NFPA Journal - Summer 2021 - 19

Dispatches Briefs
NTSB urges more
robust guidance
on EV fire safety

Manufacturer guidance and federal
safety standards
are lacking when it
comes to electric
vehicle (EV) fire
safety, according to
a report published by
the National Transportation Safety
Board (NTSB) in
January.
" While the emergency response
guides from electric
car manufacturers
are adequate in some
respects, they're

organizations like
NFPA continue to
inform the public of
the fire risk of EVs.
Unlike gasoline,
which can be drained
from a vehicle's tank,
there are no surefire
methods of removing
energy from a car's
lithium-ion battery
when the battery has
been damaged in a
crash. The energy
that remains trapped
inside the battery,
posing a consistent
fire risk, is known
as stranded energy.
There have been multiple cases of EV fires

GETT Y IMAGES

Electric vehicle crashes can present
significant challenges for first
responders.
lacking in others, "
NTSB board member
Jennifer Homendy
said in an NTSB video
about the report.
" For example, they
contain almost no
information about
how to handle
stranded energy.
Second, federal
safety standards
don't address highspeed, high-severity
crashes involving
cars powered by lithium-ion batteries. "
To address the
gaps in safety, the
report recommends
EV manufacturers
like Tesla enhance
their vehicles' emergency response
guides. It also recommends that the
National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration consider
the quality of those
guides in their new
car scores, and that

that have been put
out only to reignite
later-sometimes
days later, when the
vehicle's already
been removed from
the scene.
In April, NFPA
Journal covered a
Tesla crash and fire
in Texas-and the
complex issue of EV
fires in general-in
" Battered Batteries. "
Read the article and
download the NTSB
report at nfpa.org/
batteredbatteries.

Wildfire
Mitigation Award
winners named
In February, three
individuals were
named as winners
of the 2021 Wildfire
Mitigation Awards.
This year's winners
include Marshall
Turbeville, a battalion
chief with CAL FIRE's

Northern Sonoma
Fire Protection District in Geyserville,
California; Courtney
Haynes, a wildfire
mitigation specialist
for the West Region
Wildfire Council in
Montrose, Colorado;
and Jessica Kirby, the
open space management supervisor for
the Snyderville Basin
Recreation District in
Park City, Utah.
" State forestry
agencies know
firsthand it's always
wildfire season
somewhere in the
United States, and
the 2021 Wildfire
Mitigation Awardees
know this, too, " said
Joe Fox, president
of the National
Association of State
Foresters (NASF).
" In their own ways,
this year's winners
have ensured the
safety of thousands
through their wildfire
mitigation efforts. We
congratulate them for
receiving this honor
and thank them for
their dedication to
this critically important work. "
Since 2014, the
awards-cosponsored by NFPA, NASF,
the International
Association of Fire
Chiefs, and the US
Forest Service-have
served to demonstrate the importance
of wildfire mitigation
efforts throughout
the country.
The three 2021
winners will be
recognized at the
Wildland/Urban Interface Conference in
Reno, Nevada, scheduled for November 14
and 15. Learn more
about the awards
and past winners at
stateforesters.org/
mitigation.

Study looks at
environment and
health risks of
wildfire smoke
The increasing
frequency and

severity of wildfires
in the United States
threatens to undo
decades of significant improvements
in air quality and
could pose a significant health risk to
older and vulnerable
populations. Those
are two key findings
from a report published in January in
the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America.
Researchers from
Stanford University
and the University
of California San
Diego determined
that since the mid- to
late-2000s, the contribution of wildfire
smoke to air pollution
has more than doubled in some regions.
In western states,
wildfire smoke is
now responsible
for more than half
of residents' fine
particulate matter
exposure, compared
to less than 20 percent a decade ago,
according to the
study.
" These trends and
patterns highlight
important points
of tension between
existing air quality
regulation and the
growing threat
from wildfire smoke
and raise important unanswered
research questions
that will be critical
to informing policy
choice, " the study
says. " Current fire
suppression efforts
understandably
focus on protecting
homes and structures, but the overall
population health
impact of a heavily
polluting wildfire that
does not threaten
structures could be
much worse than
that of a smaller fire
that does threaten
structures. "
Download the full
study at nfpa.org/
summer2021briefs.

A first: Woman
takes top Metro
Chiefs' honor

Mary Cameli, chief
of the Mesa Fire and
Medical Department
(MFMD) in Mesa,
Arizona, has been
named fire chief of
the year by the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs
Association.
Cameli is the first
woman to receive
the honor in the
56-year history of
the Metro Chiefs, a
membership section
of NFPA that includes
fire chiefs from
major urban centers.
Cameli received the
honor in March.
" Chief Cameli is an
incredible leader and
tireless supporter
of all things fire
service, " said Russ
Sanders, executive
secretary of the
Metro Chiefs. " She is
that rare leader who
brings both big-picture vision and
nuts-and-bolts hard
work to the table. No
matter the request,
Chief Cameli is
always among the
first to jump in and
do the heavy lifting. "
Cameli has served
MFMD since 1983
and has been chief
since 2016. She
is credited with
spearheading the
department's community health care
model, which is
regarded as a " gold
standard " in the
industry, according
to an NFPA press
release. Cameli is
also vice chair of
the executive board
of the International
Fire Service Training
Association, vice
president of the
board of the Center
for Public Safety
Excellence, and
co-chair of the International Association
of Fire Chiefs Women
Chiefs Council.
To learn more
about the Metro
Chiefs, visit nfpa.org/
metro.

N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL

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NFPA Journal - Summer 2021

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