Columns

NFPA Journal®, May/June 2005

Comments? We welcome your letters, comments, and story suggestions. Please send your information to: NFPA Journal, 1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269-9101; E-mail: jnicholson@nfpa.org

Avoiding tragedy
While reading the latest edition of the NFPA Journal [March/April 2005] I noticed several articles that dealt with the unfortunate outcome of fires in houses with no smoke detectors and other articles stating that detector-equipped structures save lives. The message was quite clear, smoke detectors save lives.

What was less clear was what steps to take to stop the needless, avoidable fire deaths. All of us in the fire service have seen people dying for the same reason repeatedly. How many times have you heard the talk, “if only they would have had smoke detectors?”

The City of Pontiac, Michigan, in 2004, took steps to end this avoidable tragedy. An ordinance was passed that was said to be the most strict in the nation (although I have no knowledge of this), requiring smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in rental housing units.

The ordinance requires that each rental unit within the city shall place lithium, tamper-proof, and carbon monoxide detectors (in accordance with current construction code) within 90 days of passage of the ordinance. The ordinance was passed in February of 2004. Further, the ordinance requires hard-wired, battery-backed-up, interconnected smoke detectors to be mandatory, again as with placement per current code, on the following schedule: one-third of an owner’s rental properties in 2007, another one-third in 2008, and the final third in 2009.

It has been our experience that many property owners are opting to hard-wire right away, thus only paying once for the same property. Fire Prevention personnel do acceptance testing and signoff. The owner retains a copy of our signoff sheet, as do we. The owner benefits from insurance breaks, as well as documentation to use in the event of a tragedy. There are also legal penalties written in for owners who fail to comply and for tenants who remove detectors.

Lives are being saved by the ordinance. It works. Since its passage, we have had one fire death, and only then when a tenant willfully defeated a detector.

For more information, contact Chief Wilburt “Skip” McAdams at Pontiac Fire Department, 123 East Pike Street, Pontiac, MI 48342.

Dan Durham
Fire Marshal
City of Pontiac, Michigan

NFPA responds:
We would also like to add that smoke alarms are the residential fire safety success story of the past quarter century. Smoke alarm technology has been around since the 1960s. But the single-station, battery-powered smoke alarm we know today became available to consumers in the 1970s, and since then, the home fire death rate has been reduced by half. Most states have laws requiring them in residential dwellings.

Important: Working smoke alarms are essential in every household. It is necessary to practice home fire drills to be certain everyone is familiar with the smoke alarm signal, and to determine if there are any obstacles to a quick and safe evacuation (including the inability for some to awaken to the smoke alarm signal).

Additional factors to consider
I read with great interest the article on the “Great Escape” by Kevin G. McGuire that was published in the NFPA Journal of the March/April 2005 Issue.

In addition to the key points that were were highlighted in the developing of an evacuation plan, I wish to add a few more points:

While the non-disabled people have the ability to walk down the long flight of stairs, however, a contingency plan would also be needed for them to get out or for them to be rescued if they are trapped above the fire floor(s) in a blazing high-rise that is beyond the reach of the super aerial ladder.
A disability evacuation plan will not be complete if there is no provision of appropriate escape devices for their self-reliance escape or appropriate equipment that enable people to safely assist them to evacuate. At some point in the process of search and rescue, depending on the life threat level of the emergency situation, rescue workers may have to get the disabled people out. With the provision of appropriate escape devices or equipment will give a better chance for the disabled to get out alive and would also be easier for the helpers to assist them in the evacuation.
What are the recommended “alternative means for people with mobility impairments to be safely evacuated” ... without using the elevator? Would the relevant authorities or bodies provide some guidance as to what are the equipment and escape devices that are considered to be relatively safe for use as “alternative means” of escape?

John Ng
Escape Consult Mobiltex

Seeking more support
As a Certified Fire Safety Instructor who trains staff who work with people with disabilities, I am encouraged by your recently published article entitled “The Great Escape: Developing an evacuation plan for people with disabilities” [March/April 2005]. It was a well-presented article with many good tips concerning the needs of people with disabilities, particularly about the development of a disability evacuation plan. I am also encouraged by NFPA’s commitment, as expressed by NFPA’s president, James M. Shannon, to fully address the safety needs of people with disabilities through careful planning and training.

Where I am discouraged is when I scour every NFPA training catalogue as soon as it arrives at my desk to see if there are any suitable videos to use to train staff who work with people with developmental and other cognitive disabilities. I am always disappointed as there are none. I have contacted NFPA several times to ask that such a training video be developed, but to my knowledge, none has. Maybe with this new interest and commitment, your education department could look at developing appropriate training materials, which reflect the varied needs of people with disabilities. By some estimates, about seven percent of the U.S. population, or about 20 million people, have some form of disability. It’s about time something be done about their safety.

David Plowright, MHS
Executive Director
Potomac Center, Inc.
Romney, West Virginia

NFPA responds:
In January, NFPA began distributing an Evacuation Training package with print and video/DVD components, produced by Kevin G. McGuire, who wrote the NFPA Journal article.

The Disability Evacuation Plan Set is a complete toolkit that helps safety directors develop and implement evacuation plans that comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

The package includes:

Two Developing Your Plan videos (VHS and DVD)—Presentation of a five-step approach including designating evacuation routes, staff training, and coordinating with local emergency responders. (17 min.)
Two Executing Your Plan videos (VHS and DVD)—Demonstrations of how to evacuate people with 4 different types of impairments: visual, cognitive or emotional, hearing, and mobility. (18 min.)
One Companion Guidebook —Templates, checklists, forms, and other tools for plan development and implementation and employee training.

For more information, visit NFPA's Online Catalog.

In this Section:

			Buzzwords New technology requires more training

			Firewatch Smoke in elevated train injures 73

			First Word Fighting for equality for people with disabilities

			Heads Up Protect against freezing year-round

			In A Flash NFPA certifications

			In Compliance Bills offer an economic incentive

			Mail Call Letters to the editor

			Outreach Preventing cooking fires

			Structual Ops Accountability systems

			Treasurer's Report 2004 NFPA Treasurer’s Report