My wife has cousin with this degree from OSU. He worked designing building fire protection systems for and MEP firm for a little while. Now he works for an insurance company investigating claims. That is about all I know.
In our engineering design and consulting firm the fire protection and safety engineer is also a registered plumbing engineer. He design fire protection (sprinklers, alarms, fire pumps) and plumbing systems. He keeps abreast of Building Codes and NFPA Codes. He coordinates with HVAC to locate smoke detectors in ductwork and in spaces. He is proficient in CADD drafting. He prepares specification sections related to plumbing and fire protection.
In consulting engineering companies plumbing and fire protection is a design function, not an engineering discipline. Engineering permit documents delegate fire protection system engineering to contractors. You can do plumbing and fire protection with a mechanical engineering degree, but you can't do mechanical engineering with a plumb/fp degree.
In the building trades, most project managers are mechanical engineers because we must integrate with all other trades. Project managers have greater opportunity to become owners of engineering firms.
The best fire protection consultant I met is the only one I know who owns his company, a one man show and his degree is in electrical engineering.
BTW - an EE with a PE and a pulse makes six figures.
IMHO that program was assembled to appease area engineering firms who want to make profits without the cost required to develop resources or invest in their employees and are too cheap to give back to the industry.
Many doors are open to the traditional mechanical, electrical, civil and chemical engineers.
Plumb/fp degree opens only one door.
I enjoy footing my son's tuition bill for his bio-chemistry degree. No way will I spend money on a plumb/fp degree.
