 | Curt Varone, Director |
 | Stacey Van Zandt, Project Administrative Supervisor |
 | Bruce Teele, Staff Liaison |
 | Michele Steinberg, Staff Liaison |
 | Larry Stewart, Staff Liaison |
 | Ken Holland, Staff Liaison |
 | Steve Sawyer, Staff Liaison |
 | Dave Trebisacci, Staff Liaison |
 | Frank Florence, Staff Liaison |
 | Jim Smalley, Staff Liaison |
 | Cheryl Blake, Firewise Publications Manager |
| Questions? Send an e-mail | |
The summer issue of the NFPA’s Firewise Communities, How-To Newsletter is now available. If you live in a fire prone area and are looking for helpful hints on how to incorporate Firewise principles you may want to consider subscribing to the Newsletter. It’s free and it’s sent out electronically, just send me an email to be added. To download current and past issues click here. – Cheryl Blake
Subtitled "The Science of Safeguarding our Communities from Wildfires," this briefing at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC, earlier this week covered information from NOAA climate modeling and predictions, NIST studies of recent wildfires in which homes were damaged and destroyed, a new database on natural disaster losses, and of course, NFPA's national Firewise Communities program.
NFPA, the American Geophysical Union, the Hazard Caucus Alliance and the Congressional Hazards Caucus sponsored the July 6 briefing, which attracted about 30 Congressional staffers and various agency staff. All of the science research points to the need for more and better planning, building, and maintenance of our communities where wildfire is a potential hazard, and the imperative of preparing residents for wildfire throughout the U.S. It is also critical that more and better data is gathered to describe the extent of the wildfire problem in order to more effectively apply solutions.
Check the Hazards Caucus page for updated information on natural hazards briefings and for links to presentations and papers.
JFSP is organizing a three-day symposium at the Fire Congress in Savannah, Georgia, focused on what has been learned from 10 years of fire science investment, how that has changed science and management, and what we need to learn in the next 5-10 years. It is part of a larger effort by the JFSP Governing Board to take stock of where we are and lay out a strategy for future JFSP investment.
Please come to Savannah and help us celebrate 10 years of fire science and application, and chart a path forward for the next 10 years. Here is the agenda.
For more information, visit the Joint Fire Sciences Program website - Jim Smalley
As a follow-up to Ken Holland's post of July 3, see the cover story on lightweight construction in the latest edition of NFPA Journal.
The Fire Department Apparatus Committee (FDA-AAA), responsible for NFPA 1906 is preparing a committee meeting in Baltimore, MD on July 21 and 22, just prior to the begining of FIrehouse Expo. The committee is meeting to act on 65 public proposals submitted on NFPA 1906. Results of the committee actions on public proposals will be published in the Report on Proposals (ROP) due out on Dec. 28, 2009.
In a recent article posted on http://www.fireengineering.com/display_article/364401/25/none/none/Feat/Lightweight-Construction:-Is-Now-the-Time-To-Push-for-Sweeping-Industry-Changes regarding lightweight construction the authors looks at several issues facing the fire service as they relate to lightweight construction and the construction industry.
The authors attempt to address the many perils of lightweight construction in the fire service and how other industries have been forced to make changes to their products to ensure safety on everyone's behalf, even if that comes with a high price tag. What is shown here is that through perseverance and a lot of hard work changes can be made to proved for increased safety for those who use a particular product. Whats more is that in order to get change you need to have all of the people on your side speaking with one voice so that voice can be heard.
While the fire service has a lot of strong voices it took some time for them to all get in line with each other and speak in one, unified voice. While they have made headway with regards to how unsafe lightweight construction is or can be to fire service personnel. The ball is now in the court of the fire service and in reading the article it becomes apparent just what the fire service now needs to do.
NFPA July podcast is an interview with Brian Rousseau Deputy Chief of the State of New York Office of Fire Prevention and Control. This interview will cover the Purpose and Scope and use of both NFPA 1670 Standard on Operations and Training for Technical Search and Rescue Incidents, 2009 Edition and NFPA 1006 Standard for Technical Rescue Professional Qualifications, 2008 Edition. It will also provide information on misunderstandings about these two documents and their use. Brian is a member of both Technical Committee 1670 since 1997 and 1006 since 1996. This podcast can be heard by using the following link. If you would like to receive a notice of new NFPA podcast you can subscribe by using the following link.
The 2008 Firefighter Fatalities Report has been released.
Listen to An interview with Rita Fahy, Author of the new NFPA Firefighter Fatalities Report
A bill that was introduced into the the Ohio State Senate had a provision added to it by State Senator Timothy Grendell that would allow EMS workers to conduct blood draws at motor vehicle crashes that could/can be introduced as evidence into legal proceedings. The purpose of this would be an attempt to reduce the number of alcohol related crashes that happen. There are many concerns and questions that come up with this issue such as who is responsible for the blood once its drawn and will this impede patient care.
The state of Florida currently requires that blood be drawn at all vehicle crashes where someone is either injured or killed and according to the article this does not impede any care that is provided. EMS personnel that perform blood draws in the field, once they are proficient in performing the skill, would find that this would not impede or delay any patient care. This is the same argument that was used when pre-hospital 12 lead EKG's were first introduced. At the onset of use there might be some additional time added but as the users proficiency increased any time delays were returned to normal.
The bigger issue here, one could argue, is whether or not EMS providers should be drawing pre-hospital bloods for the purpose of evidence collection in potentially illegal incidents. While pre-hospital blood draws can be greatly beneficial to the patient and in-hospital staff when it comes to providing definitive care, one has to realize that that is the reason they are done and not for legal proceedings.
Here is the link to the article that was posted on www.emsresponder.com
Also here is the link to the senate bill that contains the requirements.
There are increased concerns from the fire service on the installation of Rooftop PhotoVoltaic Panels. A fire occurred in an arrangements of panels in Bakersfield CA on April 2009 at a Target Store Download Target Fire Report 09Apr29. The California State Fire MArshals Office is working on installations requirements. The May 2009 edition of Fire Engineering had a good article explaining Solar Electric Systems and Fire Fighter Safety.
