Standing in the Wreckage: Doron Levy on Fire Engineering, Failure, and Quality

Engineers generally fear design failure, but Doron Levy has genuinely grown from standing in the wreckage to work out why. 

Doron founded Fahrenheit Global, a fire engineering consultancy based in Sydney with offices in Milan and Buenos Aires. He trained as a structural engineer but left after three years, it wasn’t the right fit. His first day as a fire engineer was spent at a still-smouldering, burnt-out vodka distillery, and that experience hooked him for life. He went on to complete master’s degrees in both fire engineering and fire investigation, giving him a rare dual perspective: designing fire protection systems and investigating why they fail. Last year, his team won Fire Protection Project of the Year at the Fire Australia Awards for a COVID ward at Canberra Hospital. 

In this episode, Doron traces his path from structural to fire engineering and explains how working both sides of the industry, design and investigation — shapes everything he does. He talks through starting a business during the GFC, moving from solo operator to a brand built to outlast its founder, and holding quality standards even when it means walking away from work. He shares his philosophy of dropping a client every year, the sign above his office door that reads “Can you sleep tonight?”, and how he keeps quality consistent across three international offices. He also covers the weight of responsibility fire engineers carry, the role of certification and due diligence, and what he’s learned as an expert witness investigating fires.