NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 40

Faith Berry, a wildfire program manager at NFPA,
on wildfire building codes and new evidence that
homes built using wildfire-resistant materials are
comparable in price to typical homes:
With more than 35,000 homes lost in the US to
wildfire over the past decade, it is critical that
home design and construction follow wildfire-resistant codes and standards. There is no financial

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reason not to. That is the takeaway of a study
published last year by Headwaters Economics in
conjunction with the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.
The study, "Building a Wildfire-Resistant Home:
Codes and Costs," refutes a long-standing myth that
building a home with wildfire-resistant materials
costs more than a typical home. After an analysis, the
study concluded that a new, three-bedroom home
in Montana built using wildfire-resistant codes (like
those published by NFPA) costs roughly $79,230. The
typical home in the analysis cost $81,140.
The study references NFPA 1144, Standard for
Reducing Structure Ignition Hazards from Wildland
Fire, as a document that communities should be
using to ensure new homes are safer from wildfire.
The guidelines in NFPA 1144 are based on decades

40 | NFPA JOURNAL * N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9

RECENT BLOGS ON
CODES AND STANDARDS
BY NFPA STAFF

of research about the types of roofs, eaves, windows, exterior walls, and more that will provide the
best protection when a wildfire event occurs.
Read the full study at headwaterseconomics.org.
Dave Hague, a principal fire protection engineer
at NFPA, on NFPA 25, Standard for the Inspection,
Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire
Protection Systems, and the methods to prevent
wet pipe sprinkler systems from freezing:
When water freezes, it expands and can cause
cracks in the pipe or fitting in which it resides. If any
part of your wet pipe system is exposed to freezing
temperatures, precautions should be taken.
One method is to equip the sprinkler system with
a heat trace system, which is simply an electrical
conductor that produces a small amount of heat
that is usually sufficient to prevent freezing. Another method of freeze protection is to add liquid
antifreeze to the piping system, very similar to the
antifreeze in your car's radiator. Antifreeze solutions
should be tested to make sure that the mixture will
not freeze at the lowest anticipated temperature.
Where heat tracing or antifreeze is not practical,
a dry pipe system is normally installed. The piping
in these systems is not filled with water but is
pressurized with air or nitrogen gas. Where a dry
pipe, pre-action, or deluge system is installed, the
system control valve must be installed in a heated
enclosure. Now is a good time to test the heater
and verify that adequate heat will be provided when
the temperature outside drops.
Chris Dubay, vice president of engineering at
NFPA, on the request by the US Department
of Homeland Security for NFPA to develop a
standard for community-based response to drug
overdoses:
This new standard would address the necessary
functions and actions related to the prevention,
preparedness, response, and recovery to drug
overdoses by any community, AHJ, facility, and/or
organization that handles these incidents.
"To address this national public health emergency, we need a multi-level community response to
prevention, identification, response, and recovery
to these overdose events," the DHS request states.
"Communities need to recognize and share best
practices and tools to tackle the issues within their
respective jurisdictions."
According to the DHS request, NFPA was selected to develop the proposed standard because of its
open-consensus development process. When the
NFPA Standards Council receives requests to develop new standards, comments are solicited from
as many groups and individuals as possible. NFPA
is now soliciting public comments, which can be
provided to the Standards Council at stds_admin@
nfpa.org through December 31, 2019.

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NFPA Journal - November/December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - November/December 2019