15. Code Enforcement & Sprinklers

Advocacy must be strengthened for the enforcement of codes and the installation of home fire sprinklers.

The term “fire prevention,” as used here, means preventing accidental fires from starting and, when they do start, minimizing their growth or extinguish them prior to human intervention. A successful effort in fire prevention will mean fewer fire responses by firefighters because of a reduction in fires, and less dangerous working conditions on the fire ground as a result of smaller, contained fires. With fewer fire responses and smaller, contained fires, and a better protected public, it is clear that there will be fewer firefighter injuries and fatalities – which is the goal of our overall efforts. The 15th Initiative asks us to advocate for stronger codes and laws which will decrease the number and severity of structural and residential fires to keep our firefighters out of harm’s way.

Latest Initiative 15 News

• Wildland Firefighters Want to be Sure Everyone Goes Home® – Wildland firefighters from around the country say the status quo about safety must change. Too many wildland firefighters are dying and getting hurt. This is the key message from a series of listening sessions the NFFF held across the country.
  Learn More:
  » A Conversation with Vicki Minor & Ron Siarnicki
  » 16 Initiatives for the Wildland Firefighter
  » Everyone Goes Home® in the Wildland
  
• Make Health, Safety and Wellness Your Department’s Priority – The September issue of Firehouse Magazine features the 2018 Fire Service Health and Safety Report. This 32-page supplement emphasizes the value of a progressive, safety-focused fire service culture, and provides information and resources to help firefighters implement the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives.
  
• Working with fire sprinkler systems and automatic fire alarm systems – To help firefighters prepare for these incidents, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) launched a new training module, Automatic Fire Sprinkler and Alarm Systems, on the Fire Hero Learning Network (FHLN).
• Strategic Vision Helps Ensure Firefighter Safety and Enhance Service – To help fire departments around the nation adopt the 16 initiatives, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has created a new handbook, The Strategic Vision Guide: An Action Plan Using the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives.
• PIOs: New NFFF App Helps Keep Community & Firefighters Safe – The new Be a Hero, Save a Hero® mobile app from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) can help your community stay safe with valuable fire prevention information, special weather and seasonal notifications, and more. It’s available now for you to share with the public as you remind them to change their smoke alarm batteries… Read more »
• Fire Organizations Applaud Florida Governor Scott for Veto HB 653 – HB 653 would have allowed high–rise buildings in Florida without adequate fire and life safety systems to forego the retrofit of fire sprinklers and/or engineered life safety systems in these buildings that are currently required to come into compliance by 2020.
• Common Voices, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors Champion Fire Sprinklers After New Year’s Day Fires in Massachusetts – On New Year’s Day morning two apartment fires raged in Massachusetts. Fire ripped through a Holyoke apartment building claiming the lives of three residents and displaced over 50 others.
• Call to Action for Holiday Safety Following Tragic Maryland Fire – Sher Grogg talks about how she lost her brother, sister-in-law, and their four grandchildren in a devastating Christmas tree fire in 2015. She offers holiday safety tips so that other families do not have to experience this tragedy.
• NFFF, Kidde and BGE help Anne Arundel and Prince George’s County Fire Departments with new 10-year smoke alarms for free distribution programs – Not only do smoke alarms provide an early warning to residents of a fire in their home, they also allow for a faster notification to the fire department.
• Help us save Maryland lives! NOW! – Some Maryland lawmakers want to gut the state’s mandatory residential sprinkler law. It’s an enormous step backwards that will cost lives. As firefighters, we need to let the delegates and senators know what we know about sprinklers. They need to understand that a vote for House Bill 19 means people will be injured and die in homes that should have been sprinklered. Watch this video and listen to the message from Sher Grogg, whose brother, sister-in-law, three nieces and a nephew died a year ago in a Maryland house fire.
  
  » Sounding-off About Saving Lives