This week, NFPA Journal editor Jesse Roman talks to Pieter Maes, a firefighter/EMT in Brussels, Belgium, about the extraordinary steps emergency responders in this European capitol are taking to prepare for the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic. The crisis has forced Maes' department to find creative solutions to many difficult questions related to the COVID-19 outbreak—the same challenges departments across the world are now facing. To help, Maes has created a website, covidfirstresponse.com, where responders everywhere can submit various strategies for how they are handling aspects of the crisis. This crowd-sourced material includes instructions for how to 3D print face masks, sewing patterns for homemade masks, scientifically-backed strategies for effectively decontaminating equipment, and much more. 

As the health care system in the United States braces for a surge in patients sickened by COVID-19, the NFPA Journal® Podcast speaks with experts on how this issue will be addressed, from the creation of mobile field hospitals to putting inspections on hold for codes like NFPA 99, Health Care Facilities Code, and NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®.

Listen to an earlier podcast on responder safety during the coronavirus pandemic here: https://nfpa.libsyn.com/responder-safety-in-a-pandemic

As the COVID-19 coronavirus sweeps the globe, the NFPA Journal Podcast speaks with leading first responder experts on the precautions they can take to stay safe, such as incorporating masks into their PPE. 

Contact Angelo Verzoni at [email protected] and Jesse Roman at [email protected]. 

Americans living in rural areas are statistically older, sicker, and poorer than the general population. Compounding those factors is a lack of access to health care. Now, many are at high risk of losing emergency medical services, too. This episode of the NFPA Journal® Podcast takes a deeper look into this crisis.

The United States has eradicated hospital fire deaths. Why can't other countries? We're bringing you the NFPA Journal® podcast a week early this month and diving into the complicated topic of international hospital fires—why they keep occurring with alarming frequency and what's being done to address them.

As we near the 20th anniversary of the Worcester, Massachusetts, cold storage warehouse fire, which killed six firefighters on December 3, 1999, the NFPA Journal Podcast catches up with Matthew Foley, an NFPA research associate who has ties to the deadly blaze and who authored "After Effect"—the cover story of the November/December issue of NFPA Journal on the lasting impact of the fire.

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In this episode of the NFPA Journal® Podcast, we take a look at the NFPA Fire & Life Safety Ecosystem and how recent events in Brazil serve as prime examples of that concept.

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Have feedback on the podcast? Let us know! Email Angelo Verzoni at [email protected] or Jesse Roman at [email protected].

On May 17, 2017, 31-year-old San Antonio firefighter Scott Deem died while searching for victims inside a burning building. After the fire, department leaders in command that night began working to build an innovative new facility, the Deem Training Center, to drill San Antonio’s firefighters on “mayday” scenarios like the one that killed Deem. Since the facility opened in 2018, not only have crews improved in search and rescue performance, the work has also proved therapeutic for everyone involved.

Escape rooms are popping up everywhere. In 2014, there were only 22 escape rooms in the United States. Today, there are over 2,000. After a fire in an escape room killed five teenagers in Poland in January, many have asked, are they safe? NFPA Journal investigates that question in this episode. 

As disasters strike around the globe with greater frequency and severity, aid agencies are increasingly relying on a worldwide army of volunteers to listen to the digital chatter on social media emanating from communities in crisis. Learn how this “social monitoring” is helping response and recovery efforts become more effective. Jesse Roman, associate editor of NFPA Journal, shares insights from his reporting of the NFPA Journal article “Chasing the Chatter,” then reads the article, which was published in the July/August 2019 issue.

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