NFPA Journal - January/February 2018 - 15

Dispatches Digital
pushing its outreach and providing
analysis and explanations of its codes
and standards. And we, as graduates,
need to become educators as well.

What was your experience like
at the Responder Forum?
The Responder Forum was the first
gathering of fire service leaders from
all over that I've been to where I felt it
was a safe space. What I mean by that
is I felt comfortable expressing the
unique concerns of small fire departments without being judged, without
people telling us we were bad or inferior or don't deserve to exist. Everyone
was truly open and willing to consider
others' situations and figure out how
we can make NFPA codes and standards work for everyone.

What was an example of how
that worked?
In our department, we do medical
exams but we don't do them annually. We do them every other year. At
other forums I've been to I've brought
that up and they've told me we're bad
for that, we're not meeting the NFPA
standard [NFPA 1582, Comprehensive
Occupational Medical Program for
Fire Departments]. At the Responder
Forum, people were like, "OK, let's
listen to this." They recognized that
doing it every other year is better than
not doing it at all, and that maybe it
even makes sense.

AP/WIDE WORLD

Why would doing it that way
make sense?
The reason we do biannual medical
exams in my department is because we
only respond to a fire once every three
years or so. So the risk profile is very,
very different than in a big city where
fires happen daily. You have to realize
that it's OK to take an NFPA standard
and modify or adjust or amend it as
long as you have a rational reason for
doing it. Making departments aware of
this, as well as providing plainlanguage explanations of the codes
and standards, will go a long way in
making them more accessible to the
rural fire service.

RISK ASSESSMENT

NFPA TO RELEASE NEW TOOL TO ASSESS
RISK FOR BUILDINGS USING COMBUSTIBLE
EXTERIOR WALL ASSEMBLIES
By Angelo Verzoni
Cathedral in central London to honor
In January, NFPA will release a new
those who died in the fire, Britain's
risk assessment tool for authorities
deadliest blaze in modern history.
having jurisdiction-specifically,
In countless interviews published
enforcers-to determine which
after the incident, witnesses, first
buildings in their jurisdictions are
responders, and residents of the
at the highest risk for fires involving
combustible exterior wall assemblies. 24-story apartment building described how flames leapt from floor
Exterior wall assemblies were
to floor and around the sides of
blamed for the severity of the masthe tower at an astonishsive and deadly Grenfell
ing speed, fueled by what
Tower fire in London, which
NFPA.ORG/
DISPATCHES
has been widely reported
killed more than 70 people
as combustible materials
on June 14.
Visit us online for
sheathing the concrete
Facilitated by NFPA, the
more information
building. The fire thrust
global engineering firm Arup on combustible
exterior wall
the issue of combustible
developed the technical
assemblies and
basis for the tool with input on NFPA's new risk- exterior wall assemblies,
assessment tool.
which include components
from experts in Asia and
like cladding and insulation,
the Middle East-areas that
into the spotlight and led to investihad experienced major fires in these
gations around the world to pinpoint
types of buildings before Grenjust how widespread the problem
fell-Europe, the United States, and
potentially is.
elsewhere. It's the first time NFPA has
The NFPA tool joins a list of several
created a resource like this as a reresources NFPA already offers on the
sponse to an emerging fire problem,
fire hazards of combustible exterior
according to Birgitte Messerschmidt,
wall assemblies, such as a tool that
director of applied research at NFPA.
helps builders, facility managers,
"It's really, really powerful," she said.
and others determine when to use
On December 14, the six-month
NFPA 285, Fire Test Method for Evalanniversary of the blaze, members of
the royal family and British Prime Min- uation of Fire Propagation Characteristics of Non-Load-Bearing Wall
ister Theresa May were among the
Assemblies Containing Combustible
more than 1,500 people who attended a memorial service at St. Paul's
Components.
N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL

| 15

http://www.NFPA.ORG/DISPATCHES http://WWW.NFPA.ORG/JOURNAL

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2018