Fire Service Today

NFPA attends National Volunteer Fire Council's Fall Meeting

This week, the National Volunteer Fire Council's Fall Meeting is taking place at Ft. William Henry Resort & Conference Center in Lake George, NY. NFPA's Ken Willette, Public Fire Protection Division Manager, is in attendance at the meeting.

Part of the meeting will be dedicated to the NVFC strategic plan – thinking beyond what they do now and envisioning where they need to be and what must be accomplished in the next five years.

This year’s host is the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York. Pictured below is Dave Finger, NVFC Government Affairs Director, as he presents a legislative update. 

NFPA's Ken Holland presents at ARFF Working Groups Annual Conference

This week the ARFF Working Groups Annual Conference is being held down in Orlando, Florida. NFPA's own Ken Holland was chosen to be a speaker/presenter with Robert Lindstrom, Fire Chief at the Will Rogers Airport and AIR-AAA Technical Committee Chair. Ken and Robert are speaking on the NFPA Codes & Standards Process and the library of ARFF documents NFPA has and how they are used or impact the ARFF industry. 

Above: Chief Randy Krause, the Fire Chief for the Seattle-Tacoma Airport and who is also a principle member of the NFPA AIR-AAA technical committee. The AIR-AAA TC has eight documents; NFPA 402,403,405,408,412,414,422, and 424. 

Above: Robert Lindstrom, Fire Chief at the Will Rogers Airport and AIR-AAA Technical Committee Chair and NFPA's Ken Holland. 

Firewise offers information and resources for fire safety professionals

In a recent article in Firerescue1.com, Dave Nuss, NFPA’s Wildland Fire Operations Division director, discusses ways firefighters can support communities on their way to becoming Firewise. Are you a wildland firefighter or fire safety professional? Read the entire article for timely information and resources available.  More firefighter safety training and tips can be found on our website.

And let us know, as a firefighter, what do you find happening in your communities?  Share your observations, concerns and success stories with our Firewise audience. And thanks for all you do to help keep our communities safe from wildland fire!

NFPA staff speak on panel to discuss emergency responders at EV Safety Standards Summit

The “2nd Annual Electric Vehicle Safety Standards Summit” began yesterday and will continue today in Detroit, Michigan. Similar to last year’s successful Summit, this year’s event is again co-hosted by NFPA and SAE International. Many great speakers have been lined up for the two day event, including key note speaker, Robert C. Lange, Principal and Group Vice President of Exponent, Inc.

Photo below is from the Summit during the panel discussion on emergency responders. From left to right, the photo features Bob Duval, NFPA's Sr. Fire investigator, Ken Willette, NFPA's Public Fire Protection Division Manager, Andrew Klock, NFPA's Electric Vehicle Safety Training Program Manager, and John Nisja of the Minnesota State Fire Marshals office.

For more information on the EV Safety Standards Summit, visit our website. 

What do hurling, war veterans and NFPA have in common?

Sometimes it is odd how things which are seemingly distance and unconnected come together.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I attended a Report on Comments for Technical Committee for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications in Nashville. Many of us gathered afterwards to socialize and take in the sites around the city. It was the opening week of the NFL season. There was football on the television. One of the committee members comes from Ireland. He took the time to explain his national sport -- Hurling. Not Curling (ice, brooms, and stones)!

Originally part of ancient Gaelic tradition, the object of the game is for players to use the hurley (stick) to hit the sliotar (ball) between the opponents' goalposts either over the crossbar for one point, or under the crossbar into a net guarded by a goalkeeper for one goal, which is equivalent to three points. The sliotar can be caught in the hand and carried for not more than four steps, struck in the air, or struck on the ground with the hurley. It can be kicked or slapped with an open hand for short-range passing. A player who wants to carry the ball for more than four steps has to bounce or balance the sliotar on the end of the stick and the ball can only be handled twice while in his possession.¹

Two other committee members, one from the US Air Force and one from the US Army, also participated in the discussion. Both are veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq.

What was interesting, a couple of days later I was listening to NPR and they had a segment on Hurling and return veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq using the sport as a means to reengage into society.  A Celtic Cure: Soldiers Use Hurling To Heal After War by Shannon Mullen September 16, 2011.  Please take the time to listen to the link and then take the time to sit with a veteran. Your listening may help them.

I did forward the clip to the members and they came to the same conclusion. How is it, that one insignificant conversation piece can have such a lasting impact? We all did exclaim that NFPA should introduce Hurling into the standards making process! J

¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling

 

Tom McGowan

Staff Liaison

tmcgowan@nfpa.org

Fire Prevention Week tips for the Fire Service

Fire Prevention Week is coming up fast! NFPA knows that every week is dedicated to fire prevention in the fire service. But “It’s Fire Prevention Week. Protect your Family from Fire!” from October 9th- 15th is the perfect time for you to reach out to your community and empower the citizens to have a hand in preventing home fires and protecting their families with life-saving technologies and planning. We've supplied the tools you will need for a successful campaign, including: fast facts, media materials, how-to guides and more! 

If you want more tips, listen to an archived version of our 2011 "Getting to Know Fire Prevention Week" webinar featuring NFPA's Sharon Gamache, Judy Comoletti, and Amy LeBeau. 

What do you have planned in your community? NFPA has several events planned, so stay tuned for details and recaps on each of them!

NFPA's International Fire Marshals Association section gathers for quarterly meeting

Members of the IFMA pictured, including IFMA Executive Secretary Steve Sawyer, Section President and Virginia State Fire Marshal Ed Altizer and NFPA President Jim Shannon (from left to right along back row).

Today, NFPA's International Fire Marshals Association (IFMA) Section met for their quarterly meeting at NFPA headquarters in Quincy, MA. The meeting gave the Section the opportunity to discuss general business as well as provide updates to several members of NFPA's senior staff, including President Jim Shannon. 

The IFMA provides those officials engaged in the prevention of fire, the investigation of fires, and/or public fire and life safety education with an avenue to discuss items of mutual interest, provide educational and professional development opportunities, provide a resource service to the members, actively participate in the code and standards-making process, monitor fire safety issues, monitor and support research and development of solutions to fire protection and fire prevention problems at the international, national, state and local level. Join.

-Lauren Backstrom

NFPA attends the North American Fire Training Directors 2011 Annual Meeting

NFPA's Ken Willette is currently at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute for the North American Fire Training Directors 2011 Annual Meeting. Ken will be presenting an update on NFPA's EV Safety Training Program as well as discussing the NFPA standards that impact the training directors in attendance, including NFPA 1001 and NFPA 472. He will also be sharing NFPA's current strategic goals. 

The North American Fire Training Directors 2011 Annual Meeting

NAFI & NFPA sponsor National Vehicle Fire, Arson, Explosion Investigation Training Program

NFPA was co-sponsor with the National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI) of the 2011 NAFI/NFPA National Vehicle Fire, Arson, Explosion Investigation Training Program last week in Lexington, KY.  

This Program is co-sponsored by NAFI, NFPA and Eastern Kentucky University’s Fire and Safety Engineering Technology Program. This program’s focus is on proper investigation techniques for motor vehicles as outlined in Chapter 25 - Motor Vehicle Fires of NFPA Fire Code 921- Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations, 2011 Edition. Many of these are also listed below:

• Basic Vehicle Operation
• Vehicle Research
• Information Sources
• Electrical Systems
• Scene Documentation
• Vehicle Documentation
• Fuel Systems
• Vehicle Fuels
• Vehicle Accident Documentation
• Use of Computer Programs
• Post-crash Fuel Fed Fires
• FMVSS Standards
• SAE Standards
• “Black Box” Crash Data Retrieval
• “Hands-On” Field Examinations
• Burned Vehicles & Live Burns
• Case Evaluation of Burned Vehicles
• Vehicle Recalls - Service Bulletins
• Vehicle Products Liability

-Larry Stewart

NFPA meets with IAFC on unwanted fire alarm issue

Last week, NFPA's Ken Willette, Public Fire Protection Division Manager, John Hall, Fire Analysis & Research Division Director, Casey Grant, Research Foundation Program Manager and Amanda Kimball also from the Research Foundation, attended a meeting with the IAFC and the US Fire Administration Data Collection Center. At the meeting, the issue of unwanted fire alarms, or false alarms, was discussed. 

NFPA recently put out a research report on this issue: “The report, prepared for the International Association of Fire Chief’s May 2011 Fire Alarm Response and Management Summit, contains estimates of fire department responses to false alarms, public experience with unwanted fire alarms, causes of these alarms, and possible policies to address them.  Detailed tables about fire department responses to false alarms in 2003 are also provided.”

Following last week's meeting, NFPA and the Research Foundation will work together with these organizations to put together a framework for an additional research project that, if funded, will result in a tool that local officials would be able to use to analyze the scope of the problem in their area and well as identify strategies to address the problem. 

We'll be sure to keep you updated as this moves forward. 

For more information on unwanted fire alarms, read the July/August NFPA Journal feature, "False. Nuisance. Unwanted."

-Lauren Backstrom