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National AssOCIATION OF State Fire Marshals

A strong united voice for fire prevention

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Carbon Monoxide Awareness Month Toolkit

We invite you to use the below toolkit to help spread the word about Carbon Monoxide Awareness Month & GivingTuesday. The toolkit has social media posts (text and images) for every day in November through GivingTuesday on December 3. When you share on social media, please use the hashtag #COAwarenessMonth. The toolkit also has emails that you can use to send to your family, friends, colleagues, customers, and anyone else that you want to stay CO Safe!

Thank you for joining the fight for carbon monoxide safety.


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Retired State Fire Marshal Installs Fire Sprinklers in His Home

Living Life.... Still Setting Examples!

Retired Maryland State Fire Marshal Brian Geraci, a long-time advocate for fire safety, recently took his commitment to fire prevention a step further by installing a code-compliant fire sprinkler system in his Florida home. Having served in Maryland, a state that requires all new homes to be equipped with fire sprinklers, Chief Geraci has been at the forefront of promoting residential fire sprinkler adoption statewide. His efforts in Maryland were instrumental in making the state a leader in fire safety and prevention.

Throughout his distinguished 50-year career in the fire service, Chief Geraci has seen the devastating impact of fire firsthand, with many lives lost in preventable fires. His advocacy was crucial in Maryland's decision to mandate sprinklers in all new residential construction, a policy that has significantly reduced fire-related fatalities and injuries across the state. Chief Geraci’s dedication to fire safety has not only influenced policy but has also inspired many in the fire service community.

Chief Geraci's contributions have been widely recognized; he was named the AFSA Sprinkler Advocate of 2020 and received the Public Fire Safety Leadership Award from the NFSA in 2023. His recent decision to install a sprinkler system in his Florida home reflects his ongoing commitment to fire safety, even in retirement. The system, installed by Wayne Automatic Fire Sprinkler Company, features a pump and tank setup and was completed in just three days using concealed heads supplied by Reliable Sprinkler.

Chief Geraci’s leadership and tireless advocacy continue to be a testament to his belief that every home should be equipped with fire sprinklers to protect lives and property. His efforts in Maryland serve as a model for other states, demonstrating the profound impact of adopting fire sprinklers in residential buildings statewide.

     


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NEW! July 28, 2024

White Paper on Classroom Door Security & Locking Hardware  Updated Position  

The ability to protect students, teachers, and administrators from threatening situations is a high priority in all educational institutions. Many schools, school districts, colleges, and universities have taken measures to address this pressing concern of safety of occupants in schools, and especially classrooms. While protection against active shooters and violent events is a main concern, bullying and other affronts to personal safety also occur. Occupants of schools, including after-hours occupants, should be provided with a safe and secure educational environment.

Some of the proposed or implemented solutions specifically affecting classroom doors, while well intended, may compromise aspects of life safety while attempting to address security. For example, a barricade device or security lock that cannot be opened from the outside may create an environment for abuse. In addition to the demand to protect students and teachers from outside-the-classroom threats, classroom doors are required to comply with other life safety and accessibility provisions.

Click on the Link above for more info. 


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NASFM 34th Annual Fire Prevention & Safety Symposium, Kansas City, Missouri


NASFM Online Training Results in Textbook CO2 Pipeline Response!

Congratulations to Calcasieu Parish’s Ward Six Fire Protection District No. 1 and Houston River Fire Department for conducting a textbook response to a carbon dioxide (CO2) release near Sulphur, LA. Special recognition goes out to Chief Todd Parker, who had recently completed NASFM online pipeline emergency response training and served as Incident Commander. Their actions, in line with industry and NASFM emergency response practices, included:

- Identifying the source of the release;

- Determining the pipeline operator’s phone number and called with the proper information;

- Establishing a 330-foot perimeter (in accordance with PHMSA’s Emergency Response Guidebook) and closed the road;

- Setting up an on-scene command post;

- Conducting air monitoring; and

- Using the proper personal protection equipment (PPE).

No injuries or significant impacts were reported from the release.

Along with working to prevent incidents, pipeline operators work with NASFM to help prepare first responders to manage pipeline emergencies. Prior to the incident, Denbury provided parish emergency response officials and area fire departments with information related to its assets, the characteristics of CO2, the behavior of a CO2 release and a checklist of the initial steps of incident response.

The company also provided information on NASFM’s Pipeline Emergencies “textbook” (Pipeline Emergencies), NASFM’s emergency response online training modules (NASFM Training) and the ExxonMobil Pipeline Company tank and liquids pipeline emergency training (TEEX Overview) it offers to firefighters along its routes.

NASFM continues to work to bring industry and firefighters together to be better prepared and to help keep our communities safe.



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Announcing the newly formed NASFM PIO-Network

As part of the NASFM Strategic Plan, in May we launched a new program called NASFM PIO-Network or PIO-NET for short. The invitation announcement was made available for all state fire marshals who had a dedicated PIO / Marketing / CRR to participate. This group will work together to help NASFM in national media campaigns, serve as peers to other states, assist states that lack similar resources, and to coordinate media on a larger scale. The second meeting was held in mid-June with several states participating.  One goal was to identify who had PIO / Marketing /CRR staff that would participate. Secondly, highlight the efforts of one State Fire Marshal’s Office each month in the newsletter.

If you or one of your team members would like to participate, please contact Gary West at Gary@browning.red to be added to the monthly one-hour Google call. Meeting is held on the Third Wednesday each month at 2pm Eastern / 1pm Central. 

New Fire Resource Guide

The National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) is proud to present a resource guide on residential fire sprinklers for code officials, builders, developers, and elected officials. The information serves as a source to ensure life safety concerns meet at least the minimum code requirements, regardless of whether residential fire sprinkler systems are required in their jurisdiction or not.   

Residential Sprinkler Design Enhancements, A Resource Guide for AHJ’s, Builders, Developers, and Elected Officials” was compiled by the National Association of State Fire Marshals, Model Codes Committee, Sub-Committee on Code Amendments Related to Sprinklers. 

By clearly identifying all design enhancements allowed when residential sprinkler systems are installed, AHJ’s will be able to ensure that when residential occupancies are constructed without residential sprinkler systems these design enhancements are not allowed. This approach will help ensure that all residential occupancies in their jurisdiction are code compliant, regardless of whether a sprinkler system is installed at the time of construction or not.

The intent is to identify design and construction protection features that require consideration to maintain an acceptable level of safety in one- and two-family dwellings where amendments or deletions have modified provisions of the codes.  The purpose is to alert code officials, building design and construction professionals, and regulatory authorities and highlight the required alternative designs where the requirement for installation of automatic sprinkler protection has been removed.

This guide deals exclusively with design enhancement options found in the 2021 Edition of the International Residential Code (IRC), as well as certain special allowances that are provided in the 2021 Edition of the International Fire Code (IFC) and the International Building Code (IBC), all of which are published by the International Code Council (ICC).

If you have questions or need assistance in referencing this resource, please feel free to contact Phil Oakes (phil@browning.red) or Gary West (gary@browning.red) at the National Association of State Fire Marshals.

For a copy of the guide click here


NASFM works with the Safer Buildings Coalition on the Complete ERCES Handbook