NEWS IN BRIEF
NFPA rewrites standard
The National Fire Protection Association is rewriting NFPA 14, Standard for the Installation of Standpipe and Hose Systems, 1990 edition, to make it user-friendly and adoptable. The Technical Committee on Standpipes requests input from fire service personnel who use this equipment. Send comments to: Walter A. Damon, P.E., Schirmcr Engineering Corporation, 707 lake Cook Road, Deerfield, 11. 60015-8340, (708) 272-8340. The deadline for comments is March 15.
Affordability of residential sprinklers
The study “Residential Fire Sprinklers Retrofit Demonstration Project — Phase Two: Single-Family Residences,” released at the end of this past year, “reinforces the affordability of retrofitting residential sprinklers and provides practical information on how to do it,” according to Olin L Greene, administrator of the U.S. Fire Administration.
The study is the product of a research partnership between the USFA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the National Association of Home Builders National Research Center. Phase Two involved putting fire sprinklers in already existing single-family structures in various parts of Colorado, Washington, Florida, and Ohio. (Phase One dealt with sprinkler installation in existing multifamily buildings in lowand moderate-income neighborhoods.)
The study identifies technical and administrative constraints affecting such retrofitting and offers technical information to local fire departments and other public and private organizations. It high lights the economic benefits to building owners of installing fire sprinkler systems, including property insurance discounts, reduced property damage costs, and improved marketability.
For copies of the study, write USFA, FEMA P.O. Box 70274, Washington, DC 20024. Specify Phase One (FA-90) or Phase Two (FA-96).
Fire safety house opens
The Chicago (IE) Fire Department recently opened the “Survive Alive” House to provide hands-on fire safety training to children and senior citizens—two groups who are traditionally the most at risk of dying in a house fire. “Kids usually hide under the bed or in a closet during a fire. We want to teach them how to get out of the house safely,” says Frank Jacobson, a paramedic officer and a member of the public education unit of the Chicago Fire Department. The unit conducts fire safety programs in schools but wants to give kids practical experience, he adds.
The target group is grades 2 through 5. The house can accommodate 105 kids a day —three groups of 33. Each program, which runs a little more than an hour, begins with a video showing such safe behaviors as having an escape plan, knowing two ways out, testing the door to see if it’s hot, and crawling under the smoke.
Then the kids move on to the house, which consists of two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. A smoke machine fills the room with smoke and a smoke detector sounds. A fire safety instructor shows the kids how to escape safely, go to a neighbor, or go outside and call 911. When they call 911a phone actually rings in the control room and an instructor takes dow n the information concerning the fire.
After the exercise another film reinforces correct behavior during a fire. A firefighter in full gear teaches the children not to fear firefighters dressed that way. Each kid receives a packet of literature, a coloring book, and a homework assignment to complete and bring back to school. Teachers are then asked to evaluate the program.
Little city money was spent on the house, according to Jacobson. Instead, the Survive Alive House Foundation, made up of various area businesses, contributed funds and raised others. Major contributors include Morse Diesel International, McDonald’s, and Allstate.
The house is currently booked solid. Jacobson estimates it will accommodate 21,000 students during the school year and an additional 3,000 in the summer. Plans for the future include installing a door that turns hot and cold, obtaining through a donation a portable house on a trailer, and teaching a group of children in wheelchairs (the house is wheelchair-accessible).
Grants for local preparedness
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has selected 11 public organizations to share SI00,000 in its Challenge Grant Program. The grants are to encourage the flow of disaster response and recovery information to the public.
“We are providing funds that will be matched by state and local government organizations to explore new and creative wavs of communicating civil defense information to the public,” says Wallace E. Stickney, director of FEMA. The winners are:
- The Puerto Rico Civil Defense Agency in San Juan, Puerto Rico for hurricane preparedness.
- The New York State Emergency Communications Committee of Wayntskill, New York for a public awareness campaign on the Emergency Broadcast System.
- The Department of Development in Huntington, Cabell, and Wayne counties, West Virginia for the program “Emergency! What You Should Do!”
- The Office of Community Development in Thomasville, Georgia for “An Effective Emergency Preparedness Public Information Strategy.”
- Southern Illinois University in jCarbondale for “Earthquake Preparedness Guide for Households.”
- The New Orleans, Louisiana Police Department for an emergency
- preparedness video program.
- The Bismark/Burleigh County Office of Emergency Management in North Dakota for “Public Information “on Emergency Management.”
- The City and County of San Francisco, California for its Post-Disaster Public Information Program for NonEnglish Speaking Populations.
- The International Institute of East Bay Project for Assistance to Victims of the Earthquake in Oakland, California for multilingual earthquake preparedness materials.
- The Alaska Division of Emergency Services in Wasilla for “Volcano Public Information.”
- The American Red Cross, Disaster Services Division in Washington, D C. for conducting disaster education activities.
Home fire safety program
“Working Together for Home Fire Safety” is a program developed by the U.S. Fire Administration designed to teach business and industry employees how to protect their homes and families from fire. Display posters, public service announcements, feature articles, and mail inserts discuss such home safety topics as the need for working smoke detectors and the benefits of home sprinklers.
Lightweight wood truss legislation
On December 11. 1990 the City of Glen Cove, New York ratified an amendment to its building code designed to reduce the life hazard to emergency responders and building occupants posed by lightweight wood truss construction under fire conditions. Section 26.23 of the Code of Ordinance states:
“(1) All new or modified constructions utilizing prefabricated support structures consisting of wood truss members with steel plate connectors used in floor-ceiling assemblies* shall require that formal notification be given to the City Building Department Administrator, Glen Cove Fire Department Chief and the Chief of the Glen Cove Police Department. Said notification shall be written and shall require, in addition to formal notice, one ( 1) set of building plans indicating the location, number and composition of each such truss including the hardware used therein. Said construction shall conform to all code standards as required by the Building Code of New York.
“(2) Wherever wood truss members with steel plate connectors are utilized said constructions shall be equipped with a sprinkler system (which sprays both up and down)** in all voids and attic spaces in accordance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, Section 4-3 7 and 4-4.4.”
(Editor’s notes: Though it was not worded as such, to my knowledge the language of the code will be changed to include both floor-ceiling truss assemblies and roof truss assemblies.
**The intent of “up and down” is for sprinklers to be placed both in the attic void/floor-ceiling void and below into rooms on the floor below the truss.)
