REGIONAL REPORT August 2014 Southwest Edition Bruce Lecair Regional Manager 25417 Hyacinth Street Temescal Valley, CA 92883 California, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico Phone: (951) 277-3517 Fax: (951) 277-3199 Cell: (951) 805-8992 Changes announced in NFSA Engineering!! At the June meeting of the Board of Directors NFSA President Russell Fleming was asked to develop a plan to ensure the continuation of NFSA's outstanding engineering services upon the resignation of Ken Isman as a result of his new employment effective August 20, 2014 with the University of Maryland. As a result, Victoria Valentine s title will be changed to Director of Engineering, and she will be taking over the management of the NFSA Engineering Department and Services. She will be responsible for ensuring that all aspects of NFSA engineering activities are handled, and she will begin giving the Technical Report at all Board meetings, replacing Ken Isman in that role. Mr. Fleming also announced the addition to the staff of a recent engineering graduate of the University at Binghamton, Mr. Louis Guerrazzi. Louis was interviewed and recommended by both Victoria Valentine and Ken Isman. An electrical engineer by training, Mr. Guerrazzi was found to possess the right combination of technical background, personality, and communication skills for success at NFSA, and began his employment on July 21, 2014. His title is Manager of Product Standards. With the new responsibilities assigned to Victoria Valentine, Louis will be assuming many of her obligations related to the UL/FM/NFSA Standards Review Committee and the international standards work of USTAG/ISO/TC21/SC5. He will also be assuming some of the NFPA technical committee activities that will be redistributed within the engineering staff. NFSA s Hugo Elected Vice-Chair of ICC Industry Advisory Committee The National Fire Sprinkler Association was pleased to announce at the end of July that its Manager of Codes Jeff Hugo has been elected as Vice-Chair of the International Code Council s Industry Advisory Committee (IAC). Page 1
The officers and executive committee of the IAC have the responsibility of reporting to the International Code Council s Board of Directors on combined industries positions. One of the key responsibilities of the IAC is selecting committee members for the International Residential Code building and plumbing committees. Local 483 Sprinkler Fitter Headed to Ann Arbor Competition Steve Fox, Training Director, Sprinkler Fitters U.A. Local 483 Joint Apprenticeship Committee recently announced that 9 th Period Apprentice Joe Method has won the Sprinkler Fitter Competition, the state competition and the Region 5 competition and is now moving on to the International competition. Joe will be competing in Ann Arbor Michigan on August 9-15 with Sprinkler Fitters from all over the world. The Local 483 is very proud of Joe and Fox noted that he has worked very hard to get to where he is in this extremely difficult competition. Joe is currently working for Golden Gate Fire Protection in the San Francisco Bay Area. California Fire Marshal Hoover Earns ICC, IAFC 2014 Excellence in Fire and Life Safety Award California Fire Marshal Tonya L. Hoover will be honored with the 2014 Excellence in Fire and Life Safety Award for her history of courage, determination, and dedication to fire and life safety. She will receive the award in August during Fire-Rescue International 2014, the annual conference of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) in Dallas. The International Code Council and the Fire & Life Safety Section of the IAFC developed the award. It honors individuals who have dedicated themselves to saving lives and property through their work on building codes, fire-prevention practices, legislative efforts and strong leadership. ICC Board President Stephen D. Jones, CBO, said Hoover s spirit and accomplishments exemplify what the Excellence in Fire and Life Safety Award is all about. Tonya Hoover s work in fire safety and prevention undoubtedly has saved countless lives, Jones said. Her dedication has been inspirational to many. Tonya is a hero in every sense of the word. Previous recipients of the award are Sean DeCrane, Anthony Apfelbeck, George Michehl, John Mueller, Ed Comeau, Michael Love and Ozzie Mirkhah. Hoover holds several State Fire Marshal certifications, including certified Fire Marshal and a lifetime teaching credential. An Page 2
ICC Member, Hoover served as the Vice Chair on the ICC International Fire Code Development Committee. She currently is on the ICC Codes & Standards Council and the Fire Service Membership Council Governing Committee. Residential Fire Sprinkler System Saves Prescott Home & Belongings In a press release issued in July by Don Devendorf, Division Chief- Fire Marshal, Prescott Fire and Medical Department announced that at approximately 12:50 PM on Tuesday July 1, 2014, fire department personnel responded to a reported structure fire, with flames and smoke showing from the garage, at a home located at 605 Robin Drive in The Crossings subdivision on the north side of Prescott. A full structure fire assignment, fire trucks, chiefs, ambulances, police officers, all responded. On arrival, the first due Engine Company reported that the fire was out and there were no injuries. All other responding units went available and returned to quarters. How did flames and smoke showing end up as the fire was out before we even got there? The answer lies in an eight dollar fire sprinkler head. I think that every house should have sprinklers! said Leslie McDonald, who owns the home with her husband Jim. Chief Devendorf asked Leslie and Jim if he could use their experience with a fire in their home equipped with a residential fire sprinkler system for a press release and received an emphatic yes from both of them. Why would they be so willing say yes? The answer may be in the fact that a fire in their garage, that neither of them knew about, Leslie in the house and Jim in the back yard, was extinguished by a single fire sprinkler head (above) before Leslie could get her garden hose turned on. I was in the house and heard a loud bang. I thought Jim had just put something up against the wall outside. It wasn t Jim. The next thing Leslie knew was that her neighbor was banging on her door telling her that her house was on fire. As Leslie ran outside, she saw smoke and flames coming out of her open garage door. In the garage, a classic car, an SUV, a motorcycle, and other garage typical items, including many of Jim s radio controlled airplanes, barely visible now through the smoke. As Leslie turned on her garden hose to try to put the fire out, what she saw was black smoke turn to white, flames that were approaching the ceiling were now down to the floor and almost non-existent, and a bell started to ring. That bell, which Jim still didn t hear in the back yard, was the sign the residential fire sprinkler system had been activated and water was flowing. Thank God the fire sprinklers worked said Leslie. Chief Devendorf asked what she thought when they built their home and were told that they needed to install fire sprinklers. The first thing I thought was that I was going to have to cut some upgrades to pay for the eight thousand dollar system. She was very pragmatic about the decision though, We wanted our house set back further from the street. That decision meant that we had to install fire sprinklers, but that s what we wanted. Looking at the tens of thousands of dollars of items in the garage that were completely undamaged, with only a charred work bench and water on the garage floor, the Page 3
McDonalds were easily able to do the math: their eight thousand dollar system had saved 10, 20, 80 times that amount. Estimated loss from the fire was $1000.00 with what was saved estimated to be over $600,000.00 in the building and its contents. Not a bad return on their investment. The cause of the fire was determined to be overheated batteries that were being charged on the work bench. Jim told investigators that he had just plugged in some batteries that operate his radio controlled airplanes before going in the back yard to do some work. I ve had friends that this has happened to. One of his friends had even lost a vehicle when the batteries that he was charging using the cigarette lighter plug caught fire and destroyed the car. How Jim will charge his batteries in the future is yet to be determined, but he did know that his fire sprinkler system needed to be put back in service as soon as possible. It was, before fire personnel left the scene. NFSA Tech Tuesday Schedule To apply for a course or to obtain more specific information, go to www.nfsa.org August 19, 2014 Protecting Storage of Exposed Plastics by Kenneth E. Isman, P.E. NFPA 13 has had criteria for protecting some arrangements of exposed plastics, but not for all storage heights and types of storage. In the 2013 edition, new criteria were added for protection of rack storage of exposed unexpanded plastics. For the 2016 edition of the standard, criteria for protecting exposed expanded plastics stored on racks is being discussed based on some new successful full-scale fire tests. This presentation will summarize the requirements as they stand now and provide a preview of the requirements likely to be in the 2016 edition of the standard. September 16, 2014 Room Design Method by Jeff Hugo, C.B.O. When performing hydraulic calculations, it is always important to answer the question, How many sprinklers are going to open if there is a fire in this occupancy? NFPA 13 provides a number of different ways to answer this question, including the Room Design Method, which basically assumes every sprinkler in the room will open. Of course, this assumes that the walls of the room will be sufficiently fire resistant to keep the fire in the room. This program will discuss all of the rules of the Room Design Method including the requirements for finding the most demanding room, the requirements for the fire resistance of the walls, and the allowances for openings to other rooms. October 21, 2014 High Ceilings, Step Ceilings and Ceiling Pockets by Victoria B. Valentine, P.E. Not every ceiling is a flat, smooth, horizontal ceiling. Those ceilings with unusual configurations need clear rules for where to place the sprinklers. This program will discuss the standardized method that NFPA 13 uses to determine sprinkler spacing and location for a number of unusual ceiling configurations. Page 4
November 18, 2014 Protection of Aerosol Storage by Bob Upson NFPA 30B has its own rules regarding the protection of aerosol storage with fire sprinklers. Discharge criteria is provided in a series of tables that reference the level of hazard of the aerosol as well as the type of sprinkler at the ceiling and whether or not additional sprinklers will be needed in the racks. This seminar will explain the different levels of hazards of aerosols and summarize the information in the tables so that the user will be able to determine sprinkler discharge criteria for palletized, solid pile and rack storage of aerosol products. December 16, 2014 Protection of Aircraft Hangars-Part 2 by Jim Lake Last year, the NFSA covered the water-based fire protection system criteria for Group I Hangars from NFPA 409. This program will pick up where the last program left off and cover the water-based fire protection system requirements for Group II, Group III and Group IV hangars. New to the 2011 edition of NFPA 409 was a separate chapter on the protection of hangars specifically designed for unfueled aircraft. This program will also cover that new chapter in NFPA 409. NFSA Training Coming to Tucson! On the heels of a very successful 3-day ITM class this past July at the Woodland Fire Department Training Center located in historic Woodland, California, the NFSA Training and Education Department is now heading to Tucson, Arizona on August 12-13 for another round of training. The Northwest Fire District Training Facility located at 5125 W Camino Del Fuego in Tucson, Arizona will be the site of a 2 Day Sprinkler System Plan Review class. This two-day seminar will provide attendees with vital information on how to conduct the plan review process for water-based fire protection systems. Utilizing the requirements of NFPA 13, participants will be guided through an actual review of sprinkler system plans and calculations. Students will discuss the importance of employing a systematic review process and identify the documents required for a complete plan review. Finally they will review a submittal of hydraulic calculation presented with the plans and discuss the process of hydraulic calculations and identify the key pieces of information presented and the common errors that are made. FEES: $225 for Members/AHJs $475 for Non-Members, register at; www.nfsa.org! NFSA Membership During the month of July, NFSA s Southwest Region welcomed two new Subscriber members to our roster. Fire Inspector Gordanna Sabatelli from the San Jose Fire Department located at 200 E. Santa Clara Street in San Jose, California and Division Chief Fire Marshal Donald Garcia of the Northwest District located at 5225 W. Massingale Road, Page 5
Tucson, Arizona are our newest members. Welcome and Thanks for you membership!! NorCal FPO invites you to join them on September 5, 2014 at Chardonnay Golf Club in Napa, CA. for their 5th Annual Golf Tournament. This year NorCal FPO will be raising funds for two charities, the Firefighters Burn Institute, and the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation. Your $130 registration fee includes golf, gift bag, boxed lunch and our Awards Reception/Banquet. Register at http://www.firepreventionofficers.org/events/event-activities as a foursome or the golf committee will be happy to place you in a foursome if you do not have one. UPCOMING SOUTHWEST REGION MEETINGS Arizona Fire Marshals Association Meeting, August 6 th Scottsdale Fire Department; Scottsdale, Arizona at 8401 E. Indian School Road. San Diego Fire Protection Association, Tuesday, August 12, 2014, La Mesa, California at Marie Callendar s 11:30 a.m. Page 6
Phoenix Area NFSA Interest Meeting, Tuesday, August 19, at 12:00 p.m. at the Phoenix Fire Department Training Center located at 2430 S. 22 nd Avenue. Mike Mallas, Sales Manager, Zurn-Wilkens will be our featured speaker and will discuss PRV s and backflow devices. Lunch will be provided. This next Chapter meeting will be held on October 21 st with NFSA President Russell Fleming and our new Vice President Shane Ray. This will be Shane Ray s first visit to the Arizona State NFSA Chapter. So Cal Fire Prevention Officers Association, Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at 10:00 am. The meeting is going to be held at the Sprinkler Fitters 709 training center in Whittier, CA. The afternoon program will feature speakers from The Reliable Automatic Sprinkler Company and Lubrizol. NorCal Fire Prevention Officers Association. Friday, August 22, 2014 at 9:30 to 3:00 pm. Napa Valley College Library located at 2277 Napa Vallejo Highway Napa, CA. Lee Clifton from ICC will be presenting in the afternoon. NFSA SF Chapter Meeting, Thursday, September 25, Signatory Contractors from 4:00 to 5:30, All members 5:30-7:00 pm at the Castlewood Country Club Hacienda Dining Room at 707 Country Club Circle, Pleasanton, CA. Business casual attire required, please no jeans. Signatory contractors will be meeting from 4:00 to 5:30, All members 5:30-7:00 pm. NFSA L.A. Chapter Meeting Wednesday, October 22. This event will be held at the Rio Hondo Golf and Event Center in Downey, California at 10627 Old River Road. *** Please note that the meeting date has been changed in order to accommodate our guest speakers from OSHPD, Deputy Division Chief Gordon Oakley and Chief Fire and Life Safety Officer Gary Dunger will be leading a discussion on plan and inspection policies and procedures. And, in attendance will also be NFSA President Russell Fleming and our new Vice President Shane Ray. This will be Shane Ray s first visit to the Los Angeles Area NFSA Chapter. *** Page 7
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