Georgia Fire Sprinkler Association P.O. Box 661 Grayson, GA 30017

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1 Georgia Fire Sprinkler Association P.O. Box 661 Grayson, GA GENERAL MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, September 12, 2006 The September meeting was held at the Marriott Perimeter Center at 10:30 am, on Tuesday, September 12, Bobby McCullough opened the meeting with prayer and welcomed guests Steve Muncy with the AFSA, Ed Davis with Morristown Sprinkler in Knoxville, TN and Doug Brown with Southeast Fire Control. Approval of Minutes: The meeting minutes from the August meeting had been previously ed to the membership and were available at the welcome table. They were accepted. Treasurer s Report: John Pahr. The checking account balance was $13, Executive Director s Report: Billy Wood was not present due to his wife s illness. Betty has been doing very well but is now back in the hospital and Billy asked for the membership's prayers and thoughts. Billy represented the GFSA at the recent review of the State's proposed revisions to the Rules and Regulations A discussion followed regarding the State's adoption or deletion of NFPA 170, specifically targeting the international version of the FDC sign. Billy and Randy Main with Atlanta Sprinkler attended the North Georgia Regional Commissioner's meeting in August and used the sprinkler demonstration trailer to validate the installation of residential fire sprinkler systems. Tim Satterfield gave a brief report of the day s events, describing the difficulties of fire fighting in the local terrain. The goal for the four counties participating is to come up with a hillside, mountain side and lakeside ordinance which would make it mandatory for any new structure built to be fully sprinklered. Georgia State Fire Marshal: Assistant State Fire Marshal Dwayne Garriss: The State received two proposals regarding the inspection tags. First would be to remove the requirements to list the non-compliance issues on the tags, and second, to change the wording to say system impairments are listed on the inspection report. These will be taken before the committee on September 20th. Dwayne asked the GFSA to let him know if there is anything which needs to be clarified regarding how an NFPA 25 inspection is to be done. The 2007 NFPA 13 is scheduled to be out in print in October. The State will have approximately one week to adopt this standard in this cycle or wait until next year and hold additional hearings. The GFSA voted to recommend waiting to allow everyone time to look into the new standard. Dwayne added the State is in the early stages of developing a photo identification system for all fire sprinkler inspectors. Codes and Standards: Harry Alexander: Forsyth County has an ordinance published September 12, 2005 which limits the installation of underground water lines to a State licensed utility contractor. This contrasts with the State Rules and Regulations which allow a licensed fire sprinkler contractor to install underground supplying fire sprinkler systems. If the ordinance does not modify a State code, this process does not apply; however if Forsyth County modified a State minimum code there is a detailed process required by the DCA. 1 of 6 Sprinkler Systems Save Lives and Protect Property

2 Codes and Standards: (continued) Cobb County is requiring a 0.45 density and sprinklers under the obstructions created by the accessories in the play area at a McDonalds food service restaurant. Cobb County is also using a new stamp on reviewed drawings: All commodity arrangements are not to exceed the allowable parameters per NFPA edition. The sprinkler contractor is responsible to make the owner / tenant aware of the arrangements not in compliance with this design. Clayton County requires all contractors to purchase a Community Development Registration card prior to obtaining a permit. Guest: Wayne Waggoner of Fire Team USA gave an update on the Fire Team USA program, reporting that 106 people signed up for the June 2006 workshop in Duluth with 87 actually attending. Fire Team USA is coming back to offer a one day workshop in Savannah Georgia on November 15. If you know of fire officials, building officials, legislators or others who may be able to attend, please see the web site for registration information. Fire Sprinkler Official of the Year: Ballots were available on each table with a list of the nominees for the Georgia Fire Sprinkler Official of the Year. The contractor members were asked to vote and turn in the ballots after the meeting. (Votes were tallied after the meeting and Tim Satterfield would be receiving the award in October.) Ask the Attorney: Scott Zucker suggested contractor s proposals contain language which will protect contractors against delays related to the inability to have plans approved if a local AHJ is abusing their authority. The language is out there and Scott may be able to have it available. Scott distributed information about a recent legal case showing the obligations to have your liens valid, speaking directly to the suppliers of subcontractors. You must submit the notice to the contractor within 30 days after you start the project or your lien is invalid. (This document is available to download from the GFSA web site in the Members Only web page.) The question was asked What happens when you can t get a copy of a municipality s rules and regulations, or these documents do not exist? These can be challenged in writing, asking for the chapter and verse of the ordinance. The AHJ must be able to provide a copy of the written ordinance or the provision that the ordinance is related to for the AHJ to enforce it. For a local ordinance to be law it must be done by a commission vote. This does not apply to operational requirements the AHJ has in place. If an ordinance is written in a broad and open form which states a fire official shall be able to require such features as he deems appropriate on the system, it presents a problem for the contractor, but an ordinance of this type is quite unusual. This is a function the GFSA will help with. Contact Harry Alexander or Bobby McCullough. Education: Bob Hodge: The AFSA has two virtual seminars coming up: An update on the fire pump standard, NFPA 20, 2007, on September 26, and an update on the standpipe standard, NFPA 14, 2007 on October 18. The program for the November GFSA meeting will feature Russ Leavitt, speaking on upcoming changes on the inspections standard, NFPA 25, Membership: Jeff Trew: American Fabrication has joined as an Associate member. John Pahr will be their representative. Apprenticeship: Banks Haley: Tonight the apprenticeship class is starting again with ten new students and ten students returning. New students will be accepted through September of 6

3 Scholarship Committee / Essay Contest: Asa Tuten: Judging for the year s essay contest will begin soon. The topic this year is Explain to your builder the value of sprinklers and why you want them installed. Asa demonstrated the need to educate the public about fire sprinklers by contrasting the 3000 plus who died in the 9/11 tragedy to the over 20,000 who have died in fire deaths since September 11, We are at war with fire deaths and we need to take the same attitude taken by the Fire Chiefs Association which is we are not going to take it anymore. The essay contest is now in its 19 th year. When it was started, we figured it would take 20 years to make a difference, in that the students who entered the contest will have assimilated into society and be in leadership positions. Those sending in the essays in 2006 were not even born when the contest was started. SFPE Liaison: Jim Tuten: Jim reported the SFPE meeting held Monday 9/11/06 featured a presentation on upcoming changes for NFPA 13 and 13R. The October meeting will feature a program on the Bio Lab fire. Golf Tournament: Adam Owen reminded everyone of the meeting at Bradshaw Farms this Friday. Old Business: None New Business: The GFSA meeting for October will be the golf tournament. There will not be a meeting at the Marriott. Floyd Thomas announced he would be sending an announcement to the suppliers for the December Christmas Reception / Gathering. Sam Beale reminded everyone to be cautious regarding 24 hour test devices as his was stolen. Program: President of the American Fire Sprinkler Association Steve Muncy gave a brief report on the recently completed Twenty Fifth National Convention. Steve spoke on training: seven of the recently completed or upcoming two week design schools have been sold out; apprenticeship correspondence courses are operating at record levels; the AFSA is in the process of developing a residential installation program and an estimating and bidding course, which should be out next year. The technical department recently sent out its 2000 th informal interpretation. These are at no cost to member contractors and many times these interpretations have saved contractors a lot of money. The AFSA has become the first industry partner with NICET. The intent is to join with NICET and evaluate the Water Suppression layout testing process. Steve said fire officials are some of the best advocates for speaking to municipal councils regarding residential sprinkler ordinances. Recently, however, in the process of advocating for residential fire sprinkler protection, an International Association of Fire Chiefs committee has been pushing the concept of a system consisting of a single in the kitchen, intending the cost to be less than $300. The AFSA has expressed serious concerns about who will install this, if it will be installed correctly, and if anyone to will check the flow and pressure available. The AFSA takes the position that since most fire related deaths are caused by fires which start in the bedroom or den, the NFPA standards should be adhered to and concept of a single sprinkler in the kitchen is wrong. The AFSA web site has been enhanced and completely redesigned to make it easier to use. Almost everything available from the AFSA will be available on the web site, much of it in a Members Only area. A key individual with each member company will be contacted with account and password information. The on-line buyers guide has been very popular and successful. A new on-line guide should be available in January which will be a comprehensive guide for locating a member contractor. 3 of 6

4 Many in this industry are having trouble finding employees. An AFSA employee recruitment campaign will be available soon which will feature canned radio spots, newspaper advertising, and three fold brochures, all of which will be ready for customization specifically for a member company or chapter. Another program the AFSA is starting is the members helping members forum. The first part of the program is organizing peer groups. Through the AFSA you can participate in a peer group via , telephone or sit down meetings, with a similarly sized, non-competing contractor in another area of the country. You can learn from the experiences of others and work out issues like insurance, employees, fabrication, etc. The AFSA is providing the forum to put these people together. The group of three to five contractors will control the discussions. The second part of the members helping members program is the expert mentor program. This will involve experts in specific areas who will volunteer their time to assist others with needs in their area of expertise. A new program just started is the fire sprinkler e-campus using an organization called Red Vector, which distributes premium training programs on-line. Currently the majority of the programs are geared to management and administration, introductory CAD design, construction contract law and others. New sprinkler specific programs will be developed in the future. AFSA members will receive discounts. Adjournment 4 of 6

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