Meeting of the Minds of An Industry

When a major event brings all key stakeholders and industry sectors together, using various platforms such as presentations, panel discussions and trade show to network, crosspollinate, exchange ideas and promote innovations, it is a meeting of the minds for the fire protection industry in Canada. The Third annual Canadian Fire Engineering Summit is just such an event.

The Canadian fire protection industry gathered at Hazelton Manor in Vaughan, Ontario, on November 19th, 2025, to attend the highly anticipated 3rd annual Canadian Fire Engineering Summit (CFES). It was a coveted event that was sponsored and attended by all major stakeholders in the fire industry. To make it a truly Canadian event, the conference and the tradeshow were live-streamed across the country.

The single-day summit had a full agenda, packed with 3 presentations, 2 panels (each containing 3 sub-topics) plus a keynote speech for the dinner reception. Topics included “State of Union, Perspective of Fire Safety across Canada”, “The Role of Fire Engineering in meeting Net-zero Building Goals”, “High-rise Fire Safety”, “Wildfires” and “Future of Fire Engineering in Canada”. For the keynote speech from the Deputy Fire Chief of Vaughan, the topic was “Evolving Challenges in a Growing City”. Each presentation and panel discussion was filled with real-world examples, statistics and thought-provoking questions that left all attendees wanting to hear more. To honor the fire protection tradition, we also had a bag-pipe performance from Toronto Fire Services.

This year, the CFES was also a full-blown tradeshow expo, with a dedicated hall filled with 32 showroom booths. Mircom Group of Companies and Troy Life & Fire Safety were the joint platinum sponsors for this Summit, and 30 other key industry players sponsored or exhibited their products or services at the trade show hall. From the onset, the trade show floor was packed for the whole day, with tons of people wanting to learn more about new technologies, innovative products and services from exhibitors.

This large format event was put together collaboratively by 3 industry organizations, namely the Canadian Fire Alarm Association (CFAA), The Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE-Canada) and Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE-Southern Ontario branch). Since inception, the 3 organizations have been working together collectively and collaboratively with one common goal: to put the Canadian Fire Protection Industry on the map. This year, we have received congratulatory messages from all three levels of government, include Prime Minister Carney, Premier Ford and Mayor Del Duca (Vaughan) and Mayor West (Richmond Hill)

For this year’s event, we have made a special 2025 edition CFES challenge coin, which was given to each in-person attendee to commemorate the Summit. The challenge coin symbolized the long-standing tradition in the fire-fighting industry, that carries the bonding of the brotherhood within the fire protection industry. In-person attendees at the Summit also received a CFES branded tote bag, a branded notebook, a branded coffee mug, plus a branded pen. These limited edition-branded items will further expand the reputation of the CFES, and would also encourage in-person attendance for our future event.

We couldn’t have achieved the success without the incredible commitment and dedication from our core organizing committee and volunteers. It's important to recognize that the planning was primarily carried out by volunteers, which makes our success even more impressive. We faced our share of challenges, from overcoming doubts to securing funding, managing demanding schedules, and balancing our personal commitments with the event preparation. The meticulous planning involved coordinating the speakers, setting up audio/visual and live streaming, ongoing marketing, ordering CFES-branded merchandise, and managing sponsorships and registrations—all of which required precise coordination to ensure a professional and seamless event. On the day of the event, volunteers arrived at the venue by 6:00 am to get everything ready, and stayed until after 8:00 pm to cleanup. Their efforts truly paid off, and the success of the event is a testament to all the hard work and dedication from every volunteer involved.