NFPA Ambulance Standard Approved

The National Fire Protection Association announced April 27, 2011 that NFPA 1917: Standard for Automotive Ambulances had been approved by vote of the Technical Committee that worked to develop the standard for the past two years. Fire Engineering’s EMS editor, Mike McEvoy, has been a member of the committee since its inception, representing New York State EMS. A list of committee members and copies of the proceedings can be viewed at www.nfpa.org/1917. While attempting to construct the final document using the draft and subsequent changes would be an arduous task, the ballot of changes approved by the committee is available as is the original draft circulated for public comment in late 2010. If no significant challenges to the draft standard are made, it will be approved by NFPA in June this year and become effective for ambulances manufactured after January 1, 2012. Some of the significant changes to the original draft were outlined in McEvoy’s Fire Engineering Blog Post, NFPA 1917: The Ambulance Is Enroute. Once effective, the federal government is expected to cease publication of their KKK purchasing specification for ambulances.