National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)'s Blog, page 14

Register to attend free Research Foundation 40th anniversary webinar series

The Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF), research affiliate of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA®), is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. In support of celebrating four decades of facilitating research in support of fire and life safety community, the FPRF will conduct a two-day free webinar series on August 24 and 25, 2022, which will cover research topic areas and themes that are aligned with research priorities of FPRF and the fire and life safety industry. This two-day webinar series consists of presentations by subject matter experts addressing the following themes: Day 1: August 24, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. ET Reduce Residential Fire Losses Fire Safety in the US since 1980 Cooking fires Impact of Medications on Older Adult Fall and Fire Risk Strategies for Community Resilience Wildland & Wildland Urban Interface Fires CAREDEX: Disaster Resilience in Aging Communities via a Secure Data Exchange Global Community Resilience Data Collection and Data Analytics to Inform Policy Global Fire data standardization Insurance Data – openIDL CRAIG 1300TM National Firefighter Cancer Registry Day 2: August 25, 11 a.m.– 3 p.m. ET Hazards of New Materials and Systems Fire Safety Challenges of Green Buildings Energy Storage Systems Hazards of Modern Vehicles in Parking Structures Increase Effectiveness and Reliability of Safety Systems Impact of Research on NFPA 13 Impact of Research on NFPA 72 Effectiveness of fluorine free firefighting foams Fire Fighting Safety & Effectiveness Fire Service Contamination control & PPE Cleaning validation Firefighting foams: fire service roadmap Firefighter immersive learning training Read the full agenda here. Registration is free and is required to attend the live webinar series. CEUs will only be provided to live attendees upon request. We look forward to you joining us for this webinar series. Register now!

Automated and Remote Inspection and Testing of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems

Remote inspections and automated testing were trends that were gaining momentum in codes and standards and field application for several years. Then in the first half of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was in its early stages and strict lockdowns were being enforced, it pushed this trend to progress even faster as many more realized its potential. During this time, the development of a proposed new standard NFPA 915, Standard on Remote Inspections, continued. While the proposed NFPA 915 will be broadly applicable to any inspection or testing allowed by the AHJ, there are already provisions in NFPA 25, Standard for the Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems, that allow for inspections and tests to be conducted in an automated manner.Automated inspection and testing can be a very useful option but what steps must be taken to ensure it is equivalent to a person being at the location? If a fire pump demonstrates an abnormal condition during a test what must the response be and how is the condition corrected? Let’s take a look at the requirements in NFPA 25 to allow the use of technology for automated inspection and testing and the criteria to ensure it meets the same objectives as when they are conducted in person. The first thing to address is when and where automated inspection and testing can be utilized. NFPA 25 does not limit the use provided automated inspection equipment can meet the intent of a required visual inspection and automated testing equipment can produce the same action as required by the testing requirements. Beyond that there are a few other criteria specific to when automated inspection and testing is utilized such as where automated tests do not discharge water that at least once every 3 years the discharge must be visually observed. At that point it becomes a cost-benefit analysis for the stakeholders and primarily the building owner. Activities required at greater frequencies might present more of a benefit while those required less frequently might see less of a benefit.Let’s review the requirements specific to automated and remote inspections. To start, automated test devices must be listed for the purpose of the test being conducted if they are subjected to system pressure or are integral to the operation of the system during a fire event. The equipment must be such that its failure does not impair the operation of the system unless that failure can be indicated by a supervisory signal to the fire alarm system. Similarly, any failure of a component or system to pass an automated test must result in an audible supervisory signal and failure of automated inspection and testing equipment must result in a trouble signal. The monitoring and signals required ensure that instances where there are issues with the automated testing or inspection equipment or an unsatisfactory inspection or test result notification will be made and the situation can be remedied. The testing frequencies of NFPA 25 must be maintained regardless of the functionality of automated testing equipment and a record of all inspection and testing must be maintained in accordance with the requirements that apply to all inspection and testing.One of the benefits of automated inspection and testing is that there is not necessarily a need for personnel on site. However, certain circumstances might need to be addressed quickly. This is specified for no-flow testing of fire pumps. This testing is required on a weekly or monthly basis depending on the type of pump and the building it is located in.  The 2020 edition of NFPA 25 requires that when remotely monitored automated testing of the no-flow fire pump test is being performed qualified personnel must be able to respond to an abnormal condition within 5 minutes. In all reality, this means that a qualified person must be located on site. For the proposed 2023 edition which will be approved this summer that timeframe is to be changed to 4 hours. This additional time means that someone does not need to be immediately on site but can respond quickly enough to take the needed corrective action.The use of technologies to perform automated inspections and testing will only grow in future years. As it becomes more widely used, as building owners, service providers, and AHJs gain more experience, and the use expands into other areas of fire protection and life safety with the future publication of NFPA 915, it is very likely that the requirements will continue evolve

Do you manage large warehouse facilities, or design, inspect or insure them? Help us define the elevated walkways in storage warehouses to quantify their impact on sprinkler protection by participating in this questionnaire

Solid and open metal grate walkways are often installed in aisles as part of rack storage in large warehouse facilities. Further, open metal grates are also used as mezzanine levels above storage. Although functional to carry out warehouse operations, there is little information on how these walkway and mezzanine installations impact current storage protection requirements. When is this type of installation considered a problem from a sprinkler protection standpoint? At what point do walkways interfere with prewetting of adjacent arrays?To answer these questions, the Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF) initiated a multi-phase research program, through the support of FPRF’s Property Insurance Research Group, which aimed to develop guidance on the protection of storage when solid or open metal grate walkways are present in storage warehouses.  FPRF, in collaboration with Fire & Risk Alliance, is currently on Phase II of the project which is focused on filling the knowledge gaps identified in Phase I and implementing the research and testing plan to provide guidance back to the NFPA 13 technical committee on walkway/sprinkler interface criteria that is well founded in sprinkler performance. For more information, a summary of this project is available here.A fundamental element of success for this study is to collect information on current warehouse configurations to gain insight into the status quo characteristics of elevated walkways/mezzanines and how storage protection may be changing. Thus, we invite facility owners, AHJ’s, insurers, engineers, and other relevant parties to participate in this international questionnaire conducted as part of this study by the Fire Protection Research Foundation. The questions seek to identify and categorize the types and non-proprietary characteristics of elevated walkways in storage warehouses, specifically focused on storage configurations, stored commodities, details of mezzanine/walkways, sprinkler system details, loss history (if any), and photographs or drawings. This information will be used to ensure our analysis of sprinkler interaction with or disruption by elevated walkways is representative of real-world warehouse configurations.Your participation in this research questionnaire is voluntary. You may skip any question that you are not able to answer. Any information provided through this survey is completely anonymous.If you design, work in, inspect, or insure warehouses with elevated walkway installations, we ask that you participate in this survey. It is estimated that the survey will take approximately 10 minutes or less to complete.The deadline to complete the questionnaire is August 31, 2022.Thank you in advance for your participation!

A Better Understanding of NFPA 70E: Setting Up an Electrical Safety Program (Part 5 – Risk Assessments)

NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace® Section 110.5(H) requires that a risk assessment procedure be developed as part of an electrical safety program (ESP). NFPA 70E is not a how-to manual for detailing a risk assessment procedure. It is also not appropriate for training an employee how to conduct the assessment. There are hundreds of valid methods of performing risk assessments for the thousands of tasks that could be conducted on the millions of pieces of equipment available. Section 110.5(H) requires a minimum of three things to be addressed and documented before any employee begins a task. The risk assessment procedure must detail the process that will be used to: identify hazards assess risks implement the hierarchy of risk controlsConsistency is important when conducting risk assessments. Without it an employee conducting an assessment may tolerate a risk level that is not acceptable, ignore hazards that have been previously recognized, or improperly apply the hierarchy of risk controls. Training an employee to follow NFPA 70E Section 110.5(H) rather than your documented procedure will introduce such unsafe practices.Identify Hazards – NFPA 70E defines an electrical hazard as a dangerous condition such that contact or equipment failure can result in electric shock, arc flash burn, thermal burn, or arc blast injury. The two hazards (shock and arc-flash) currently covered by NFPA 70E are easily recognizable. The potential for an electrical shock typically at starts at 50 volts. An arc-flash burn begins at 1.2 cal/cm2. Contact burns can occur at temperatures as low as 44°C (110°F) if the contact is prolonged and as quick as a second above 80°C (186°F).  There currently is no consensus on what an arc-blast hazard is. NFPA 70E does not specify where any of these hazards exist. It is the role of the ESP to cover how equipment is evaluated to determine if these hazards are present during any task performed on equipment.Assess Risks - Human factors are generally recognized as being among the leading causes of injury and the potential for human error must be addressed in a risk assessment. This takes knowledge not only of the assigned task but also the location of the task, the equipment to be worked on, the tools to be used, competency of the employee assigned, and other issues. Working above a piece of equipment provides an opportunity for items to be dropped into ventilation openings or for an employee to choose to stand on the lower equipment rather than use an appropriate platform. Maybe an employee could confuse a Category I meter for a Category III meter because of a similar design. The risk assessment procedure should address what is to be considered a potential human error when conducting the specific task on the equipment in its installed location.Implement the Hierarchy of Risk Controls - The hierarchy of risk controls must also be addressed. It is beneficial to include a requirement for a risk assessment prior to purchasing or installing equipment to achieve the maximum benefit of the hierarchy. For installed equipment, requiring the assessment to retroactively apply the hierarchy to mitigate risks before the same task is performed again can increase workplace safety. The risk assessment procedure must require that elimination be the first control considered when planning a task. It must address why elimination was not used or required before applying other controls including personal protective equipment (PPE).Not having a documented procedure for conducting risk assessments is dangerous. Acceptable and unacceptable risks will vary. Electrical hazards will not be properly addressed. The use of PPE as the sole means of protecting employees will become commonplace. Inconsistency in risk assessments could put an employee at a higher risk of injury when conducting the same task on different equipment. Make sure a documented risk assessment procedure is part of your ESP and is used for every risk assessment.

Increasing the Pace and Scale of Community Wildfire Mitigation

As we head into one of the hottest months of the year, daily news reports continue to broadcast stories of record high temperatures and severe drought conditions, both contributing factors to the increased wildfire activity spreading across the U.S. and Europe. France, Spain, Italy, and Greece are just a few of the many countries battling forest fires today. Here in the U.S., the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reports that nearly three million acres have burned from current fires. While wildfires may be a natural phenomenon, incidents like April’s McBride Fire in New Mexico, which killed two people and burned more than 200 homes and structures, demonstrate the danger they pose to communities. As president of an organization that has worked tirelessly over the last 20 years on ways to reduce loss of life and property from wildfire, this latest news only reinforces NFPA’s strong conviction that more decisive policy action must be taken on all levels if we want to reduce losses from these events. In May, NFPA hosted an Outthink Wildfire® summit in Sacramento, California that brought together 50 professionals to discuss steps to better prepare communities to avoid wildfire losses. Outthink Wildfire is a comprehensive NFPA policy initiative launched with the aim of fostering collaboration, promoting policy change, and to help communities better withstand the impact of wildfires. At the summit, representatives from the fire service, real estate and insurance industries, research and education, government agencies, engineering, and building organizations shared their knowledge to develop recommendations for the critical task of increasing the pace and scale of home retrofitting and other mitigation actions to reduce wildfire losses. The summit participants’ discussions and recommendations will be summarized and shared in a report to be issued later this month. Bringing together stakeholders to tackle the world’s leading fire safety challenges is at the heart of NFPA’s mission. Participants came to the table ready to identify topic areas in need of the most attention including more prevalent use of codes and standards in wildland/urban interface areas, clear, actionable educational messaging for residents, ease of accessing available funding, better alignment and coordination for mitigation policies and programs, workforce development, and closing knowledge gaps with research and data sharing efforts. Convening these experts was a key step in developing an overarching strategy to spread mitigation throughout the millions of homes and thousands of communities in wildfire-prone areas of the U.S. Moving forward, NFPA will continue to pursue strong stakeholder engagement toward building education campaigns, analyzing funding mechanisms, promoting coordination, investing in workforce training, and other necessary endeavors to reduce wildfire risk to people, homes, and communities. I am encouraged to see the federal government recently stepping up to increase the attention and resources not just for wildfire suppression, but also for catastrophic wildfire prevention. The increased funding for hazardous fuel in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the U.S. Forest Service’s recent commitment to significantly increase the pace and scale of that treatment, and the newly created Wildfire Mitigation and Management Commission, on which NFPA Wildfire Division Director, Michele Steinberg, has been invited to serve, gives me renewed hope that the country is moving in the right direction. We know that given the size and scope of the U.S. wildfire challenge, reaching our goals will take time, but with continued investment and effort, will save lives and homes, and spare more communities from the devastating losses wildfires can bring. For more information about our policy initiative, Outthink Wildfire, visit nfpa.org/outthinkwildfire.

Dry Sprinklers

Dry sprinklers are a type of sprinkler that are able to extend into a cold space while holding the water back in a space that can be maintained at temperatures where freezing isn’t a concern. Although there are several other methods for installing sprinkler systems in areas subject to freezing, dry sprinklers allow a wet pipe system to be installed while also being able to protect ancillary areas that might be subject to freezing temperatures. Common examples of where you might see dry sprinklers installed include loading bays or balconies that are exposed to the outside ambient temperatures and refrigerated spaces like freezer rooms. Heat transfer basics When thinking about how a dry sprinkler works, we need to consider some heat transfer basics. First, heat always moves from warm to cold and heat transfer occurs in three different ways, conduction, convection and radiation. Below is a brief description of each.Conduction: Conduction is the transfer of energy within a solid, liquid or gas. In terms of dry sprinklers, this is when the cold air in the refrigerated space removes heat from the sprinkler which then removes heat from the piping. This transfer of heat from the sprinkler system into the refrigerated space is what causes the risk of water freezing within the sprinkler piping.  Convection: Convection is the transfer of energy between a solid surface and a moving fluid, such as air and water. This comes into play with sprinkler systems when sprinklers are installed outdoors or in other areas where it can be both cold and windy. Windy conditions increase the rate of heat transfer, meaning that the sprinkler piping looses heat to the outside air more quickly. This starts a chain reaction of heat transfer with the outside air cooling the sprinkler pipe and water inside the pipe located in the heated space loosing heat to the cold sprinkler pipe . If the wind speed increases so much that the sprinkler piping is losing heat faster than the indoor ambient air can provide heat then there is a risk of the water in the pipe freezing.  Radiation: Radiation is the exchange of energy through electromagnetic waves. Think of this as the sun heating up the interior of your car hotter than the outside air. That extra heat comes from radiation. This doesn’t often come into play when dealing with sprinkler systems, but if the sprinklers are in an area heated by the sun during the day, the risk of freezing may increase overnight when the sun goes down. How does a dry sprinkler work?Dry sprinklers work by preventing water from being within the part of the sprinkler piping that will be exposed to cold temperatures. If you are familiar with how a dry fire hydrant works, this is very similar to that.  Dry sprinklers include a portion of piping (often referred to as the barrel) where the water will be sealed off from until the heat element in the sprinkler operated and releases air which in turn releases the seal, allowing water to flow through the orifice of the sprinkler and impact the deflector to discharge on the fire. Under certain ambient conditions, wet pipe systems having dry sprinklers can freeze due to heat loss by conduction. Therefore, due consideration should be given to the amount of heat maintained in the heated space, the length of the pipe in the heated space, the temperatures anticipated in the non-heated space and other relevant factors.Installation requirements for dry sprinklersDry sprinklers must be long enough to avoid freezing the water-filled pipes due to conduction along the barrel. To ensure the barrel of the dry sprinkler is long enough NFPA 13 contains the following table in Chapter 15 (2022 edition) which gives the minimum exposed barrel length based off of the temperature that the discharge end of the sprinkler will be exposed to.  Dry sprinkler manufacturers have minimum required lengths to ensure that the dry sprinkler is properly installed and that the point of attachment to the wet pipe sprinkler system will be properly protected against condensation, freezing, and ice plugs. While dry sprinklers are available in many different lengths for various applications where used in conjunction with a wet pipe sprinkler system, care should be taken to ensure that the minimum required lengths are met based on the manufacturer’s recommendations and the expected exposed temperature. For example, in a freezer application, where the branch line can be located directly above the freezer, it might be necessary to elevate the branch line to ensure that the minimum distance is maintained between the cold region and the point of connection to the wet pipe system. It is the length of the barrel exposed to warm air that is important, not the overall length of the dry barrel sprinkler.Ultimately sprinkler systems can be configured in a number of different ways and it is the job of the engineer/designer is to try and make it as efficient as possible. Sometimes this means using dry sprinklers to prevent the water inside of the sprinkler piping from freezing but this isn’t the only method available. Other options include: Dry pipe sprinkler systems, Preaction sprinkler systems, Heat tracing on sprinkler pipe, Listed anti-freeze solution.Whatever method you are using, it is important to understand that there are options out there and that each one of those options has specific design criteria and unique installation requirements that need to be followed to meet the indented objectives. Dry sprinklers may be an effective way of achieving this for ancillary spaces included in a wet pipe system. For more information on the different types of sprinklers, sprinkler systems and other methods for protecting your sprinkler system from freezing check out the following blogs: Options for Installing Sprinklers in Areas Subject to Freezing Types of Sprinkler Systems Types of Sprinklers

New Research Foundation research “Environmental Impact of Fires in the Built Environment: Emission Factors” provide updated emission factors for a range of fire conditions and building materials

The Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF), the research affiliate of NFPA®, recently published a research report on the “Environmental impact of fires in the built environment: Emission factors”. This study updated existing emission factors (EFs) for a range of fire conditions and developed new EFs for relevant building materials to produce a database that can be built upon with future research. The research report along with the database is available from the FPRF website. With the increase in human population and as new levels of contamination of scarce resources are revealed, the concern for the health of the natural environment is growing. Current efforts to improve the sustainability of buildings focus on increasing energy efficiency and reducing embodied carbon. This strategy overlooks the fact that a fire event could reduce the overall sustainability of a building through the release of pollutants and the environmental impact of the subsequent rebuild. Most fires occurring in the built environment contribute to air contamination from the fire plume (whose deposition is likely to subsequently include land and water contamination), contamination from water runoff containing toxic products, and other environmental discharges or releases from burned materials. In 2020, the FPRF undertook a study that developed a research road map identifying research needs to be able to quantify the environmental impact of fire from the built environment and its economic consequences, where lack of relevant data concerning emissions was identified as one of several pressing needs. In the wake of the development of the research road map, the FPRF initiated a follow up research to develop a database of existing emission factors for a range of fire conditions and the development of some new EFs for building materials. Details of which material have been studied was determined through a combination of factors, including typical materials used to describe buildings in LCA models, materials identified in a separate French research project (funded by the French Ministry of the Environment in the context of the annual funding for INERIS), and a database of prior experiments characterizing a number of existing materials.Special focus was placed on scaling to investigate the predictive capabilities of small-scale test methods for development of EFs for large-scale conditions. This report provides details of large-scale and small-scale experiments conducted at INERIS (France) and small-scale experiments conducted at Lund University (Sweden), in 2019-2020 spanning a period of approximately 18 months. In addition to conducting experiments to confirm existing data and develop new data, a database of existing experimental data relevant for the development of EFs has been created containing some 90 products and materials. This database represents the first up-to-date published resource with a collation of emission factors for a broad variety of species to the best knowledge of the authors.The findings from this study were presented through FPRF 2022 webinar series on May 18, 2022. The webinar recording is available on-demand here. The Fire Protection Research Foundation is celebrating its 40th year in existence in 2022. Read more about this noteworthy milestone.

An Electrical Inspector’s Role in Reducing Electric Shock Drowning

With dozens of papers and videos created around electric shock drowning (ESD) you would think that living and conducting electrical inspections in Michigan, a state with 3,288 miles of freshwater shoreline and numerous marinas, I would have known about ESD. Well, you would be wrong; I had no idea what ESD was until I started working at NFPA. I wondered if I was the only electrical inspector who was unaware, so I asked several inspector and electrician friends, and the answer was overwhelmingly, “No I do not, what is it?” This was shocking to me, but also provided me an opportunity to educate them. So, how can an electrical inspector have an impact? We must first answer the question of; what is ESD?According to the Electric Shock Drowning Prevention Association, it is the result of the passage of a typically low-level AC current through the body with sufficient force to cause skeletal muscular paralysis, rendering the victim unable to help himself / herself, while immersed in freshwater, eventually resulting in drowning of the victim. Higher levels of AC current in the water will also result in electrocution. It has been said that ESD is the catch-all phrase that encompasses all in-water shock casualties and fatalities. ESD occurrences happen more in freshwater environments than in salt water, which is why ESD is a concern around freshwater docking facilities, marinas, lakes, and ponds. Creating a specific code section in the NFPA 70®, National Electrical Code® (NEC®) for ESD may sound simple, but it is not. ESD is not a piece of electrical equipment or an electrical conductor but rather a phenomenon that can occur where boats in water are connected to shore power electricity. ESD is impacting the construction of boats, marinas, and docking facilities, which may help reduce occurrences of ESD. Even though ESD isn’t specifically addressed in the NEC, it has had a significant impact on recent changes that have been made in it. New solutions towards helping to eliminate ESD have become a regular subject in the code making process, public inputs, and comments for potential new NEC requirements. Although not finalized yet, suggested changes to the 2023 NEC that electrical inspectors should be aware of and that could have a positive impact on ESD reduction are: Emergency electrical disconnects within sight of the marina power outlets, which allows bystanders to quickly de-energize power to the boat and safely release a person who may be suffering an electric shock. Adding equipotential planes and bonding of equipotential planes that could help mitigate step and touch voltages for electrical equipment that supply power to the equipment. Requiring modified, repaired, or replaced equipment be updated to current provisions due to exposure to harsh environments.As conversations around ESD continue throughout the code development process it is important to remember the current requirements found in the 2020 NEC, and how electrical inspectors can use those sections to make an impact in reducing ESD. Through enforcement of electrical codes the inspector can help educate and inform owners and installers about ESD risks. Here are just a few code sections inspectors might want to be looking for: Signage - You might wonder, since when do electrical inspectors enforce non-electrical signage around marinas, boatyards, and docking facilities and how can they help prevent ESD? They can do it by continuing to warn everybody of the true dangers facing them. These areas are challenged with constantly changing environments because numerous boats in various degrees of electrical repair travel in and out of these facilities. This can make a place you may otherwise consider swimming in, potentially unsafe due to low-level AC current (leakage current). Installing permanent safety signs around marinas, boatyards and docking facilities gives notice of electrical shock hazard risks to persons within those areas. Signs should say more than “No Swimming” since some people may not take that warning seriously and swim anyway. Code language was added to have signs state: “No Swimming: “WARNING-POTENTIAL SHOCK HAZARD-ELECTRICAL CURRENTS MAY BE PRESENT IN THE WATER.” To aide in further preventing ESD, docking facilities was added in the 2020 NEC to the already existing areas of marinas and boatyards found in section 555.10. Ground-fault protection - Changes in the 2020 NEC, Article 555 Marinas, Boatyards, Floating Buildings, and Commercial and Noncommercial Docking Facilities address both ground-fault protection of equipment (GFPE) and ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protection. With cumulative effects of leakage current causing excess tripping of 30 milliampere GFPE devices, changes were made to code language that increased GFPE current settings not to exceed 100 milliamperes on feeders and branch circuits, which will cause inspectors to alter how they enforce this section. This change helped to facilitate more dependable power for marinas and docking facilities. However, individual branch circuits feeding single shore powered receptacles, must have individual GFPE devices set to open at currents not exceeding 30 milliamperes. Coincidentally, this requirement matches main breaker settings in boats manufactured after July 31, 2017. Leakage current measurement device - New 2020 NEC language allows electrical inspectors to require marinas, boatyards and docking facilities that have more than three receptacles supplying shore power to boats to have a leakage current measurement device available on site. This device would allow facility operators to isolate and notify boat owners of leakage current so repairs could be made by a qualified person, thus helping to eliminate a potential ESD risk. Private docks - Locations where ESD hazards may easily get overlooked or not inspected are on lakes surrounded by homes with private docks. These homes don’t always have shore power but may have electrically powered boat hoists. Section 555.9 was added requiring boat hoist outlets not exceeding 240-volts installed at dwelling unit docking facilities have GFCI protection for personnel. We have seen notable code changes within Article 555 over the last several cycles. Prior to the 2017 NEC, warning signs around marinas, boatyards, or docking facilities were not an NEC requirement, but they are now. GFCI and GFPE have had changes made within Article 555 over the 2017 and 2020 NEC cycles. Boat hoist GFCI protection was added to the 2020 NEC, plus numerous potential changes that may occur in the 2023 NEC cycle. There’s been a lot of positive influence on the codes because of the risks surrounding ESD, including regulating electrical requirements in marinas, boatyards and docking facilities, rendering them much safer now. But you still can’t swim there!As inspectors, we can help raise awareness of ESD in our communities. It starts with educating ourselves. Visit NFPA’s ESD web to learn more about this topic and ways to help mitigate the risk of ESD.

Fire Fighter Safety Building Marking Systems

There are two main ways in which fire fighters currently receive information about fire protection features and construction types of a building they are responding to. The first is from a pre-incident plan (see NFPA 1620 for information about pre-incident planning) which is available as a result of prior building inspection and the second is through signage on the building. The most widely adopted signage which most fire fighters are familiar with is the NFPA 704 hazard diamond, which provides information about hazardous materials present and the fire, health, instability and special hazards which they pose. However, there is a lesser-known marking system that has been developed and incorporated in Appendix C of NFPA 1, which if utilized can provide fire fighters the basic information about fire protection features and building construction quickly and concisely as they’re arriving on scene of an emergency. Let’s look at why this type of marking system is important to fire fighters.Modern buildings are designed with fire protection features to protect both occupants and the building itself. Some of these features provide active protection, such as fire suppression systems, while others provide passive protection such as fire resistive construction. The required protection level is dictated by the codes incorporated by reference into law by the authority having jurisdiction at the time the building was designed and constructed, or under a retroactive requirement after the building is occupied. The specific fire protection features in a building, combined with the construction type will play a role in the tactical approaches to suppressing a fire in that building. So, having this information quickly and concisely displayed on the exterior of the building can enhance the fire department’s effectiveness.Although some states have adopted signs identifying construction type and location of truss construction, the fire fighter safety building marking system (FSBMS) in Appendix C of NFPA 1 goes further to include the hazard level of the contents, presence of fire sprinkler and standpipe systems, occupancy and life safety issues and other special designations.What does it look like? The Maltese cross, which draws its origins from the Knights of Malta, has been widely adopted as a symbol of the fire service. The eight-pointed cross can be easily identified by its curved arcs between the points which all converge on a center circle. The FSBMS utilizes a rating system in each of the arms of the cross and the center circle to concisely display the hazard level, fire suppression systems, occupancy life safety issues and special hazards of a given building. The image above is an example of a FSBMS symbol. These signs should be located “in a position to be plainly legible and visible from the street or road fronting the property or as approved by the fire department.” To aide in visibility the signs should incorporate a white reflective background and black lettering.  Now let’s look at what each of the letters in the four sections of the cross identify.Rating SystemConstruction TypeThe construction type is identified utilizing letter combinations in the top section of the Maltese cross as follows:FR — Fire-resistive constructionNC — Noncombustible constructionORD — Ordinary constructionHT — Heavy timber constructionC — Combustible constructionThese construction types provide firefighters a general understanding of how well the building will resist collapse under fire conditions. Fire resistive construction would theoretically resist collapse the longest and combustible construction has the potential for the earliest collapse.Hazards of ContentsThe hazard of the building’s contents as it relates to fire conditions will be displayed on the left section of the Maltese cross as follows:L — Low hazard. Low hazard contents shall be classified as those of such low combustibility that no self-propagating fire therein can occur.M — Moderate hazard. Moderate hazard contents shall be classified as those that are likely to burn with moderate rapidity or to give off a considerable volume of smoke.H — High hazard. High hazard contents shall be classified as those that are likely to burn with extreme rapidity or from which explosions are likely.The hazard level will provide fire fighters with a general idea of how rapidly a fire will grow and spread through the building contents. This information can be used to anticipate the amount of water and firefighting resources needed to effectively control the fire.Automatic Fire Sprinkler and Standpipe SystemThe presence of automatic fire sprinklers and standpipe systems will be displayed in the right section of the cross as follows:A — Automatic fire sprinkler system installed throughoutP — Partial automatic fire sprinkler system or other suppression system installedS — Standpipe system installedN — NoneThe general understanding of what active fire suppression systems are located in the building will guide firefighter’s tactics including apparatus positioning and hose line selection.Occupancy/Life Safety IssuesThe occupancy and life safety issues will be displayed in the lower section of the cross as follows:L — Business, industrial, mercantile, residential, and storage occupanciesM — Ambulatory health care, assembly, educational, and day care occupanciesH — Detention and correction facilities, health care, and board and care occupanciesThis information about building occupants/occupancy type will allow firefighters to gauge the difficulty in evacuating occupants from the building. The L occupancies representing those where the occupant load is lower, and occupants can most effectively evacuate unassisted. The M is of moderate concern where the occupant load is higher and/or the occupants may need additional assistance due to age or health conditions. The H is of high concern where the occupants may not be able to self-evacuate and considerable resources will be needed to evacuate the building.Special HazardsThe center circle has been left empty to allow the inclusion of special hazards or provisions. This may be a location to include such things as truss type construction or even the hazardous materials information for example an NFPA 704 diamond, as long as the provisions for size of 704 are met.SummaryHaving the information on construction type, hazard level of contents, presence of sprinkler and standpipe systems and occupancy/life safety issues has the potential to enhance the effectiveness of firefighters arriving on scene. These responders would be equipped with the knowledge needed to best address an emergency in the building. States which have incorporated NFPA 1 into law should take the extra step to specifically name Annex C in the incorporating ordinance, thus incorporating a national standard the firefighter safety building marking system into law in their jurisdictions. Unless specifically incorporated by refence the FSBMS in Annex C would be a recommendation rather than a requirement. A national system has the potential to increase firefighter effectiveness while decreasing the number of fire fighter injuries and deaths by providing important information quickly and concisely as they arrive on scene. 

SUPDET registration is open

Interested in the latest developments in fire suppression, detection, and signaling? Join researchers from around the world at the 25th SUPDET (Suppression and Detection) Conference taking place this September 13-16 at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.  Learn the latest on a variety of topics and benefit from research related to firefighting foam, wildfire applications, advancements in the protection of high hazard commodities, first responder safety, detection advancements, smart technology, and more. Full program here.  Register here!  Early bird options only available through July 29th.  We hope to see you there!