The National Fire Protection Association seems like a pretty important

organization. For example, Its reports are routinely used by fire departments

to justify staffing requests.

But not everyone is satisfied with how the NFPA operates. Some members of the fire

service believe the standards for equipment service life are too inflexible.

And there’s the question of who writes the standards in the first place.

One of the NFPA’s loudest critics on social media is Bobby Eckert. He’s a

Captain with the City of Camden Fire Department in New Jersey. Bobby also owns

and operates Eckert Fire Tactics.

We decided to ask Bobby to explain his concerns about the NFPA.

We initially asked the NFPA to participate in a debate-style format with Bobby,

but they declined the offer. Instead, they offered a representative who would

do a one-on-one interview.

We agreed to that, and I was able to ask questions of the NFPA’s Responder Technical

Lead, Curt Floyd.

Then we matched up Curt’s answers with Bobby’s questions.