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Fire Marshal's Corner: Photoelectric or Ionization Smoke Alarms – Part 2

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This month’s edition of Fire Marshal’s Corner takes us back to the issue of photoelectric versus ionization smoke alarms. Since last month’s show, quite a bit has happened and we need to bring people up-to-date.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reissued its 2004 report on the effectiveness of smoke alarms. In this revision they had to make deletions to the tables that contained information about the operation of the dual-sensor smoke alarms. It turns out that they were not co-located with the other smoke alarms but were placed further away from the source of the fire, causing them to alarm later than the single-sensor smoke alarms.

Also, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) released a task group report on this subject as well. In addition to the group’s findings there were several dissenting opinions included in the report. Links to both of these reports can be found below on this podcast player page.

One of the dissenting opinions was written by Dr. Don Russell, a Regents professor at Texas A&M, who joins host Ed Comeau to discuss some of the controversial portions of the report and provide us with his thoughts based on his extensive testing of smoke alarms over the past decade.

Dr. William Grosshandler, deputy director of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at NIST, reviews the testing that was done in 2004 and the methodology that went into putting the experiments together that resulted in the 2004 report.

Wrapping up will be Rodger Reiswig, director of industry relations for SimplexGrinnell. Rodger is going to cover the technology that is involved in the design of photoelectric and ionization smoke alarms so we can have a better understanding of how these devices work.

Related Links
• Special reprint of an article on this subject that is appearing in the February issue of Campus Firewatch
• NFPA Task Force Report including dissenting opinions
• NIST Smoke Alarm Study along with revision history and FAQs
• IAFC Fire and Life Safety Section Position Paper

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Fire Marshal's Corner: Photoelectric or Ionization Smoke Alarms – Which is the Right One?

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Smoke alarms have an unquestioned role in reducing the loss of life and injuries from fire. However, recent information is coming to light about how the two predominant types of smoke alarms, photoelectric and ionization, react to different fire scenarios. Television stations across the country are conducting demonstration burns to measure the response time of the different smoke alarms with some troubling results. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently published a report that clearly indicates photoelectric react quicker to smoldering fires and ionization smoke alarms react faster to flaming fires.

Joining us is Firefighter Matthew Cetin from the Barre City, VT, Fire Department. A tragic fire claimed five lives, but what troubled the fire department was the fact that there were working smoke alarms that did not sound during the fire. As a result, they started looking into the issues of the different types of smoke alarms with some interesting results. Following him is Underwriters Laboratories Manager of Consumer Affairs John Drengenberg discussing the role that UL has and their position on the issue. Chris Dubay, vice president of Codes and Standards from the National Fire Protection Association talked with us about the efforts that NFPA has underway to look into the controversy. Finishing up is New Hampshire Fire Marshal Bill Degnan talking about the concerns that he and his peers have about this issue and what they are doing in response.

After this show was taped, NIST informed me that based on the inquiries I made regarding the reported poor performance of the dual-sensor smoke alarms in comparison to the stand-alone smoke alarms, that data was being removed from the report. It turns out that the dual-sensor smoke alarms were not co-located with the single-sensor smoke alarms which is the reason for dramatically different results.

Related links
• Special reprint of an article on this subject that is appearing in the February issue of Campus Firewatch
• NFPA Task Force Report
• NIST Smoke Alarm Study
• IAFC Fire and Life Safety Section Position Paper
• National Fire Protection Association
• Underwriters Laboratories
• The Fire That Changed Everything - And What is Being Done by Matthew Cetin and Russell Ashe

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Fire Marshal's Corner: Catastrophic, Multiple-Fatality Fire

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This month’s show focuses on a particularly troubling issue: catastrophic, multiple-fatality fires, where three or more people are killed per incident. By tracking these fires through several sources, for 2007 there were 113 incidents killing 431, 54 percent of them children. While these are occurring across the nation, there are definitely more of them in the eastern half of the country with a heavy concentration in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. You can see the distribution in an online map and spreadsheet.

A panel of experts joins host Ed Comeau to take a closer look at the problem. Senior Planning and Research Analyst Richard Taylor with the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office who provides a detailed, analytical look at the information that has been gathered for 2007. Unfortunately, a number of these incidents have occurred in Maryland, and particularly in Montgomery County, so giving us a state fire marshal’s perspective is Maryland State Fire Marshal Bill Barnard and Montgomery County Fire Marshal Mike Love talks about it from the local level. We wrap up the show with some ideas about resources from Branch Chief Ken Farmer of the Leadership and Prevention Branch of the U.S. Fire Administration.

As we move into 2008, it appears that this problem is going to continue as there have been at least four incidents as of this posting. We’re going to continue to monitor this situation and hopefully we can all come up with some strategies to combat catastrophic, multiple-fatality fires.

Please send any suggestions, questions or comments, to: podcast@firehouse.com.

Related Links
• Online map 2007 | 2008
• Online compilation 2007 | 2008
• U.S.Fire Administration Quick Response Program
• Compilation, by subject, of all Fire Marshal’s Corner and Campus Firewatch podcasts
• Six Days, Six Fires, 19 Children and 9 Adults Killed
• Campus Firewatch

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Fire Marshal's Corner: December 2007

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This month on Fire Marshal’s Corner, host Ed Comeau goes international again! First, however, we’re starting on this side of the Atlantic with a segment from the National Association of State Fire Marshal’s featuring New Hampshire Fire Marshal Bill Degnan. Marshal Degnan will be covering alternative heating fire safety, which is a very timely topic as we move into the winter season here in the United States.

We then move over to the United Kingdom for a talk with Philip Hales, the Head of Community Fire Safety for the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Services in the United Kingdom. The fire service in the UK adopted a new approach to fire prevention and safety in 2002 that is much more risk-based, and Phil is going to provide us with a fascinating overview of how it is working and what possible lessons we might learn from it in the United States.

We are then joined by Dr. Jim Marsden from the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Services for a discussion on the environmental impacts of fire and how it is contributing to global warming. This is an effort and research program that is very much in the initial stages, and Dr. Marsden has been working on efforts to quantify how much structural fires are contributing to global warming and the role of fire safety in developing a sustainable community.

Please send any suggestions, questions or comments, to: podcast@firehouse.com.

Related Links:

• National Association of State Fire Marshals
• Chief Fire Officers Association (UK)
• Cheshire Fire and Rescue Services
• Dr. Marsden’s presentation at Fire Summit 2007 (PPT)
• Downloadable flash animations about the environment and fire safety
• Map: 2007 Catastrophic, multiple-fatality fires;

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Fire Marshal's Corner: Winter 2007

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In this month’s Fire Marshal’s Corner, we start with some very sound advice from South Carolina Fire Marshal John Reich about holiday fire safety, particularly when it comes to Christmas Tree fires. Every year these fires happen, but are very easily preventable with some simple steps. NIST has a great video on how fast a Christmas tree ignites that can be downloaded and used in your public safety programs.

Following that we talk with Mike Love, fire marshal for Montgomery County, MD, about the great electronic groups that he has created for fire prevention professionals. One is called “ePARADE” and focuses on fire marshals, and the other one, the National Fire and Life Safety Educators group focuses on educational issues.

Finally, we have an interview that was done for our companion podcast, Campus Firewatch Radio, with Gail Minger. Gail headed up a governor’s task force to look at fire safety in Kentucky’s colleges and universities. The task force conducted focus groups across the state and published an outstanding report looking at these issues.

On a follow-up, in an earlier podcast we had interview Phil Schaenman about the study he had done in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia looking at fire prevention practices. At the time the report had not been published, but it is now available for download.

Please send any suggestions, questions or comments, to: podcast@firehouse.com

Related Links
• Christmas Tree Fire Hazard Videos from NIST
• Kentucky Governor’s Task Force on Campus Safety
• Campus Firewatch Radio on Radio@Firehouse
• Tridata Report: Global Concepts In Residential Fire Safety
• Fire Marshal’s Corner with Phil Schaenman
• Campus Firewatch

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Fire Marshal's Corner: Summer 2007

[31:27m]

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Hosted by Ed Comeau

This edition of the Fire Marshal’s Corner looks at the international fire problem, but we start here in our own backyard with the U.S. fire problem. Host Ed Comeau talks with Kathy Gerstner, a fire program specialist with the U.S. Fire Administration about the Quick Response Program. The Quick Response program is an updated fire fatality reporting system that’s online in real-time, making it possible to view a listing of fatal residential fires.

The show continues with Phil Schaenman, president of TriData division of System Planning Corporation. Tridata recently completed a study of fire services in several countries, including the United Kingdom and Sweden. Listen to this show to see what they found.

After a long career as a code official in the United States, Stephen King from C3 Construction Code Consultants has now relocated to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he is working with the local governments to set up a code review process. The UAE is undergoing a tremendous building boom and is using a wide variety of international codes. King provided us with a fascinating look at a unique fire problem.

Please send any suggestions, questions or comments, to: podcast@firehouse.com.

Related Links:

Residential Fire Fatalities in the News
•Residential Fire Fatalities in the News
•Quick Response Program
•Quick Response Media Corps
•Quick Response Materials

International Fire Study
•TriData

Fire Protection in the United Arab Emirates
•Gulf Construction Online
•UAE Interact
•C3 Construction Code Consultants

Campus Firewatch
•Campus Firewatch

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Fire Marshal’'s Corner hosted by Ed Comeau

[50:35m]

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As we move into the Fourth of July, and summer in general, fireworks will be going off all across the country. Joining us is Jerry Wingard from the South Carolina Fire Marshal’s office to talk about fireworks and fireworks safety. Dan Madrzykowski from the National Institute of Standards and Technology talks about the outstanding research that they are conducting, particularly in the area of firefighter fatalities including the deaths of three Keokuk, IA, firefighters in 1999 and two Washington D.C. firefighter in 1999.

We then move into an interview that was done at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) show in Boston with Vancouver, WA, Fire Marshal Jim Crawford and Las Vegas Fire Rescue Fire Protection Engineer Ozzie Mirkhah as they discuss the National Strategic Fire Initiative. This is a rapidly evolving, grass-roots effort to develop a national agenda for fire prevention and fire safety.

If you have suggestions, questions or comments, please e-mail them to: podcast@firehouse.com.

Related Links:

Fireworks
• American Pyrotechnics Association
• National Council on Fireworks Safety
• South Carolina Board of Pyrotechnic Safety

National Strategic Fire Initiative
• Resolution
• Online Petition

National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Building and Fire Research
• Building and Fire Safety Investigations
• Firefighter fatality: Keokuk, Iowa
• Firefighter fatality: Washington, DC
• Fire.gov

 

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Campus Safety for Major Incidents

[47:09m]

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Hosted by Ed Comeau

The tragedy at Virginia Tech is one that has raised awareness among college administrators, local, state and national officials regarding safety on our nation’s campuses. As we take a critical look at how our campuses and communities are prepared for any disaster, it is important to ensure that the changes made are not a “knee jerk” reaction but are ones that are well thought out and are measured.Because these issues are concerns of both campus and community officials, we are combining the May issues of Campus Firewatch Radio and Fire Marshal’s Corner to discuss the common topics. We have brought together a series of speakers to look at three (of many) concerns regarding safety on campuses. Tempe, AZ, Fire Chief Cliff Jones discusses the importance of incident management. Bruce Fraser, of SimplexGrinnell, offers information on mass notification for not only the campus, but the public as well. An incident of this magnitude will require numerous resources and Alan Caldwell of the International Association of Fire Chiefs will discuss interoperability of communications.

All three of these topics are ones of significant concern to any campus and community. They also point out the need to work closely together in developing plans and responses to any disaster, whether it is an active shooter, a fire, a tornado or any significant event.

If you have suggestions, questions or comments, please e-mail them to: podcast@firehouse.com

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Fire Marshal’'s Corner hosted by Ed Comeau

[1:05:50m]

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Hosted by Ed Comeau

This month’s Fire Marshal’s Corner features an interview with Rhode Island Representative Jim Langevin who introduced the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act in Congress. The International Code Council will be holding a hearing that will require the use of residential sprinklers in new one- and two-family homes. Jeff Shapiro from International Code Consultants explains what will be happening at these hearings in May.

Each month, Fire Marshal’s Corner features the National Association of State Fire Marshal’s educational theme, which for April is “Spring Cleaning — Clean your Ductwork.” North Dakota State Fire Marshal Ray Lambert discusses why it is important to do this often-overlooked task. John Drengenberg, an engineer with Underwriters Laboratories and manager of Consumer Affairs, talks about the E85 Ethanol dispensing systems that are rapidly growing in use across the nation and the impact this is having on fire safety.

Wrapping up the program is a conversation with Shawn Longerich, director of the People’s Burn Foundation of Indiana and the outstanding work that the Foundation is doing.

Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act
• Representative Jim Langevin: Rhode Island 2nd District
• HR 1742 Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act

ICC Residential Sprinkler Code Change
• Jeff Shapiro, International Code Consultants
• IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition

Spring Cleaning-Clean Your Ductwork!
• North Dakota State Fire Marshal Ray Lambert National Association of State Fire Marshals

E85 Ethanol Dispensing Systems
• John Drengenberg, Manager of Consumer Affairs Underwriters Laboratories

People’s Burn Foundation of Indiana
• Shawn Longerich, Director

If you have suggestions, questions or comments, please e-mail them to: podcast@firehouse.com

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Fire Marshal's Corner Hosted by Ed Comeau

[50:34m]

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Hosted by Ed Comeau

The Fire Marshal’s Corner is a new monthly podcast that will focus on the complex issues faced by fire marshals across the United States. Each month Firehouse.com will host a forum of experts from a variety of fields to discuss these issues.

In partnership between Firehouse.com and the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM), each podcast will include a segment focusing on NASFM’s educational theme for the upcoming month. Other features include breaking news, a spotlight on new technology and much more. This Radio@Firehouse Podcast will be hosted by Ed Comeau, owner of writer-tech.com and publisher of Campus Firewatch.

This is the inaugural show, and a stellar lineup of people joined us to share their thoughts and ideas on a number of different topics. Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of the Ohio 11th Congressional District discusses the campus-related bills that have been introduced in Congress. John Dean, president of NASFM talks about the associations priorities in 2007, including flammability standards for upholstered furniture. NFPA President Jim Shannon reviews the action that is occurring in a number of states across the country on the Fire-Safe Cigarette Coalition. Dr. Tom Chapin from the Underwriters Laboratories covers the complex issues involved surrounding fire retardants.

Related Links:
• National Association of State Fire Marshals
• Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones
• Fire-Safe Cigarettes Coalition
• Underwriters Laboratories
• Campus Firewatch

If you have suggestions, questions or comments, please e-mail them to: podcast@firehouse.com

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