NFPA Journal - March/April 2013 - (Page 82)

>> the sections NEWS FROM THE NFPA SECTIONS SPOTLIGHT On educaTIOn SecTIOn Patricia Mieszala, Rn Patricia Mieszala, RN, is president of Burn Concerns National Consultant and Education Services in Burbank, California. Pat has more than 40 years of experience and is nationally and internationally recognized in the areas of psychiatry, burn care, rehabilitation, prevention, fire and life safety, youth firesetting and juvenile arson, and injury prevention. She has been a public education course developer and instructor for the FEMA/DHS National Fire Academy for more than 20 years and is a specialist in community program development to identify and provide intervention strategies for juvenile firesetters. Pat is NFPA’s lead public education representative and southwestern region field advisor. From what fields, industries, or occupations do Education Section members come? Education Section members, of which there are close to 1,500, represent local, state and national organizations, both public and private, that focus on, or have an interest in, fire and life safety public education for all age groups and audiences. The membership includes individuals in the fire service, public health, legal services, business and industry, school systems and institutions, research initiatives, insurance companies, hospitals, burn treatment centers and foundations, mental health facilities, public information service, and manufacturers or producers of equipment and training aids. 82 NFPA JOURNAL MARCH/APRIL 2013 What codes and industries are important to your section? With an ongoing mission to encourage the five types of prevention and mitigation strategies, or the five “E”s—emergency response, education, engineering, enforcement, and economic incentives—the codes and industries important to the Education Section are those that focus on providing a safe environment at home or away from home and those that provide engineering solutions to mitigate common hazards. Together with education, technology enhances safety and provides awareness, early warning, and engineered suppression, which permit rapid escape and evacuation. NFPA 1035, Professional Qualifications for Fire and Life Safety Educator, Public 13R, Installation of Sprinkler Systems in Low-Rise Residential Occupancies, and NFPA 13D, Installation of Sprinkler Systems in One- and Two-Family Dwellings and Manufactured Homes, to all new residential buildings. We are also following the action on the proposed revisions to NFPA 1035 and the outcome of the proposed NFPA 1730. Can you give us an example of a specific event recently in the news or of an ongoing trend or upcoming issue that provides a real-world connection to your section’s code concerns? The most critical of discussions involve the code requirement for fire sprinklers in all new residential housing and the efforts This past year, the education Section appointed a nominating committee to present a slate of board candidates for the members to vote on at the annual business meeting, which will be held this year in chicago in conjunction with the conference & expo. Information Officer, and Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Specialist, gives educators and youth firesetter interventionists the necessary guidelines to establish model public education programs in their communities. What are the key code issues for your section right now and in the near future? We’re concerned about smoke alarms and early warning systems, as well as home fire sprinkler legislation. We’re also interested in the proposed NFPA 1730, Organization and Deployment of Code Enforcement, Plan Review, Fire Investigation, and Public Education Operations to the Public. As for the future, the section is keeping a close eye on the application of NFPA of the home builders to have the requirement legislated out of the state building code. The fire service needs to focus on public education for home builders and the general public to teach them why home sprinklers are necessary, how they operate, and their benefits, dispelling myths and misinformation given out by the building industry. Other issues of interest to public educators include fire department budget restrictions and their effect on staffing local public education programs, and the impact of the national economy on housing that may lead to high-risk behaviors, misuse of fire, and additional use of fire department resources.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - March/April 2013

NFPA Journal - March/April 2013
Contents
First Word
In a Flash
Perspectives
Firewatch
Research
Heads Up
Structural Ops
In Compliance
Buzzwords
Outreach
Electrical Safety
Wildfire Watch
Cover Story: Storage Occupancies
Fifty Years of Smoke Detection
Industrial Occupancies
Chicago 2013
Fire Analysis + Research
Section Spotlight
What’s Hot
Looking Back

NFPA Journal - March/April 2013