scope:

PREFACE: Without a doubt, supervising the editing of the oldest, the largest, and the most comprehen sive reference book on fire protection in the world has been one of the most challenging and complicated tasks I've had the pleasure of attempting during my 25 (plus) years in the field of technical book publishing. When compared to the 16^th edition, the 17^th edition has grown from 173 chapters and 2 appendices to 189 chapters with 5 appendices; from 1750 pages with more than 2000 illustrations to about 2000 pages with more than 2100 illustrations. The num ber of authors involved-all of whom are experts in their specialties has increased from 191 to 204.

Each existing chapter has been thoroughly updated by the addition of new code and stan dards provisions, new techniques, and the latest fire experience statistics. But that's only part of the story.

For the first time in decades, the organizational structure of the book has been changed. We've switched the Handbook from the old, traditional subject-oriented outline to a new sys tems approach, that we believe more readily reflects the way fire protection professionals actually think about solving fire protection problems. The sequence of the sections and chap ters is calculated to help the reader view fire protection problems and solutions in a logi cal, systems-oriented way.

The changes made in this edition are too numerous to list individually, but in general:

1. The organizational structure of the Handbook has been changed to reinforce the sys tems characteristics of fire protection.

2. Every chapter has been thoroughly updated, and there are 16 totally new chapters.

3. Dozens of "new" authors have contributed to the Handbook for the first time.

4. The chapter Bibliographies have been expanded and updated.The result is a profes sional reference book with more than 650 pages of "new" material and a grand total of more than 2000 pages, all of which have been revised and updated.