National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)'s Blog, page 263

Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors announces new Board

Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, the leading national non-profit organization dedicated to empowering anyone affected by a burn injury, recently elected new officers and members to its Board of Directors. NFPA’s Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy Lorraine Carli was elected as the Board’s president. Carli is also president of the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) and serves on the boards for The Center of Campus Fire Safety and Electric Safety Foundation International. Karen Colligan was elected as vice president. Colligan is founder and principal of PeopleThink, is a recognized expert in leadership, team effectiveness and organizational development. A burn...

Live burn shows just how quickly Christmas tree fires can turn devastating and deadly

The devastating damage Christmas tree fires can inflict on people and property – and just how quickly it can happen - were vividly demonstrated during a live burn event on Monday at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) research lab in Rockville, MD. The footage (above) underscores just how fast a dried out Christmas tree burns, with flashover occurring in about 30 seconds, while a well-watered tree burns at a far slower rate. National news outlets covered the event, including The Today Show, CNN, FOX News, NBC, Univision and ABC News. The following ABC News link features comments made...

Join us for a Twitter chat all about #WinterSafety tomorrow at 2:00pm ET

Let this be your formal invitation! We are hosting a Twitter chat, tomorrow (December 9th) at 2:00pm ET along with our friends U.S. Fire Administration, Electrical Safety Foundation International, SafeKids and Consumer Product Safety Commission (plus, many other safety groups around the country!) We will be talking about all sorts of winter fire safety issues and providing tips and resources to make sure you and your family 'put a freeze on winter fires' this year. Follow along with the chat using #WinterSafety on Twitter. Feel free to submit your own questions related to fire safety topics as well. We hope...

The good and the bad: Recap of 2015 legislative action on home fire sprinklers

All new homes aren't created equal. That was the lesson learned in 2015, a year when some state legislators took steps supporting home fire sprinklers while others sided with the opposition in keeping requirements for them out of state building codes. NFPA highlighted these efforts in a recent issue of Sprinkler Age, the magazine for the American Fire Sprinkler Association. Read about new sprinklers laws in Connecticut and Delaware as well as a building code board who some advocates say failed to protect its citizens in the place where fires claim the most lives. In New York, for example, an...

Today in fire history: natural gas explosion in a restaurant kills 6 and injures 12 others

At 3:56 p.m. on Friday, December 6, 1985, a natural gas explosion occurred at the River Restaurant in Derby, Connecticut. It appears that a gas main may have been damaged during the refilling of a sewer excavation. Before anyone became aware of the leak, escaping gas accumulated in the basement of the restaurant and came in contact with an undetermined ignition source. The explosion killed six people in the restaurant, injured 12 other occupants, and completely destroyed the building housing the restaurant. Three people who were not in the restaurant were also injures by the explosion. For the full NFPA...

It happened again. NFPA and ASIS continue the discussion on active shooters.

PHOTO: San Bernardino County Sun It happened again. Sadly, it will continue to happen. If there’s one thing that is becoming abundantly clear, our world is changing. And so, too, are the ways that building owners, facility managers and first responders must prepare to keep communities safe. On Wednesday, December 2 as people throughout the nation – and in particular in a conference room in San Bernardino, California – got into the holiday spirit, another tragic active shooter incident unfolded and once again rattled our peace of mind. As the circumstances that led up to this recent mass execution emerge,...

Firefighter injured on the job speaks out in support of home fire sprinkler bill

Do you know Paul Machado? We introduced him to our growing army of sprinkler advocates earlier this year, the first in a series of new Faces of Fire profiles highlighting fire service members impacted by fire. A Massachusetts resident and member of the Massachusetts Fire Sprinkler Coalition, Machado is now using his powerful story to exact change in his state. A couple Massachusetts newspapers have picked up his op-ed on how the aftermath of a home fire in 2013 ended his friend's firefighting career, left him with debilitating injuries, and how it all could have been avoided if home fire...

NFPA’s “Project Holiday” campaign reminds everyone to deck the halls this season with fire safety in mind

When you’re decking the halls this year, make sure to keep fire safety in mind. That’s the main message behind "Project Holiday," NFPA's annual holiday fire safety campaign, which works to educate the public about the increased risk of home fires during the holiday season. Holiday decorations, Christmas trees, candles and cooking all contribute to an increased number of home fires during December, making it one of the four leading months for U.S. home fires. Consider these facts: Holiday cooking: On Christmas Day in 2013, there was a 58 percent increase in the number of home cooking fires than on...

NFPA Standards Council seeking public comments on a potential new project on low pressure dispensing containers (LPDCs)

NFPA is currently soliciting comments from interested organizations and individuals to gauge interest in the development of a standard addressing fire protection guidance for low pressure dispensing containers (“LPDCs”). LPDCs contain a liquid product, which may or may not be a flammable or combustible liquid, that is intended to be dispensed under pressure by means of a nonflammable (e.g., nitrogen) or flammable (e.g., liquefied petroleum gas - LPG) propellant. LPDCs are currently transported in interstate commerce as “Chemical Under Pressure” (e.g. UN3500 (Appendix A)) under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Regulations of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Fire protection guidelines for...

In NFPA Journal: studying social behavior research is key to wildfire education

How much can social behavior research help with wildfire education and research? A lot, actually, according to Lucian Deaton, who manages the Firewise Communities and Fire Adapted Communities Program in NFPA's Wildland Fire Operations Division. In his column “Social Studies,” in the new November/December issue of NFPA Journal, Deaton writes that there is quite a lot of overlap in the two fields. Understanding how people think and why they do things is incredibly important in coming up with strategies to educate people about how to prepare for and react to a wildfire, Deaton writes. “New research, for example, shows that...