FEMA director gives keynote address at codes forum
“In truth, American lives are separated from a catastrophic disaster like we saw in Turkey by only the thinnest of lines and the brightest of hopes. The thin line is time. The bright hope is leadership,” observed Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director James Lee Witt at the Joint Annual Conference of the International Code Council (ICC) in September in St. Louis, Missouri. The conference and exposition were hosted by the model code organizations: Building Officials and Code Administrators International (BOCA); International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO); and Southern Building Code Congress International (SBCCI).
At the conference, Witt also signed a Project Impact–Building a Disaster Resistant Community partnership with the ICC. FEMA has spent more than $25 billion to help people repair and rebuild their communities after natural disasters and is attempting to get communities to protect themselves from the devastating effects of natural disasters. The number and severity of natural disasters have been increasing during the past decade. More than 120 Project Impact communities and more than 1,000 businesses have joined as Project Impact partners.
Witt identified strong building codes as “our first line of attack in prevention” and code officials as “our front-line soldiers in Project Impact.”
“FEMA,” Witt told Conference attendees, “has made prevention the focus of emergency management in the United States, and we believe strong, rigorously enforced building codes are central to that effort.”
With regard to Project Impact, Witt pointed out that in the more than 120 Project Impact communities, “the federal government, local businesses, and communities are partners in ending the incentives to build in flood plains, helping to retrofit homes and businesses to withstand the next disaster, and encouraging communities to work hand in hand with the environment.”
Acknowledging that “code adoption is a local prerogative and code enforcement is a local responsibility,” Witt said FEMA “stands ready to be the locality`s partner.” He cited examples of the ways in which codes have been adopted to protect against the damages caused by natural disasters. In Freeport, New York, for example, building codes now require that hurricane straps be used to make the village`s houses more hurricane resistant. In Wilmington and New Hanover County, North Carolina, newly adopted residential building codes require that new construction in beach areas be built two feet above the base flood elevation. In Salt Lake City, Utah, a recently passed $136 million bond measure will allow local schools to be built to Uniform Building Code Seismic Level 4 instead of the currently required Seismic Level 3.
Referring to the tragic earthquake in Turkey, Witt noted that that country`s seismic code is “actually comparable to our own.” Lax enforcement appeared to be the problem there, he said, “especially during the latest building boom around Istanbul.” Buildings that collapsed, Witt added, “are showing rampant signs of code violations. In some cases, additional stories were apparently added on without the necessary permits or engineering.” The calls for quick and affordable construction to handle the boom in Turkey, Witt pointed out, were sounded in America as well–in South Florida before Hurricane Andrew struck. “These catastrophes are urgent warnings that we cannot–we must not–allow code officials to be bullied by those who would make a quick buck by constructing accidents waiting to happen,” he warned.
He promised FEMA`s support of the ICC`s work to develop a single code that, FEMA believes, will improve compliance, result in better construction, and prevent losses during natural disasters. Included in this support is funding to the ICC to develop and implement a certification program for local code officials. Witt also called on the insurance industry to recognize this certification program as part of its Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule program and to make code official certification a consideration in awarding rate breaks to communities.
