NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 20

Dispatches
One example: In August, US Senators Chris Van
Hollen and Ben Cardin, Democrats from Maryland,
introduced the Fire Station Construction Grants Act.
This legislation, along with its mirror presented in
the House, would create a $1 billion grants program
devoted to the modernization and improvement of
new and existing facilities. Much of the bill's background
is based in research produced by NFPA, in
this case the needs assessment survey and subsequent
reports, which are produced every five years. While
the bill has a long way to go and likely faces amendments,
its introduction is a promising indicator that
legislators are willing to acknowledge the needs of fire
departments nationwide. In my view, the more detailrich
data we receive from you, the more effective we
can be in presenting compelling trends and information
to lawmakers like Sens. Van Hollen and Cardin.
Boosting our survey response rates doesn't fall
exclusively on you-it's just as important that we
make the process easier and adjust our methods
appropriately. My job, as I settle into this new role, is
to make the FES and the needs assessment the best
they can be, while making sure the statistical analysis
in the background is as robust as possible. Getting it
right will take some time, but you can expect to see a
few changes in our upcoming surveys. We'll be experimenting
with the mix of mailed surveys, reminder
emails, and online access. We realize that fire departments
don't all have the same resources to respond to
our questions, so our hope is to find a workable balance
between filling out physical surveys and doing it
online. For this upcoming FES, you can expect more
physical surveys and reminders. In a review of our
survey late last year, fire departments mentioned
that additional reminders would be helpful since
mail may be set aside, or a survey may be sitting on
a desk somewhere, half filled out. This is in line with
survey research showing follow-ups can help improve
response rates. In addition to reminders, we'll be
taking a new look at the format of the survey and the
questions we include. As we adjust our surveys, we
will also identify new avenues of research and data as
well as those that might be outdated. We will solicit
your input on questions or topics you want to see
included in our surveys and future analyses.
If I could write a personal thank you note to
every one of you who has taken the time to fill out
the NFPA surveys, I would. Instead, I'll simply say
it here: thank you. I look forward to our long and
productive partnership.
Shelby Hall is fire analysis research manager
at NFPA.
20 | NFPA JOURNAL * WINTER 2022
A delivery person on an
e-bike in Manhattan. The
recent proliferation of
e-bikes and e-scooters in
New York City has resulted
in a spike in the number of
fires involving the devices.
BATTERY HAZARDS
'YOU NEED TO
BE READY'
FDNY-HOSTED EVENT UNDERSCORES
THE URGENCY FOR CONTINUED
GUIDANCE ON E-BIKE FIRE HAZARDS
By Jesse Roman
N
ew York City is at the epicenter of
the growing hazard around e-bike
and e-scooter battery fires, a threat
described in the previous issue of
NFPA Journal ( " Full Throttle, " Fall
2022). A recent event hosted by the New York
City Fire Department (FDNY) brought together
SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Winter 2022
