NFPA Journal - September/October 2019 - 19

Dispatches Briefs

ADAM GLANZMAN/NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSIT Y

NFPA training:
Balancing safety
and security in
the age of active
shooters

NFPA has released
a training bundle
to help facility
managers, building
owners, engineers,
designers, and code
officials balance
safety and security
features in buildings.
Achieving that
balance is an
increasingly difficult
and controversial
task, given the rise
of shooting incidents in the United
States over the past
several years, and
the fact that some
solutions that have
been implemented to
combat the problem
have unintentionally
hampered fire safety.
The training bundle-a four-hour,
self-paced program
that includes more
than 30 videos with
engineers and other
experts-provides
trainees with an
introduction to NFPA
80, Standard for Fire
Doors and Other
Opening Protectives; addresses the
inspection, testing,
and maintenance
A
podcast
requirements
for
looks
at a fire doors;
swinging
family's
presentsloss
the requirefrom
fire.
ments
for fire and
smoke dampers; and
reviews door locking
arrangements that
are allowed by NFPA
101®, Life Safety
Code®.
"The NFPA 80
and NFPA 101 training bundle makes
perfect sense for a
variety of reasons-
not the least of which
is the fact that facility
managers, AHJs, and
designers have a lot
of ground to cover in
their roles," said Kristin Bigda, technical
lead for the Building
& Life Safety division
at NFPA. "This valuable training series
provides necessary,
but often overlooked,

US Senate
passes 9/11
victims' relief
fund bill

Researchers at
Northeastern University in Boston
have devised a
flame-detecting
device, pictured
below, that can
remain in "ultrabattery-saver mode"
until being "woken
up" by the very
flames it's engineered to detect,
the university
reported in August.
According to its
developers, the
device has the
potential to be used

frequent battery
changes," said
Matteo Rinaldi, an
associate professor
of electrical and
computer engineering at Northeastern
and the researcher
behind the project.
"This has prevented
the deployment
of fire monitoring
systems in complex
environments. ...
Standby power
consumption is
really what limits
the battery lifetime
of the commercially
available sensor
technology. We are
eliminating all of
that."
The device can
"nap" without using
battery power for up
to 10 years, the university reported. He
and his team have a
patent application
pending for the
technology. If the

in areas like large
warehouses, construction sites, and
forests, where continually replacing
batteries is difficult
and impractical.
"Until now, there
was no technology
that could detect fire
wirelessly without

patent is granted,
they will start selling
the devices through
a startup company
called Zepsor
Technologies.
For more information, go to news.
northeastern.edu
and search "fire
detector."

a Congressional
hearing on the matter
in June. Stewart, a
longtime advocate
for 9/11 responders,
was most angered
by lawmakers who
didn't show up to
the hearing. "It's an
embarrassment to
the country, and you

safety information
related to very
common building
systems."
The training is
available online at
nfpa.org/training.

New flame
detector
promises longer
battery life

In July, the United
States Senate voted
97-2 in favor of a bill
that will ensure the
federal funding will
never run out for first
responders who continue to battle health
complications as a
result of responding
to the September
11, 2001, terrorist
attacks on the World
Trade Center in New
York City. The decision ended years
of uncertainty over
whether funding
would be sustained,
and months of heated
debate on the topic.
The debate entered
the public forum
largely through video
of comedian Jon
Stewart blasting Congress for hesitating
to pass the bill during

should be ashamed
of yourselves," an
emotional Stewart
said to mostly empty
seats.
The Stewart videos
were picked up by
television news
stations and went
viral on social media
outlets.
According to
media reports,
as of March of
this year, almost
100,000 people who
responded to Ground
Zero have suffered
health complications
such as cancer, with
hundreds of new
cases arising every
month.

Texas fire
department on a
mission to recruit
women
The fire department
in San Antonio,
Texas, has launched
a campaign to recruit
more women for
careers in firefighting and emergency
medical services in
the department.
The "Hero Like
Her" campaign
includes videos of
women who work
at the San Antonio
Fire Department
(SAFD), discussing
how they balance
firefighting with personal responsibilities
including raising
children and other
unique aspects of
their careers. "I've
wanted to be a firefighter since I was a
little girl, but I didn't
know if I could do it
and be a mom, but
here I am, and you
can do it, too," one
of the women says in
the video.
The SAFD chief,
Charles Hood, was
profiled in the May/
June issue of NFPA
Journal.
To learn more
about the campaign,
visit herolikeher.com
or search the hashtag #HeroLikeHer on
social media.

N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL

| 19
http://www.nfpa.org/training http://www.herolikeher.com http://www.northeastern.edu http://nfpa.org/journal
NFPA Journal - September/October 2019

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