Autumn Years Summer 2023

T he 62-year-old Waldwick resident—not to be confused with the late actor—has been teaching fire safety since 1994 in New York City at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where he is an associate professor of fire science and public management. His efforts to educate go far beyond the classroom. Not only does he advocate for fire-safe building construction, he serves on the Fire Code Advisory Council for New Jersey and served on the federal advisory committee of the National Construction Safety Team. He writes for Fire Engineering magazine and is its technical editor. He is working on the seventh edition of Brannigan’s Building Construction for the Fire Service . In spreading the word about fire safety, he appeared in June 2022 with Faith Salie on Science Goes to the Movies . He and Faith discussed what Jack Pearson did wrong in “The Fire” episode of NBC’s series This Is Us . First, Glenn points out that most people die of smoke inhalation—not from being burned— and that Jack made a series of bad decisions, including not immediately calling 911. Considering how fast smoke and fire become fatal, people can understand why they need to always be aware of where they are so that they can find an exit and escape. Immediately. Glenn entered the fire safety community as a teen, when he volunteered with the Waldwick Fire Department. His father Gordon, who grew up in Paterson, had been involved with its fire department as an auxiliary firefighter and continued volunteering when the family moved to Waldwick in

1963. “I remember when Route 17 had four lanes and trees in the grass median,” Glenn says. His father became chief of the Waldwick Fire Department right before he passed away in 1981. Inspired by his father the firefighter, he thought, “This is really neat and cool. I wanted to be a part of it. It has stayed with me to this day. I made a career out of it.” A high school friend who was interested in forensic science applied to John Jay College, so Glenn went there, too. He received his bachelor’s degree in fire service administration in 1982 and got his master’s in fire protection engineering in 1991 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where his thesis was “Water Supply Evaluation for Firefighting.” “Fire was the thing I wanted to do,” Glenn says. After graduating, he came across a fire protection consultant job in the Austin, Texas, Fire Department. He did code enforcement, then went to San Antonio doing similar work. “I was able to set the office up and had great, great support from the chief and fire marshal,” Glenn says. At about that time, he started working for Fire Engineering magazine. “The biggest part was code enforcement and

reviewing plans,” he says. Because San Antonio had hospitals, the Alamodome and every type building, he gained experience for the training he now teaches. “We used every chapter in the fire code that we were enforcing.” While living in San Antonio, he met and married Sharon. When job opportunities in Texas changed, he and Sharon came back to New Jersey, and he applied for a job at John Jay College. Now he teaches public management, which includes looking into how public safety organizations function and helping correct problems. The 2002 National Construction Safety Team Act increased post-disaster analysis of hurricanes, tornados and building collapses, which brought changes to response and evacuation procedures, plus better building codes. Glenn notes that because New Jersey lags in mandating better building safety requirements, he is still fighting to retro-fit safety systems in existing buildings. “My signature class is the building construction class. It walks students through different kinds of buildings that they will or may encounter.” One incident that merged his work with public awareness was the Avalon apartment fire in 2015 in Edgewater. Advocating for safer buildings, “We met with the wood products industry to warn them that their structures were dangerous—we call them toothpick towers—because a fire in a void space is impossible to stop. They burn down regularly, especially when they are under construction. It’s part of my life—a push for improvements. Building

Glenn’s parents Gorden and Edna Corbett.

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AUTUMN YEARS I SUMMER 2023