NFPA Journal - Fall 2022 - 10

Dispatches
Accomplishing this may be easier
said than done. According to the NFPA
staffers tasked with raising awareness
of NFPA and its resources among
policymakers across the country, past
efforts to get buy-in on NFPA 3000 haven't
gone very far.
" We haven't gotten a lot of traction
yet, " said Meghan Housewright,
director of the NFPA Fire & Life Safety
Policy Institute. " There are a lot of
competing interests in Washington
and state capitals, so it will take more
than just a good message to get people's
attention. "
Seth Statler, director of government
affairs at NFPA, wants to find communities
or states that have demonstrated
a successful active shooter preparation,
response, or recovery process guided by
NFPA 3000 and use those experiences
to convince other leaders to do the
same. " We have more success promoting
wildfire preparedness when we can
point to Firewise USA® communities
that have fared better during an incident, "
Statler said. " So if we can point
to a specific community and say, 'They
are better prepared because of NFPA
3000,' that could go a long way. "
GA and MA lead the way
In at least two states-Georgia and
Massachusetts-promising efforts
guided by NFPA 3000 are underway to
enhance active shooter preparedness.
Augusta, a city of about 200,000, sits
on the eastern edge of Georgia, near the
South Carolina border. It's best known
as the home of Augusta National, the
golf club that hosts the Masters tournament
each year. But it's also the site of
one of the largest efforts in the nation
to employ NFPA 3000.
In January 2020, officials in Augusta
embarked on a large-scale, citywide
initiative to build active shooter and
hostile event preparedness using NFPA
3000. A few months later, the pandemic
disrupted those efforts. But now, with
the pandemic easing and high-profile
mass shootings back in the news on a
regular basis, officials are ready to get
things going again.
The initiative, known as the
Augusta Project, aims to not only
10 | NFPA JOURNAL * FALL 2022
prepare Augusta's first responders for
these events, but also officials from
the city's major health care facilities,
educational institutions, businesses,
churches, and more.
" In the past, people might have
done a project like this and thought
we only need to invite first responders,
but that's not what 'whole
community' means, " John Ryan,
coordinator of the Office of Critical
Event Preparedness and Response at
Augusta University, told NFPA Journal
when the initiative was launched in
2020. " Whole community means invite
the business owner, the baker, the
" The question is, how can we
get to the commissioners,
the mayors, the city managers,
the lawmakers, the ones in
front of the mics. "
people from church, the school administrator.
Everyone has a role to play
in trying to prevent these events from
happening, preparing for them and
then, if they do happen, responding
to them and recovering from them. "
(Read more about the Augusta Project
at nfpa.org/augusta.)
Similar efforts are underway
in Massachusetts. New England's
most populous state has a history of
involvement with NFPA 3000; when
the standard was first released in
2018, several prominent Massachusetts
leaders, including Governor
Charlie Baker, attended an event to
mark the occasion at NFPA headquarters
in Quincy, Massachusetts.
" Massachusetts is no stranger to
acts of violence, " then Secretary of
Public Safety and Security Daniel Bennett
said at the event. " School officials
and first responders need coordinated
training and tools to reduce the likelihood
of such events and to be able
to respond in a coordinated approach
when needed to minimize harm. "
Since then, a number of public safety
departments and communities across the
state have started using NFPA 3000 to
guide their active shooter preparedness.
In response to the Uvalde shooting, for
example, officials in Wakefield, just north
of Boston, released a statement assuring
residents of the town's preparedness for
active shooter and other hostile events.
" As a result of continuous education and
training, inter-department partnerships,
and improved technology, it is our opinion
that our public safety personnel are
well trained to respond to such tragic
incidents, though we all hope it's never
needed, " the town said, adding that its
training has been based on NFPA 3000.
Massachusetts doesn't have a coordinated,
statewide approach to active
shooter preparedness using NFPA 3000,
but that may not be the case for long if
a bill currently making its way through
the state legislature is signed into law.
The bill, introduced by State Senator
Patrick O'Connor last year, would
require the state's Executive Office of
Public Safety and Security to use NFPA
3000 " as the standard guideline for
active shooter or hostile event situations
in the Commonwealth, " according
to a copy of the bill.
At press time, it was unclear whether
the bill would pass the Senate and the
House and then get signed into law
before the legislative session's close on
July 31. If the measure is not signed
into law by that date, it will have to be
resubmitted in January 2023.
" It is clear that we must do more to
prepare for these high-stakes events, "
O'Connor told NFPA Journal in July.
" NFPA 3000 provides a proven way
to better prepare those who may be
in a leadership position during these
situations-first responders, public
safety officials-and it is why I filed the
legislation. "
O'Connor said the recent shootings
in Uvalde, Buffalo, Highland Park, and
elsewhere have renewed the sense of
urgency behind getting the bill passed.
" Our goal is to be as prepared as possible
in case of a hostile situation, and I
believe that implementing NFPA 3000
will improve our training and keep
people safe, " he said.
http://www.nfpa.org/augusta
NFPA Journal - Fall 2022

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