NFPA Journal - July/August 2013 - (Page 9)

>> in a flash NEWS FROM NFPA + BEYOND ANNUAL MEETING 2013 Votes of Confidence Members accept the 2014 edition of the National Electrical Code and other documents at the Association Technical Meeting. Plus, award winners are spotlighted at NFPA’s Conference & Expo. by FRED DURSO, JR. AND KATHLEEN ROBINSON V oting members heard debates on more than three dozen certified amending motions (CAMs) to NFPA 70®, National Electrical Code® (NEC®), at NFPA’s Association Technical Meeting held June 12–13 in Chicago. Only documents receiving CAMs were considered at the meeting; all other documents were submitted to NFPA’s Standards Council for issuance as consent documents. At the meeting, an NEC hot topic brought to the floor was the appropriate thickness of concrete required to protect electrical conductors and necessary for a two-hour fire rating. The NEC currently requires a two-inch thickness, but some speakers argued that a four-inch thickness is needed to obtain this level of protection. Voting members passed, then rejected, a CAM regarding the thickness of the concrete protection for fire pumps, emergency generators, and critical operations power systems. The net result after much discussion was that the two-inch concrete requirement would remain in the code. There were also two CAMs submitted on Photograph: Mike Hazell the placement of conductors on rooftops of commercial and industrial facilities. The NEC lists requirements for raceways and cables. Research has indicated that exposure to direct sunlight might make a raceway hotter than its ambient temperature, and the code lists temperature values, or “adders,” to the ambient temperature that prevent conduit damage at the standard temperature. The use of a specific type of insulation, XHHW-2, had been granted an exemption from the temperature adders. After much debate over the two CAMs, the net result was that the narrow exemption would be maintained in the 2014 NEC pending technical committee balloting. Other documents that were accepted at the Technical Meeting included: NFPA 25, Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems; NFPA 58, Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code; NFPA 96, Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations; NFPA 130, Fixed Guideway Transit and Passenger Rail Systems; NFPA 502, Road Tunnels, Bridges, and Other Limited Access Highways; NFPA 801, Fire Protection for Facilities Handling Radioactive Materials; NFPA 1061, Professional Qualifications for Public Safety Telecommunications Personnel; NFPA 1123, Fireworks Display; and NFPA 1851, Selection, Care, and Maintenance of Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting. Conference Award Winners Philip J. DiNenno, president of Hughes Associates, Inc., received the 2013 Standards Medal in recognition of his outstanding contributions to fire safety and the development of NFPA codes and standards. DiNenno, who currently serves on NFPA’s Board of Directors, has also served on many NFPA technical committees, including Gaseous Fire Extinguishing Systems, Merchant Vessels, Water Mist Fire Suppression Systems, Halon Alternative Protection Options, Fire Investigations, and Fire Tests. He also served on the NFPA Standards Council from 1998 to 2007, and chaired the council from 2002 to 2007. JULY/AUGUST 2013 NFPA JOURNAL 9

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - July/August 2013

NFPA Journal - July/August 2013
Contents
First Word
In a Flash
Perspectives
Firewatch
Research
Heads Up
Structural Ops
In Compliance
Buzzwords
Outreach
Electrical Safety
Wildfire Watch
Loud + Clear
Allied in Safety
Front Burner
Firefighter Fatalities in the United States, 2012
Fire Analysis + Research
Section Spotlight
What’s Hot
Looking Back

NFPA Journal - July/August 2013