Earlier this week, the Electrical Code Coalition (ECC) launched its new website. As unified codes and standards improve electrical safety by providing consistent requirements across jurisdictions, the Coalition is committed to NFPA 70®, the National Electrical Code® (NEC®) adoption throughout the United States. The website aims to assist in direct and full adoption, application and uniform enforcement of the latest edition of the NEC. It offers a free "Adoption Support Kit," as well as access to free read-only versions of the NEC and other National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes and standards . In addition, an interactive map tracks NEC... Continue reading

Thomas Lawson Tonya Hoover During the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo, earlier this week in Chicago, Board of Directors’ members were elected and re-elected. Among the current 23 members, Philip C. Stittleburg of La Farge, Wis., has been re-elected as board chair; Ernest J. Grant of Chapel Hill, N.C., has been re-elected to the board as first vice chair; Philip J. DiNenno of Baltimore, Md., has been re-elected as second vice chair; Randolph W. Tucker of The Woodlands, Texas, has been re-elected as secretary; and H. Wayne Boyd, of Sacramento, Calif., has been re-elected as treasurer. New members elected to... Continue reading

Tom Massabrook with Edwards representative Paul Stoupa Congratulations to Tom Massabrook from Princeton, N.J. on winning yesterday’s grand prize giveaway! Tom won $1,000 cash by attending the NFPA Conference & Expo and dropping his completed grand prize ballot off at... Continue reading

A Chicago fireman climbs a ladder to one of the second floor classrooms. (Photo courtesy www.olafire.com) Aside from the Great Chicago Fire, there have been other significant (in terms of loss and safety code issues) fires in the Windy City... Continue reading

Grilling is one of the many hallmarks of summer, and there are few activities more enjoyable than gathering with friends and family to collectively soak in the sunshine over burgers (veggie or otherwise). However, as June and July are popular months for grilling, they are also the peak months for grilling fires. Grilling was involved in over 8,000 fires between 2006 and 2010, with the majority of these caused by gas grills, according to a 2012 NFPA report on cooking fires. In anticipation of Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer, NFPA is reminding grillers to be safe. Propane and... Continue reading

As we start to look ahead at the upcoming summer months, we can take a note from our friends Down Under. Australia’s summer (our winter) was particularly brutal this year. The spring Firewise How To newsletter looks examines the extraordinary fire conditions brought on by dry, windy, and sometimes over... Continue reading

Everyone once in a while, most of us roam beyond the confines of our homes and offices and out into the world. NFPA's mascot, Sparky the Fire Dog is asking you to bring him along with Flat Sparky. These paper cutouts can be colored in, photographed and posted at Sparky's Facebook or Twitter (@Sparky_Fire_Dog), or by tagging NFPA on Pinterest. Bring Sparky with you to show off your favorite restaurants, parks, bookstores, modern art installations or just a great view. Download, cut out, color in, and wander freely with Sparky by clicking here. Happy travels! Continue reading

Everyone once in a while, most of us roam beyond the confines of our homes and offices and out into the world. NFPA's mascot, Sparky the Fire Dog is asking you to bring him along with Flat Sparky. These paper cutouts can be colored in, photographed and posted at Sparky's... Continue reading

The Texas A&M Forest Service has released a report on the state’s 2011 fire season. The report is easy-to-read, and focuses on the common factors in home destruction and survival. By breaking down the long-term and immediate impacts of development in wildfire-prone areas and documenting home losses and “saves,” it... Continue reading

Chicago has had its share of tragic, large-scale fires (e.g. The Great Chicago Fire, The Iroquois Theater Fire, Our Lady of the Angels School Fire, The La Salle Hotel Fire). Fortunately for Chicago, it’s had a fire department since 1832.... Continue reading

Explaining the behavior of wildfire, and the importance of its prevention, can be complicated on the best day. Explaining it to kids is a whole different process. In the Spring Firewise How To newsletter, Jennifer Turner, certified environmental educator in Kentucky’s Division of Forestry, developed a game to help children... Continue reading

NFPA’s fire safety video, “Be Rabbit Ready: Have Two Ways Out!” has won a 2013 Bronze Remi Award from the Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival. The video competed in the Safety/ First Aid category. Included in the DVD are Sparky the Fire Dog’s various efforts to encourage fire safety in kids. A list of things that rabbits are truly terrible at is contrasted with their consistent two ways out. Conversations with kids on the street and a music video round out this silly and serious 10-minute film. A young girl even breaks out her family’s fire escape plan on her iPad.... Continue reading

Each year, NFPA partners with U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) to sponsor senior fire officer fellowships to the Harvard University Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program. This program lasts for three weeks in the summer on Harvard University’s Cambridge Mass. campus. It aims to ensure public officials are well-equipped to be effective public leaders. In- and out-of-classroom learning experiences help further this goal. Congratulations to the 2013 awardees! Joel Baker, Deputy Chief, City of Atlanta Fire-Rescue Department Phil Eagleson,... Continue reading

A new training program has been announced for fire officers and others serving in a supervisory capacity during fire operations. The Company Officers Responsibility for Incident Safety (CORFIS) program is two and a half hours long, and assists in the understanding of NFPA 1561, Standard for Emergency Services Incident Management, and NFPA 1521, Standard for Fire Department Safety Officer. NFPA and the Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA) of Ashland, Massachusetts have teamed up to promote this training, which offers guidance to a company officer in the initial stages of a fire incident. The program will be offered to the... Continue reading

NFPA’ s new report on home fires finds that seven people die each day, on average, in U.S. home fires. Cooking remains the most prevalent cause of home fires, with older adults the age group most likely to die in home fires. The report, which uses five-year averages (in this case, from 2007-2011), showed that one-quarter of home fire deaths occur in the bedroom, the same amount as fires in the family room, living room or den. Home fire deaths from fires in which no smoke alarms were present, or in which smoke alarms were present but did not operate,... Continue reading

In the newest issue of the Firewise How To newsletter, we highlight the fire mitigation efforts of Horseshoe Lake, Alaska, and the work that it has done as a Firewise community since 2006. The first Alaskan Firewise Community, Horseshoe Lake was heavily impacted by the 1996 Miller’s Reach Fire, prompting... Continue reading

NFPA has announced its theme for 2013 Fire Prevention Week: Prevent Kitchen Fires. Cooking is the number one cause of home fires, and a significant contributor to home fires deaths. From October 6-12, we’ll be highlighting the dangers of unattended cooking and risky kitchen habits. This theme announcement coincides with the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis, which is attended by thousands of firefighters from around the world. NFPA has a booth at FDIC, and conference attendees are welcome to view new campaign materials. Sparky is always a prominent FPW fixture, and he’ll be promoting Sparky’s Wish List again... Continue reading

The 2013 annual Metropolitan (Metro) Fire Chiefs Association conference, in Phoenix, took place April 5-11. Along with naming board members, the Metro Chiefs bestowed the 2013 Metro awards. 2013 Metropolitan Fire Chief’s award winners: CFO Peter Holland (Left); Chief Keith Richter Congratulations to all the recipients! Chief Keith Richter, of the Orange County, California, Fire Authority was named Fire Chief of the Year; Chief Peter Holland, Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, UK Government, received the Lifetime Achievement Award; and, Vicki Lee, Program Manager, International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC); Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, Assistant to the General President of the International... Continue reading

NFPA has just released the most recent report on the Total Cost of Fire in the United States. It finds that the cost of fire in 2010 is 38 percent higher than in 1980, at about $328 billion. However, the proportion of U.S. GDP has lessened by one-third, to 2.2 percent. Among other things, the report finds that, although the core total cost of fire has increased by 45 percent since 1980 to total $108.4 billion, the economic loss due to fire decreased by 29 percent, totaling $14.8 billion. Also, human losses were estimated at $31.9 billion. For the full... Continue reading

Metro Fire Chiefs Executive Board at the Phoenix Biltmore Hotel The 2013 annual Metropolitan (Metro) Fire Chiefs Association conference took place in Phoenix, Arizona, April 5-11. About 110 Metro chiefs from Canada, China, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States attended. They elected new officers and board members, along with bestowing the 2013 Metro Awards. The conference’s educational program included an update on the national drug shortage, an overview of the National Fallen Fire Fighters behavioral health and vulnerability study, a presentation on social media, as well as progress reports from the First Responder Network Authority Board (FirstNet), Underwriters... Continue reading

This week’s blog is brought to you in two parts: part one is an event and part two is one of the many iconic films set in Chicago. Their common thread is blues music, and admittedly, that takes all the... Continue reading

Since wildfires bring such dire consequences and logistical problems, safety-conscious residents who choose to live in wildfire-prone areas can be a little bewildering. Of course, there are many reasons that people live in areas where brush, grass and forest fires can and do occur; this, honestly, is nearly everywhere in... Continue reading

NFPA’s Authenticity Program has just been launched. Using an Authenticity Stamp (an example of which is pictured to the right), users and customers can make sure that digital copies of NFPA documents have not been altered in any way. This stamp will appear on the digital copies each time codes are downloaded from NFPA. The stamp contains a customer’s identification number and is a link to a verification database. When the link is clicked, the document will be verified by sending the user to a website that displays customer and code information. If the document does not have the Authenticity... Continue reading

A big concern that homeowners often express is that being Firewise might mean getting rid of all of the trees on their properties. Fortunately, there are quite a few things to do that make trees and homes safer that do not involve mass deforestation. In some cases, simply removing overhanging... Continue reading

Aside from merely being a cultural and travel hub, Chicago contains some fascinating landmarks. I call them landmarks… it’s actually a road and two buildings, which are fascinating! The world's longest continuous street is Chicago's Western Avenue. It’s 27.38 miles... Continue reading