NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 6

NFPA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
First Word
by Jim Pauley
NFPA President
Complacency and disaster
W
hen I think of the recent
fires in New York City and
Philadelphia-blazes that
killed 31 people, including
17 children-I can't help but
think how preventable those events were.
The January 9 fire in a residential tower
in the Bronx killed 19, including nine children,
making it the second-deadliest home
fire in the US in nearly 40 years. The blaze
was blamed on a malfunctioning space
heater in a unit on a lower floor, and open
doors allowed deadly smoke to fill much of
the building. Smoke alarms sounded, but
many residents ignored them.
Just four days before the Bronx fire, a
blaze in a Philadelphia rowhouse killed 12
people, including eight children. A child
playing with a cigarette lighter was thought
to have lit a Christmas tree on fire, trapping
the occupants on the unit's two floors. There
were no operating smoke alarms, no fire
sprinklers, and no required fire escapes.
I have spent a lot of time in this column
describing the NFPA Fire & Life Safety
Ecosystem, a set of eight interconnected
elements that work together to keep people
and property safe from fire and other hazards.
In the New York and Philadelphia fires,
as in so many other deadly events, it wasn't
just one aspect of the safety ecosystem that
failed-it was multiple aspects, and those
failures had the effect of compounding the
risk for residents and intensifying the loss
when things went wrong.
6 | NFPA JOURNAL * SPRING 2022
The common thread among these events
is complacency. The reduced number of
fires over the decades has led the public
and policymakers to believe that fire is no
longer a significant risk and that tragedies
on such a scale can't happen in their
communities-until they do. It is time to
embrace and employ essential aspects of
the safety ecosystem, policies and practices
that we know work: use and enforcement
of the latest codes and standards; ensuring
first responders have the resources needed
These fires are our
latest wake-up calls.
It's time for us to shrug
off our complacency
and take steps to act.
for their all-hazards role; and making sure
that the public knows what to do before and
during emergencies. All of these objectives
are attainable, and all are essential if we
hope to prevent the kind of safety-culture
failures that we see over and over again.
The tragic fires in Philadelphia and the
Bronx are our latest wake-up calls. It's time
for us to shrug off our dangerous complacency
and take steps to act. If we don't, we
shouldn't be surprised at the news of yet
another preventable tragedy.
OFFICERS
Amy R. Acton, Chair
The Phoenix Society for
Burn Survivors, Inc.
Grand Rapids, Michigan
James Pauley, President
President and CEO, NFPA
Quincy, Massachusetts
Russell B. Leavitt, First Vice Chair
Telgian Corp.
Tempe, Arizona
R. David Paulison, Second Vice Chair
Global Emergency Solutions
Davie, Florida
John D. Bonney, Secretary
Alendi Consulting Ltd.
Ropley, United Kingdom
Donald R. Cook, Assistant Secretary
Shelby County Department of
Development Services
Pelham, Alabama
Kwame Cooper, Assistant Secretary
Los Angeles Fire Department, retired
Los Angeles, California
Roger W. Montembeault, Treasurer
The Montembeault Group, Inc.
Tampa, Florida
Michael Wallace, Assistant Treasurer
West Palm Beach, Florida
Keith E. Williams,
Immediate Past Chair
Underwriters Laboratories, retired
Northbrook, Illinois
*Sally P. Everett, Assistant Secretary
Secretary of the Corporation, NFPA
Quincy, Massachusetts
*Paul DeFronzo, Staff Officer
Chief Financial Officer, NFPA
Quincy, Massachusetts
Terms Expire 2022
Patrick J. Morrison
International Association
of Fire Fighters
Washington, DC
Teresa L. Deloach Reed
Oakland Fire Department, retired
Oakland, California
Stacy N. Welch
Marriott International
Bethesda, Maryland
Term Expires 2023
Dr. Denis Onieal
US Fire Administration,
Federal Emergency
Management Agency, retired
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Terms Expire 2024
Raj Arora
Jensen Hughes
Baltimore, Maryland
Brion Callori
FM Global
Johnston, Rhode Island
Reginald D. Freeman
Oakland Fire Department
Oakland, California
William J. Fries
Department of Defense
Washington, DC
Louis Paulson
California Professional Firefighters
Walnut Creek, California
*Not a board member
NFPA
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022

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