NFPA Journal - Fall 2023 - 10

Editor's Note by Scott Sutherland
Executive Editor, NFPA Journal
July Flame
P
icked up pieces while giving
thanks for having to endure
only the New England humidity
and rain as opposed to the
oven-like conditions tormenting
much of the country this summer:
We note in this issue the passing of Dr.
Rita Fahy ( " Safety Star, " page 20), who
helped power NFPA's formidable research
effort for 44 years. I recall an early encounter
with Rita where she gamely attempted
to explain to me why the use of the word
" panic " in media accounts of behavior in
fires and other events was often misplaced
and sometimes harmful. She met my slackjawed
incomprehension with patience, a wry
wit, and a fierce attention to precision and
detail. " With this colloquial use of the word,
the concept of panic can put the responsibility
for inappropriate response on the victim,
and as a result, leave the impression that
life-safety precautions could not or would
not have prevented the resulting deaths, "
she wrote in a paper on the subject. " Over
several decades, studies specifically looking
at panic behavior in fires have consistently
shown that non-adaptive and irrational
behaviors are actually a rare occurrence. "
Rita, I'm pleased to report that I get it.
I can also say that, largely through your
efforts, the human behavior angle of fire
and life safety is one of the most compelling
topics we cover in this magazine. Thanks for
all the wisdom-you'll be missed.
Here at NFPA Journal we're big believers
in sharing, which is why we've attached QR
codes to two stories in this issue: our cover
story on the challenges facing the nation's
911 dispatch system, starting on page 28,
and our lead " Dispatches " story, " Facing
the Risk, " concerning the troubling trend of
fires involving buildings under construction,
beginning on page 12. Scan, tap, and share-
it's that easy.
Speaking of oven-like temps, in July I
read a New York Times opinion piece by Jeff
Goodell, author of the forthcoming book The
Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on
a Scorched Planet. As others have observed,
Goodell's sobering assessment was that the
extreme heat that is flash-frying many parts
of the world this summer is not a freakish
event, but rather another headlong step
toward our burning future. " The wildfires
in Canada, the orange Blade Runner skies
on the East Coast, the hot ocean, the rapidly
melting glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica
and the Himalayas, the high price of food,
the spread of vector-borne diseases in unexpected
places-it is all connected, and it is
all driven by rising heat, " he wrote. " Extreme
heat is the engine of planetary chaos. We
ignore it at our peril. " We'll take a deeper
dive into heat's impact on fire and life safety,
emergency management, and more in our
international-themed winter 2023 issue.
Until then, stay cool, stick to the shade, and
think snow.
THE NFPA JOURNAL MISSION It is the mission of NFPA Journal to provide NFPA members and
other stakeholders with important information on fire, electrical, and life safety topics and on issues
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NFPA; the meaning and intent of NFPA codes and standards can be obtained only through NFPA's
published procedures for requesting formal interpretations. The contents of this magazine may not
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10 | NFPA JOURNAL * FALL 2023
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Scott Sutherland
ssutherland@nfpa.org
ART DIRECTION
EmDash
emdashonline.com
SENIOR EDITOR
Jesse Roman
jroman@nfpa.org
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Ellen M. Cosgrove
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