NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 62

SMOKE
SIGNALS
declined to comment or say even when
the new alarms might come to market,
citing "confidential" and "proprietary"
concerns.
What is clear is that much work
is now underway to prepare for the
approaching 2020 deadline to meet
UL's new standard. Since the new UL
detection facility opened, demand from
manufacturers has been robust, according to UL, which has run extra shifts
to accommodate
the companies
eager to test
their devices
to the new
requirements.
"Are there
devices right now
that will pass?
Well, they have
to go through
the test," Guthrie said, when
asked about early
results. "In the
majority of cases
there might be
some tweaking
done, of course,
because this nuisance aspect of
(the testing) is
extremely new."
Even so, manufacturers have
been preparing
for some time.
While UL first
published the
p A cylinder filled with balled newspaper is ignited as part of a
paper fire test, one of the five tests smoke alarms must pass.
new product
standards to little
residents could have less than two minfanfare in October 2015, manufacturutes to get out safety once the smoke
ers, code developers, and industry
alarm sounds.
professionals anticipated, and in
some cases pushed for, the standards
THE NFPA 72 CONNECTION
even years before that. The technolDespite-or perhaps because of-these
ogy, research, development, and code
changes sweeping over the industry,
making has moved in lockstep (see
manufacturers and industry profes"Sign Here," previous page).
sionals have largely remained tight
NFPA 72 first included language
lipped about their new products, the
referencing smoke alarms "listed for
technology involved, and how the
resistance to common nuisance sources
new listing criteria might impact the
from cooking" in the 2013 edition, even
industry or the costs borne by consumthough no such listing existed at the
ers. When contacted, a representative
time. The section stated that smoke
from one large detector manufacturer
alarms listed for resistance to cooking

62 | NFPA JOURNAL * M A R C H /A P R I L 2 0 1 8

could be positioned as close as six feet
from a stationary cooking appliance,
or stove-regular alarms still have to be
located at least 20 feet from a stove to
reduce the possibility of nuisance cooking alarms, according to the code.
The language alluding to devices
resistant to nuisance alarms was added
after several public inputs were submitted by stakeholders seemingly with
the aim of nudging more sophisticated
testing standards.
Thomas Hammerberg, then president of the Automatic Fire Alarm
Association, wrote in a public input to
the NFPA 72 technical committee at
the time that, although the committee
"has done a great job using research
to craft smoke detector location/placement/spacing requirements that can
effectively reduce nuisance alarms,
the rules in NFPA 72 for household
smoke alarms are not adopted by all
jurisdictions and, even if they are, they
are not always effectively enforced.
The problems of nuisance alarms
can be addressed across the board by
implementing more rigorous testing
standards."
Hammerberg, who has since retired
from leading the association, declined
to comment on the new UL standards.
Other than fulfilling the NFPA 72
committee's premonition from 2013,
the UL testing and listing changes
should not have any impact on NFPA
72 itself, Roux said.
"Listing is certainly important, but
it's only one of the criteria that smoke
alarms must meet," Roux said. "Installation, wiring, and location are also
among the requirements spelled out in
NFPA 72."
In terms of real-world impact on the
industry and consumer safety, though,
it's hard to overstate how significant
the UL listing changes will be, Roux
said. For one, he may soon be able to
cook a burger in his RV without fear of
what the alarm will do.
"The result will be significantly
greater immunity from cooking, resulting in fewer unwanted alarms," he said.
"This is a win/win for the consumer
and for safety."
JESSE ROMAN is associate editor of NFPA Journal.

helps ensure that alarms will sound
within three minutes of a fire, giving
residents crucial time to escape,
Guthrie said. Studies have shown that
modern construction and synthetic
furnishings have led to fires that can
burn significantly faster than in years
past, reducing evacuation time from an
average of 17 minutes to less than four,
according to UL. NFPA's public educators advise that, in modern home fires,

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