With degrees in mechanical and fire protection engineering, John P. Stoppi has become multi-experienced as an architectural and fire protection engineer and building code consultant. Through his company based outside Philadelphia, he works with domestic and international clients in fields throughout the private and public sectors. John P. Stoppi’s decades of work at the executive level, as well as his dedication to continuing education, enable him to offer expertise in building plan review, forensic engineering, and local, state, and national code compliance.
The City of Philadelphia only adopted its first fire code in 1952. Before that year, officials had used a variety of different regulations governing fire safety. The event that precipitated the change was the transitioning of the fire marshal’s office out of the local police department and its incorporation into the Bureau of Fire. A committee set up through the office of the mayor assembled a thoroughgoing set of regulations designed to boost public safety through stepped-up fire prevention measures.
The resulting Philadelphia Fire Prevention Code, amended and adapted over the decades to cope with new types of hazards, continues to guide enforcement today.
Forty years after the issuance of this first fire prevention code, the city adopted its first-ever model code, based on best practices as interpreted by a panel of experts and based on national standards. The city continues to address emerging threats by revisions to the model code every three years.
The city used several sequential editions of the nationwide Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA) fire code as its model fire code from 1994 to 2003. After the 2000 merger of the BOCA with other model code-issuing organizations, the work of the resulting International Code Council became the basis for Philadelphia’s regulations. Pennsylvania has since stipulated that all municipalities must use the ICC code, revising it in tandem with revisions on the state level.
The current code addresses all aspects of fire safety, including those dealing with buildings, materials storage, fire alarm use, and day-to-day procedures, as well as with the safety of the fire department first responders.
John P. Stoppi 