Chicago, IL – The North Maine Fire Protection District, serving approximately 30,000 residents in unincorporated Cook County in Maine Township (a suburban area northwest of Chicago) has adopted the 2003 editions of NFPA 1, Uniform Fire Code(tm) (UFC) and NFPA 101(r), Life Safety Code(r), the 2002 edition of NFPA 72(r), National Fire Alarm Code(r), and the 2002 edition of NFPA 13, Standard for Installation of Sprinkler Systems, as part of the district’s Fire Prevention Codes. The district also has chosen to reference a chapter of NFPA 5000(r), Building Construction and Safety Code(r). The new codes became effective on August 19, 2004.
“The safety of our citizens is our biggest priority, and we feel that these codes are the best choice to ensure that safety,” said Arnold Witzke, fire marshal of the North Maine Fire Protection District. “NFPA codes are the most comprehensive available, and the newly adopted codes will do the most to protect our community. These codes and ordinances could not have been adopted without the support of Robert S. Batey, fire chief of the North Maine Fire Department, the board of trustees and the support of the firefighters of the Department.”
The NFPA codes and standards, which are already widely used across the United States, will protect residents and their property in new and existing buildings. NFPA 1, UFC, provides requirements necessary to establish a reasonable level of fire safety and property protection from hazards created by fire and explosion. NFPA’s Life Safety Code, used in all 50 states, mandates building design construction, operation, and maintenance requirements to protect building occupants from the dangers caused by fire, smoke, and toxic fumes.
The other NFPA documents adopted by the district regulate equipment used for fire prevention as a whole. NFPA 72(r), National Fire Alarm Code(r), deals with the application, installation, performance, and maintenance of protective signaling systems, such as fire alarms and their components. NFPA 13, Standard for Installation of Sprinkler Systems, covers the minimum requirements for the design and installation of automatic and exposure protection sprinkler systems. The North Maine Fire Protection District will also rely on safety provisions for the use of standpipe systems, in NFPA 5000(r), Building Construction and Safety Code(r).
All the adopted NFPA codes and standards are part of a full set of codes for the built environment, developed by NFPA and its partners. The Comprehensive Consensus Codes(r) (C3) represents the only full set of construction-codes that have been developed through processes accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), a private, nonprofit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system.
For more information, visit www.nfpa.org.
