engineer. Prior to joining NFPA in 1977, he held positions of vice president and chief engineer for an automatic sprinkler contracting company; supervising engineer in the engineering and loss control division of a major insurance company; and fire inspector for a fire insurance rating bureau. Mr. Cote continues to serve as a vice chair of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) including chair of the ANSI Finance Committee; is past President and Fellow of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers; and a member of the Standards Engineering Society.

Mr. Cote received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1965 and holds a Professional Engineering license in fire protection in the State of Pennsylvania.