2010 NFPA Conference & Expo

"The Mentalist" to perform at NFPA conference in Las Vegas

You won’t want to miss the special presentation during the C&E general session on Monday, June 7, starting at 1:00 pm.  Gerry McCambridge, better known as “The Mentalist” will be performing.  He’s amazing and word has it that he’s one of the hottest up-and-coming shows in Las Vegas.  McCambridge is also the creator and executive producer of the hit prime-time network television show “The Mentalist”. Read more about Gerry McCambridge and watch him in action!

Watch side-by-side home sprinkler demonstration in Chicago

On Wednesday, June 10, a side-by-side fire and sprinkler burn demonstration with two furnished 8 x 8 foot rooms, one protected with a home fire sprinkler) was held outside at McCormick Place in Chicago. The demonstration, part of NFPA's Conference & Expo, showed the tremendous speed of a typical home fire and its potential for deadly destruction in one room and how quickly a home fire sprinkler system controls a fire and can save lives and reduce property damage in the other room.

Learn more about NFPA's Fire Sprinkler Initiative, an effort to educate community decision-makers across the United States about the need for home fire sprinklers in all new one- and two-family new homes.

Side-by-side burn draws crowd to NFPA meeting in Chicago

Today’s side-by-side burn of identical rooms – one with a sprinkler and one without, drew a crowd of conference attendees and media representatives to the East Side of McCormick Place. These side-by-side burns are an incredible demonstration of how effective home fire sprinklers are.

George Michehl from the Illinois Fire Inspector’s Association and Tom Lia of the Northern Illinois Sprinkler Advisory Board narrated the burn and showed spectators just how quickly the unprotected room can turn deadly.

In exactly two minutes the room without sprinklers went to flashover, the temperature at the ceiling well above 1000 degrees. By contrast, the sprinkler activated in the other room in just 14 seconds and quickly extinguished the fire. Amazing. As Tom said in his narration, if this was a real home the residents of the unsprinklered room would likely not have survived. If they did, they would have not been able to live in their home for months. The residents of the sprinklered room would be in their home tonight.

NFPA launched the Fire Sprinkler Initiative – Bringing Safety Home in January. It is an aggressive advocacy campaign aimed at increasing the number of jurisdictions across the country that require home fire sprinklers in all new one and two family homes. This is an important effort for one simple reason – sprinklers save lives. We know from our statistics that your risk of dying in a fire is cut by about 80 percent with sprinklers. As part of the initiative, NFPA is working with other groups to put on this type of demonstration as a public education tool.

This is the third time in recent weeks I have witnessed a side by side demonstration.  While we can talk about numbers and facts, there is nothing like seeing sprinklers in action. We will post the video from today’s event later this week on the Initiative Website but you can see great video from the one done in Plymouth a couple of weeks ago on the Fire Sprinkler Initiative blog.

- Lorraine Carli

Going to the dogs

There was an interesting demo on the show floor today featuring Chloe, an adorable and cooperative dog, who joined  Kristin Rogers from Invisible Fence to demonstration pet oxygen masks. Invisible Fence will  donate pet oxygen mask kits  to fire departments around the country.  While animals are usually very good at getting out of dangerous situations, there are times when pets must be rescued and are in need of oxygen. Most fire departments are not equipped to deal with this scenario with conventional equipment. These specially designed masks let first responders efficiently give oxygen to a stricken animal. About 1,500 kits have been given out to fire departments around the country. If you’re interested in one for your department, contact Invisible Fence through their website.

- Lorraine Carli

NFPA staffers receive AFAA "Person of the Year" awards

Lee Richardson, staff liaison to NFPA 72, and Kathleen Almand, executive director of the Fire Protection Research Foundation received "Person of the Year" awards from the Automatic Fire Alarm Association at breakfast held at NFPA’s Conference & Expo in Chicago. About 200 people filled the ballroom at the McCormick Place Hyatt to honor this year’s recipients and hear several keynote speakers talk about the importance of signaling and alarms and the future of mass notification. There was much discussion of NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm Code, which will be voted on at tomorrow’sassociation technical session. Included in changes for this proposed edition is a new chapter on emergency communication including mass notification systems.

Kathleen and Lee received their awards from Shane Clary, chairman of the AFAA board of directors and Tom Hammerberg, executive director of AFAA. NFPA President Jim Shannon was on hand to offer congratulations.

- Lorraine Carli

Home sprinkler demonstration to be held in Chicago on Wednesday

A reminder about a truly unique learning experience that will take place at NFPA's Conference in Chicago tomorrow. 

On Wednesday, June 10, at 12:30 pm, a side-by-side fire and sprinkler burn demonstration with two furnished 8 x 8 foot rooms (one will be protected with a home fire sprinkler) will be held outside the East building (Lakeside) at McCormick Place. The demonstration will show the tremendous speed of a typical home fire and its potential for deadly destruction in one room and how quickly a home fire sprinkler system controls a fire and can save lives and reduce property damage in the other room.

Reception gives attendees opportunity to meet NFPA technical staff

A special Networking Reception, where attendees got a chance to meet members of NFPA's technical staff, was held in the Expo hall last evening. In addition to enjoying a "Taste of Chicagoland", attendees threw their business cards into a barrel for a chance to win some great prizes. Prize winners included:

PRIZE PACKAGE #1
Patrick A. Ramirez, San Antonio, TX

• 1 Free Registration at the 2010 NFPA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas
• 1 Chicago Trolley ticket

PRIZE PACKAGE #2
Glennon Fogarty, St. Louis, MO

• 1 Free Registration at the 2010 NFPA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas
• 1 Free NFPA Video of your choice
• $50 gift certificate to Quartino’s Pizzeria and Wine Bar

PRIZE PACKAGE #3
Ed Teepe, Sullivan, IN

• 1 Free Registration at the 2010 NFPA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas
• 1 Free 5-day NFPA Seminar of your choice
• 2 Tickets to the Chicago’s River Architecture Cruise

 
 

NFPA President urges participation in home fire sprinkler efforts

Taking a page from the fire-safe cigarette coalition's grassroots success, NFPA President Jim Shannon today called on NFPA members to use technology-enhanced community campaigns to promote home fire sprinkler legislation, declaring that NFPA’s goal is to make home fire sprinklers required all newly constructed one- and two-family homes.

Mr. Shannon said that one of the reasons why fire-safe cigarettes succeeded was because of the diligence of the local fire service, working together with NFPA using the Internet and mobile communications tools and that NFPA has learned from this success.

“Our challenge is to be more creative in the way we confront this age old fire problem. To think of new ways and new technologies to protect people. And we must devise new strategies, as we did with fire safe cigarettes. We always believed that we could only get that job done on a national basis by getting the congress to act and we beat our heads against that wall, dutifully, for a couple of decades, said Mr. Shannon during the opening session of the NFPA Conference in Chicago.

“When we stopped, stepped back and looked at the problem differently, we realized that technology, specifically the Internet, had given us the tool we needed for a whole new strategic approach and the means to organize a legislative effort in each of the states,” he said.

“The age we live in opens up new opportunities to advance our cause and the changes that are taking place in the fire problem and in society require us to do that because our old ways just aren't going to work as well anymore,” he added.

Home fire sprinklers is an excellent fit for a similar campaign, says Lorraine Carli, vice president of Communications at NFPA.

"With the fire-safe cigarette coalition, not only did technology spread the word, it spread the word fast," she said. "What we've thought was going to take ten years only took three. With the Fire Sprinkler Initiative, we'll capitalize on technology to spread the word and spread the word fast, but we understand this campaign will take time."

Learn more about NFPA’s home fire sprinkler campaign and use our fact sheets, newsletter, research, reports, videos, and other resources to help you convince local decision-makers about the need for fire sprinklers in all new one and two-family homes. The Web site also has a discussion forum so you can connect with other home fire sprinkler advocates.

- Lisa Nadile

The Second City performs at Opening Session

Riverdance. Mrs. O'Leary's cow. The discovery of fire. A new musical called "Love in the Sprinkler Lab". Just a few of the topics that were skewered during this afternoon's special presentation by The Second City.

The Second City has been performing sketch comedy in front of audiences for nearly 50 years making it the standard by which comedy and improv in America is judged. So much talent has come from the ranks of the company’s many theaters over the years, it reads like a "who’s who" of contemporary American comedy. Some of their most well-known alumni are John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Steve Carrell and Stephen Colbert to name a few. 

 

 

Standards Medal presented to Wayne D. Moore

Wayne D. Moore (right) received NFPA’s Standards Medal, the highest award presented by NFPA’s Standards Council for outstanding contributions to fire safety in the development of codes and standards. The award was presented by Jim Pauley, Vice President, Industry and Government Relations of Schneider Electric/Square D Company, and Chair of the NFPA Standards Council,

Mr. Moore, of Warwick, RI, is principal at Hughes Associates, Inc., and an instructor of Fire Alarm Systems Workshop at NFPA. He has been a member of NFPA since 1973. He has also served on NFPA’s Technical Committee on Cultural Resources since 1983; Premises Security since 2002 and has served as chair since 2003; and Fire Protection for Nuclear Facilities from 1992 – 1995. He has served on Technical Correlating Committees on Signaling Systems for the Protection of Life and Property since 1995 and as chair from 1998 – 2006; and on Safety to Life since 2007. He has also served on Signaling Systems for the Protection of Life and Property Technical Committees:  Emergency Communication Systems Chair since 2007; Protected Premises Fire Alarm Systems since 1993, chair from 1993 – 1998; Detection Devices from 1978 – 1983; and Fundamentals from 1990 – 1992, chair in 1992. Moore was a member of NFPA Standards Council from 1997 – 1998.