Friday, November 20, 2009
ICC Retains Residential Sprinkler Requirements
By Mary Rose Roberts & Janet Wilmoth
ICC members voted during the ICC code development hearings to retain residential fire sprinkler requirements in the International Residential Code....
NIST Takes Snapshot of Station Fire
By Mary Rose Roberts
The National Institute of Standards and Technology sent two staffers to Los Angeles County to conduct a post-fire evaluation of the Station Fire....
Forest Service to Investigate Station Fire Tactics
By Mary Rose Roberts
The U.S. Forest Service will conduct an interagency review of suppression efforts used during the massive Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest in Southern California...
Factory Approved
By Keith Klassen
A rural Arizona department found a way to extend its water supply through CAFS technology and hands-on education....
National Fire Plan Made Obsolete By Urban-Sprawl, Researchers Say
By Mary Rose Roberts
Only 11% of National Fire Plan wildfire-mitigation efforts in the last five years have been performed near homes or offices...
Tenn. Chief Defends Code Stance
By Janet Wilmoth
Would a fire chief with 36 years of fire service experience, 25 of them as a fire marshal, oppose the new 2009 ICC code for residential sprinklers in his community?...
NASA Selects Fire-Suppression System for Its Twin Crawler Transporters
By Mary Rose Roberts
Fire-safety experts at NASA's Kennedy Space Center have replaced the fire-suppression systems in its giant twin crawler transporters with Stat-X....
NIST Tests Wind-Driven Firefighting Tactics
By Mary Rose Roberts
Fire engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology tested the effect of wind-driven fires and developed related firefighting tactics for use in residential and high-rise buildings....
The 'Silhouette on the Sheet' Still Haunts
By Ronny J. Coleman
Have you ever read America Burning? At one time, the report of the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control was sort of a prerequisite to bringing about change in the fire service...
Indirect Supervision
By David C. Comstock Jr.
Acts or omissions by a fire officer at an incident that ultimately cause injuries may violate firefighter civil rights....
In the Middle of Nowhere
By Craig Encinas
Creative thinking and partnerships are the key to solving rural water-supply challenges....
USFA Releases Outdoor Fires Topical Report
The U.S. Fire Administration has issued a special report examining the causes and characteristics of outdoor fires....
Code Concerns
By Mike Chiaramonte
: A Charleston task force member shares his worries over lessons lost by fire departments across the country....
Come Together
By Chris Cavette
No one department can handle all hazards. Regional response teams with specialized equipment may be the solution. ...
Why Not Ask Why?
Janet Wilmoth janet@firechief.com
However long it takes, the job of educating your community to the value of residential sprinklers should begin today. ...
That Demon Alcohol
By Greg Hayes
Battling ethanol’s hidden hazards requires preparation. ...
Monitor the Situation
By Chris Cavette
New monitor designs allow firefighters to make faster, safer and more effective attacks with a minimum number of people. ...
Arson Numbers Rising
Current economic downtown coupled with the national housing market and mortgage crisis have led to many more people intentionally setting home ablaze to collect insurance money....
Feinstein Seeks Emergency Fire Funds
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) will seek $910 million in emergency federal funding for fire suppression, hazardous fuels reduction and rehabilitation projects across the United States....
No Water? No Problem
By Chris Cavette
A variety of above- and in-ground, temporary and portable solutions can provide water when Mother Nature doesn’t. ...
To Enter or Not to Enter, That is the Question
[ Mike Chiaramonte ]
Leaders must be able to evaluate change objectively and must be willing to promote and implement that change if it’s beneficial to their departments, even if the idea might not be very popular. ...
USFA Adopts Official Position on Residential Fire Sprinklers
U.S. Fire Administrator Greg Cade announced his organization's official position that all homes should be equipped with automatic fire sprinklers. The position was announced in the "Chief's Corner" section of the USFA Web site last week....
NFPA Names Suppression, Detection Award Winners
The Fire Protection Research Foundation, an affiliate of the National Fire Protection Association, announced the winners of the William M. Carey Award....
Heat Stress
By Holger de Vries
In 2005, Germany had its first line-of-duty-deaths while using foam; here’s what they learned....
Class Act
Were the fire department and the city lulled into thinking that a “first class” department was the epitome of excellence? ...







