Ventas de Seguridad mourns the death of Engineer Jaime Moncada Pérez, father of Eng. Jaime Andrés Moncada (columnist of our publication - director of IFSC), who on August 31 suffered complications after cerebral ischemia, at almost 89 years old.
Engineer Moncada has been recognized as the person who introduced modern fire protection engineering in Latin America, starting this work more than 40 years ago.
Engineer Moncada was born in Riosucio, Caldas, and graduated from high school in Manizales.
From there he studied chemical engineering at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, graduating in 1955. He then studied a master's degree in Industrial Hygiene at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts graduating in 1957 and completed his undergraduate studies with a Master's degree in Economics at the Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá, in 1970.
During his career he has been recognized with many international distinctions, among which is having been the only Latin American to be elected to the Board of Directors of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the most important organization in fire protection worldwide; he was also co-editor of the NFPA Fire Protection Manual, the only document written for the fire safety practitioner in Latin America; and was awarded the prestigious HW Harryatt Award, presented biannually by the International Fire Sprinkler Association (IFSA), which has only been given to individuals who have made a dramatic contribution to the international advancement of fire protection, and specifically fire sprinklers (https://youtu.be/_TdE6_xbPIU).
But his work always sought the development and advancement of fire protection in Colombia and Latin America and that is perhaps his most important legacy. He visited the NFPA in 1976 and proposed that they be interested in Latin America, and years later he began a relationship with them for more than 40 years, where the first standards were translated into Spanish, seminars and congresses began throughout Latin America, he became the first instructor of NFPA courses in Spanish and was created, in 1981, to the Ibero-American Organization for Fire Protection (OPCI).
In 2002 he is one of the first certified fire protection specialists (CEPI) by the NFPA. For his work on behalf of the NFPA, James Shannon, president of the NFPA wrote when he completed his cycle on the NFPA board of directors that Eng. Moncada "has been one of our most powerful advocates and the foundation of our activity throughout Latin America. I consider Jaime a hero in the history of the NFPA for his dedication, professionalism and commitment to the mission of the NFPA." In the following link is an interview that describes how his work for fire protection https://youtu.be/WnvxaAiCnbo was developed.
He is survived by his wife Aneth Calderón, director of OPCI, his sons Jaime Andrés, director of IFSC and Alejandro, manager of IFSC Andina, who followed his profession, his daughter Maria Claudia, his son-in-law Luis Vargas, his daughter-in-law Kirsten Moncada, and his seven beloved grandchildren: Maria Mazzanti, recently graduated from Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam, Santiago Moncada, student at Heidelberg University in Germany, Manuela Vargas, a student at ITAM in Mexico, Elena Moncada, a recent graduate of Harvard University, Axel Moncada, a student at Washington University in St. Louis, Tomas Moncada, a student at the Gimnasio Moderno in Bogotá, and Violeta Moncada, one year old.
