The NFPA Podcast

When home fire sprinklers are present, residents are 80 percent more likely to survive a fire, and yet they are installed in only a fraction of new homes. For the past 25 years, a group called the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition has worked to increase sprinkler use in North America, despite fierce opposition from various home builders. On today's podcast, we talk to the president of HFSC about its successes, the ongoing challenges, and new strategies for getting fire sprinklers installed in more new homes (1:38). In the second segment, we talk to the director of the NFPA Fire & Life Safety Policy Institute about a free new online tool that aims to help communities assess their safety ecosystem, and correct safety gaps before they lead to bigger problems (30:37). Links:

homefiresprinkler.org

nfpa.org/sprinklers

nfpa.org/ecosystemtool

For much of the past year, NFPA researchers have been working on a gigantic project to collect and analyze the last four decades of residential fire statistics in the United States. While they found that fires and fire deaths have been cut in half since 1980, there are some aspects of the fire problem are actually worse now than 40 years ago. On this podcast, we talk to researcher Birgitte Messerschmidt about the successes, what these numbers tell us about fire in the US, and why some major challenges linger despite our best efforts. Links: Read the full report: nfpa.org/fireprogress

Safety departments are awash with valuable community data, but figuring out how to use this mountain of information can be daunting. We talk to former Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer, one of the leading experts on Community Risk Reduction, about how fire departments can better use their data to create impactful programs to reduce risk. He also discusses a new digital tool out this month to help departments make sense of CRR.

ALSO: A full day virtual workshop called, "Community Risk Reduction: Insights to Action," takes place July 20, as part of NFPA's 125th Anniversary Conference Series. To see a list of presentations and to register, visit nfpa.org/CRR-track.

Last week was the four-year anniversary of London's deadly Grenfell Tower fire. In today's episode we interview Kate Lamble, host and producer of a BBC podcast that for the past three years has followed the United Kingdom's government investigation into the fire, which killed 72 people. Plus, a conversation with NFPA researcher Birgitte Messerschmidt on the risk of facade fires globally and what resources NFPA has to offer.

Links:

Listen to the BBC's Grenfell Tower Inquiry Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p066rd9t/episodes/downloads

Explore NFPA resources related to facade fires: http://www.nfpa.org/exteriorwalls

In the United States, there's a fire in a building under construction or renovation every hour and a half, according to NFPA data. Today on the podcast, Angelo speaks with Kevin Carr (4:15), NFPA staff liaison to NFPA 241, Standard for Safeguarding Construction, Alteration, and Demolition Operations, to learn more about construction site fires and how to prevent them. Plus, a safety executive with a large Maryland-based construction company and the chair of the NFPA 241 technical committee weigh in on why they think NFPA 241 is underutilized and how that could change (22:24).

Links:

Read more about the 2022 edition of NFPA 241 and NFPA trainings related to construction site fire safety: https://www.nfpa.org/safetyfirst

There are nearly 2,000 fires in recreational vehicles per year, according to a recent report from the Fire Protection Research Foundation; meanwhile, RV use in North America hit an all-time high in 2020 due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. On this episode, we talk to Doug Mulvaney, a director at Kampgrounds of America, and the chair of NFPA 1192, Standard for Recreational Vehicles, about what these trends mean, what the new Foundation report reveals, and how RV users can help prevent fire incidents (1:37).

Then, we offer a primer on how to inspect your grill for gas leaks to ensure it's safe and ready to go for the summer season (26:57).

Links:

View the NFPA Journal article and the Foundation report:

nfpa.org/rvs

nfpa.org/1192

May is National Electrical Safety Month. Today on the podcast, Derek talks to Electrical Safety Foundation International President Brett Brenner (3:01) about what the data says on who most often experiences electrical injuries and how, as well as electrical safety considerations in the age of electric vehicles and smart home technology. Plus, a conversation with NEC Correlating Committee Chair Larry Ayer (31:45) about how terminology remains consistent and coherent in the NEC. On May 18, NFPA hosts a daylong conference on electrical safety. Learn more at nfpa.org/conferenceseries.

Today on the podcast, we look at how fire and life safety messaging is developed and spread. Who creates these important messages about cooking, candles, and changing the batteries in your fire alarms? How is the guidance updated as new information arrives and new threats emerge?

First, Robby talks to Kelly Ransdell (2:05), the NFPA staff liaison of the group responsible for crafting and updating safety messaging. Then he and Kelly speak to a representative from the NFPA Public Education Network about how these messages are spread to states and local communities (25:20).

Links:

nfpa.org/publiceducation

More than a year after the COVID-19 virus closed buildings around the world, many large facilities are preparing to reopen in the coming months, including universities, gyms, theaters, and office buildings. It's a unique situation, perhaps unprecedented, to have so many facilities all coming back to life at the same time after such a long hiatus. On today's podcast, we speak to fire protection engineer and code expert Bill Koffel about what the reopening looks like from a fire and life safety perspective, as well as the many ways that the pandemic may permanently alter safety standards and our built environment.

Links:

Nfpa.org/coronavirus

csemag.com/articles/nfpa-101-and-covid-19/

In recent years, new insights into how structural fires behave have led to some of the most significant tactical changes the fire service has seen in decades. All of these lessons have been collected in a new document, NFPA 1700, Guide to Structural Fire Fighting, which was published last fall.

Today on the podcast, we talk to the two researchers who are perhaps most responsible for our current understanding of structural fire dynamics: Dan Madrzykowski and Stephen Kerber, both of the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute. They discuss what their extensive research has revealed and how this knowledge has been collected and distilled into the new NFPA 1700.

Note: Later in March, look for free training on NFPA 1700 at nfpa.org/1700news. In April, look for a new NFPA Journal article on this topic at nfpa.org/journal. To read past coverage on this work, visit nfpa.org/firetactics.

Links:

nfpa.org/1700

nfpa.org/firetactics

nfpa.org/conference

ulfirefightersafety.org