NFPA Journal - Summer 2021 - 52

SAFETY FIRST

O

N A COLD MORNING IN MARCH,

a thick column of black smoke rose
from the center of Washington, DC,
less than a mile from the United States Capitol.

According to comments posted on
Twitter, the smoke could be seen in
Arlington, Virginia, more than five
miles away. " I thought we were under
attack, " one observer wrote.
It was not an attack, but rather a fire
on the roof of a high-rise building under
construction.
On average, US fire departments
respond to a blaze in a building under
construction or major renovation every
hour and a half. These sites are notoriously rife with fuel, including piles
of trash and excess building materials.
Combine that with no shortage of ignition sources, ranging from heating and
cooking equipment to welding and other
hot work activities, as well as the fact
that fire protection systems like sprinklers may not yet be active. It can all
add up to an environment primed for a
devastating fire.
Such fires make headlines weekly,
often after they've razed massive, multimillion-dollar complexes nearing
completion. Less than a month after the

DC fire, four apartment buildings under
construction in Dallas were destroyed
in a fire; an arson blaze in a building
under construction in Seattle caused an
estimated $3 million in damage; and a
Hampton Inn & Suites under construction in Ontario, Canada, was deemed a
total loss after flames tore through the
site in the middle of the night.
" Construction is a vulnerable point
in a building's life cycle just because of
the sheer amount of change that's going
on in the structure, " said Kevin Carr, a
senior building fire protection specialist
at NFPA. Carr is the NFPA staff liaison
to NFPA 241, Standard for Safeguarding
Construction, Alteration, and Demolition
Operations, which outlines the steps
needed to keep construction sites safe
from fires.
Although NFPA 241 has existed for
over 80 years and is referenced in two
of NFPA's most widely used codes-
NFPA 1, Fire Code, and NFPA 101®, Life
Safety Code®-Carr said many people
remain unaware of the document or

its requirements. " When I've gotten
the opportunity to talk to stakeholders, whether they're AHJs [authorities
having jurisdiction] or contractors, their
knowledge of NFPA 241 tends to skew
towards one of two extremes-they
either have fairly detailed knowledge
of the standard or they may have never
used it, " he said. Knowledge of other
NFPA standards seems more balanced
among stakeholders, Carr added.
Carr and other building safety experts
hope an updated version of NFPA 241,
which went into effect in April, will help
make fire safety more understood and
attainable at these locations. New NFPA
training programs and other educational
resources related to fire safety in buildings under construction or renovation
could also help reduce fire incidents. On
June 22, as part of NFPA's 125th Anniversary Conference Series, a daylong
schedule of virtual educational presentations on building fire and life safety
will feature two presentations related to
construction site fire safety, including

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NFPA Journal - Summer 2021

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