NFPA Journal - January/February 2014 - (Page 4)

>> FIRST WORD BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS Chief Philip C. Stittleburg, Chair La Farge Fire Department La Farge, Wisconsin BY NFPA PRESIDENT JAMES M. SHANNON Ernest J. Grant, First Vice-Chair North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina The Year Behind, the Year Ahead A conversation on some of the association's key strategic initiatives IN DECEMBER, Lorraine Carli, NFPA's vicepresident of Outreach and Advocacy, sat down with NFPA President Jim Shannon to talk about the association's accomplishments over the last year and what he hopes NFPA will accomplish in 2014. What still needs to be done? Carli: It was a busy year for NFPA, particularly for our outreach programs. We devoted a lot of resources to a number of major initiatives, such as the wildland fire issue. For one thing, we need more efficient ways of evacuating people and letting them know where there is a problem. We also need better community planning efforts, better training, and more research. NFPA is good at bringing together the people who can contribute to our knowledge and find solutions to these problems, and I expect we'll play a very large role in helping mitigate the wildland fire problem in years ahead. Shannon: Yes, NFPA was very active last year in a lot of important efforts to get the word out to people about how they can make their homes, businesses, and com- Another issue that has resurfaced is furniture flammability. What role do you see NFPA playing in the discussion? nfpa.org/FirstWordJanFeb2014 Watch a video of Jim Shannon discussing NFPA's strategic initiatives for 2014. munities safer, here in the United States and around the world. At home, the wildfire issue became a bigger and bigger concern, not just for NFPA but for the country as a whole. We know that tens of thousands of wildfires take place every year in this country, and it's pretty clear that climate change has dramatically affected their size, scope, and severity, particularly in the growing wildland/urban interface. What role can NFPA play to address this problem? For years, we've worked to teach people who live in the wildland/urban interface how to make their communities safer from wildfires through our Firewise Program and, more recently, through our Fire Adapted Community program. But the whole fire protection community needs to come together to develop a more aggressive strategy for better protecting both wildland firefighters and the people who live in the wildland/urban interface. The use of chemical fire retardants in upholstered furniture has become a huge issue lately. In fact, California, which led the way in putting retardants into furniture almost 40 years ago, took action last year to take retardants out of furniture because they were concerned about the environmental aspects of chemical retardants. We are, too, but as a fire safety organization, we can't lose sight of what this means for fire protection. We've been working with fire enforcement officials, federal agencies, and organizations like Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to develop fire-safe furniture that doesn't depend on chemicals. UL, in particular, has done a lot of work showing how barriers can be used to make furniture safer. However, much more work needs to be done, and NFPA will play an important role in that research through the Fire Protection Research Foundation. Furniture flammability raises the larger issue of fires in the home, where most fires and fire fatalities occur. Is NFPA taking any new steps to address this issue? As you know, NFPA led the way to the adoption of fire-safe cigarette laws in all 50 states, and last year we began to see the effects of Randolph W. Tucker, Secretary ccrd partners Houston, Texas H. Wayne Boyd, Treasurer U.S. Safety & Engineering Corporation Sacramento, California Keith E. Williams, Assistant Treasurer Underwriters Laboratories Inc. Northbrook, Illinois James M. Shannon, President President and CEO, NFPA *Bruce H. Mullen, Staff Officer Executive Vice-President and CFO, NFPA *Dennis J. Berry, Assistant Secretary Secretary of the Corporation, Director of Licensing, NFPA dIRECtORS Thomas W. Jaeger, Past Chair Jaeger and Associates, LLC Great Falls, Virginia Terms Expire in 2014 Amy Acton The Phoenix Society Grand Rapids, Michigan James M. Clark Management Consultant Germantown, Tennessee Kwame Cooper Los Angeles Fire Department Los Angeles, California Julie A. Rochman IBHS Tampa, Florida Terms Expire in 2015 Peter Holland Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Lancashire, United Kingdom Brian Hurley Palm Beach, Florida William McCammon East Bay Regional Communications System Authority Dublin, California Harold A. Schaitberger International Assoc. of Fire Fighters Washington, D.C. William A. Stewart Toronto Fire Services (retired) Toronto, Ontario, Canada Peter J. Gore Willse XL GAPS Hartford, Connecticut Terms Expire in 2016 Donald R. Cook Shelby County Dept. of Development Services Pelham, Alabama Tonya Hoover Fire Marshal Sacramento, California Thomas Lawson FM Global Johnston, Rhode Island Chief Ned Pettus, Jr. Columbus Division of Fire Columbus, Ohio 4 NFPA JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 Photograph: dave Yount/NFPA *Not a member of the Board of Directors http://www.nfpa.org/FirstWordJanFeb2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2014

NFPA Journal - January/February 2014
Contents
First Word
In a Flash
Perspectives
In Compliance
First Responder
Research
Wildfire Watch
Outreach
Firewatch
#Are You Prepared?
Life and Death at Memorial
Barrier Smarts
Perfect Storm
Conference & Expo Preview
Section Spotlight
Product Showcase
Looking Back

NFPA Journal - January/February 2014