Nfpa Journal Podcast

In this episode of the NFPA Journal® Podcast, we take a look at the NFPA Fire & Life Safety Ecosystem and how recent events in Brazil serve as prime examples of that concept. -- Have feedback on the podcast? Let us know! Email Angelo Verzoni at averzoni@nfpa.org or Jesse Roman at jroman@nfpa.org.    

On May 17, 2017, 31-year-old San Antonio firefighter Scott Deem died while searching for victims inside a burning building. After the fire, department leaders in command that night began working to build an innovative new facility, the Deem Training Center, to drill San Antonio’s firefighters on “mayday” scenarios like the one that killed Deem. Since the facility opened in 2018, not only have crews improved in search and rescue performance, the work has also proved therapeutic for everyone involved.

Escape rooms are popping up everywhere. In 2014, there were only 22 escape rooms in the United States. Today, there are over 2,000. After a fire in an escape room killed five teenagers in Poland in January, many have asked, are they safe? NFPA Journal investigates that question in this episode.   

As disasters strike around the globe with greater frequency and severity, aid agencies are increasingly relying on a worldwide army of volunteers to listen to the digital chatter on social media emanating from communities in crisis. Learn how this “social monitoring” is helping response and recovery efforts become more effective. Jesse Roman, associate editor of NFPA Journal, shares insights from his reporting of the NFPA Journal article “Chasing the Chatter,” then reads the article, which was published in the July/August 2019 issue. Please rate and review on iTunes, and provide feedback to averzoni@nfpa.org or jroman@nfpa.org.

NFPA Journal Podcast is back!!!  We're trying out a new format so please let us know what you think, send an email to AVerzoni@nfpa.org. After a deadly blaze on a movie set in New York City, experts stress the importance of fire safety on movie and TV sets.  In this NFPA Journal Podcast, Angelo Verzoni discusses what he learned in writing his article on movie set fire safety.  This article was created after a firefighter died on the film set of Motherless Brooklyn.   So again, please let us know what you think of this format, AVerzoni@nfpa.org.  And if you do like it, please share this podcast with a friend.  We are planning on releasing more episodes like this on a regularly scheduled basis so subscribe to get alerted when a new episode has been posted.

About 1 billion people worldwide live in areas known as shantytowns, informal settlements, or slums, where fire is an ever-present threat. Last year, a project carried out in a shantytown in South Africa reduced fire deaths to zero using a single, simple piece of technology: smoke alarms.

As Airbnb and other short-term rental services expand to include a range of property types, regulatory challenges create uncertainty over the level of safety those spaces should provide. BY ANGELO VERZONI

First Harvey. Then Irma. Then Maria. After three hurricanes pummeled the United States coast from late August through September, NFPA Journal's November/December issue includes interviews with several people who came face to face with all three storms. In this episode of the NFPA Journal Podcast, two of those people—Chief Samuel Peña of the Houston Fire Department and Chief David Downey of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue—share what changes they hope to bring to their departments moving forward.

Against a backdrop of active shooter events from coast to coast, NFPA began crafting its new standard on response and preparedness to active shooter and/or hostile events, NFPA 3000, in June. In this episode of the NFPA Journal Podcast, staff writer Angelo Verzoni talks with NFPA 3000 technical committee members about the need for the standard and what they hope to bring to the table in developing it.

Jesse Roman sits down with Boston's Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn to discuss how Boston became a leader in the effort to combat firefighter cancer.  

It might seem strange today, but firefighters dying from falling off fire trucks used to be a problem— from 1977 to 1987, an average of nearly four firefighters died each year from falling off of trucks. Today, the problem is virtually unheard of thanks in large part to the 1987 adoption of NFPA 1500, the first fire service occupational safety standard. In this episode of NFPA Journal Podcast, host Jesse Roman talks to fire service veterans who used to “ride the tailboard,” and learns how a few sentences in a big standard changed 200 years of tradition in the fire service and likely saved dozens of lives. Sorry for the long hiatus, the end of 2016 was kinda crazy for NFPA Journal with a special sprinkler edition, a brand new design and even a new writer, hi Angelo.  We plan on starting this back up and creating a new episode every month.  As always, feel free to email Jesse with topic ideas, thoughts on the pod and anything else.  Jesse can be reached at Jroman@nfpa.org Thanks and stay safe!   Sound effects p

With 19 different shows, in countries all over the world and in front of over 15 million patrons; making sure that every Cirque du Soleil show is up to code can seem like a herculean task.  On this episode Jesse Roman talks to the person in charge of that task, Jean-Francois Simard, International Code Advisor for Cirque.  Jesse and Jean-Francois discuss logistics, accommodating different authorities having jurisdiction and all the pain points he deals with on a day to day basis.  The interview comes from a meet up at the 2014 NFPA Conference and Expo. Be sure to share the podcast with friends and colleagues.  Email Jesse with any topics you’d like for us to cover on the podcast, JRoman@nfpa.org.

If you are a healthcare facilities manager who is looking for more resources on how to be compliant with the 2012 version of NFPA 101 and NFPA 99, please visit www.nfpa.org/cms Jesse sits down with Robert Solomon, Division Manager for Building Fire Protection at NFPA, to talk about the recent announcement by the center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS has published Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Fire Safety Requirements for Certain Health Care Facilities that require healthcare facilities to use the 2012 edition of NFPA 101® Life Safety Code® (LSC); and mandates direct compliance with the 2012 edition of NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities Code, for the first time.  Robert breaks down everything you need to know to get up to date and where you can find answers to your questions.   If you like the podcast, please rate and review us.  Want to get in touch with Jesse with ideas or thoughts on past episodes?  Jesse can be reached at JRoman@nfpa.org.    

Major thanks to Chief Goldfeder for not only talking to us but doing it after an 11 hour car ride.  I think it is safe to say that the Chief is the first guest we've had to accomplish such a feat before our interview.  For those of you very few whom haven't heard of Chief Goldfeder and the Secret list, first what's wrong with you.  Go to firefighterclosecalls.com to see Chief's website and to subscribe to his newsletter, The Secret List.  Chief Goldfeder started “The Secret List” about 20 years ago. It’s updated continuously and includes news from all over the web on firefighter incidents and accidents— how they happened, what went wrong, what firefighters can learn from it so as not to repeat.  Jesse talks with the Chief about everything under the sun, from how he started the Secret list and what makes it so successful to what drives him personal.  It's a longer podcast than we typically do but we really think you guys are going to dig it.  As usual, please let us know what you think about the podcast by ema

First off, please let us know if you like our topics and if you have any ideas for other things we can talk about. Email Jesse at jroman@nfpa.org and let us know what you think.  We've been receiving a lot of support for the podcast the past year and we would love to hear from you. In this episode, Jesse talked with Jeff Sargent and Mark Earley about the upcoming edition of the National Electrical Code.  The NEC is always a fascinating topic but this upcoming edition is jammed packed with emerging issues.  Jeff and Mark talk about the three big items the NEC is either addressing or updating; those items being photovoltaic, direct current micro grids and energy storage systems.  Please note everything talked about in this podcast will be up for review at the 2016 NFPA Conference and Expo in June.

First off, please let us know if you like this format! Email Jesse at jroman@nfpa.org and let us know what you think.  We've been receiving a lot of support for the podcast the past year and we would love to hear from you.   In this episode Jesse talked with Val Charlton of Kishugu, a private organization that runs and manages Working on Fire.  Working on Fire is a South African government program that recruits disadvantaged South Africans and, after extensive training, hires them as wildland firefighters.  Val discusses the fire regime in South Africa, how WoF is addressing the local issue and how its is translating to the globe.

Jesse takes a break from his current story on liquid natural gas and the shale revolution to give a quick update live from the NFPA Journal newsroom.  Jesse will be back in March with a brand new podcast.  In the meantime, head over to nfpa.org/xchange to see a cool new member only exclusive.  NFPA Journal is releasing early access to the main IN COMPLIANCE article in XChange so you can get access before anyone else.  Be sure to get involved in the discussion section, ask questions or comments directly to the author or with other readers.  We plan on curating the discussion on the article and have the author address some of the conversation.

What do you do when protesters set fires all over your city, then sabotage your efforts to put them out? Imagine responding to a fire only to be shot at on the fireground. In today’s NFPA Journal Podcast we hear from Jeffrey Segal, assistant chief of the Baltimore Fire Department, and Matt LaVanchy of the Pattonville, Missouri Fire District near Ferguson, Missouri about their recent experiences dealing with extreme cases of civil unrest.

Out of more than 63,000 wildland fires reported last year, specialized wildland firefighters responded to just 112, meaning local fire departments handled the rest. But there is little information about how well trained or capable municipal departments are to handle this job.  In this podcast, Jesse sits down with NFPA Senior Research Analyst Hylton Haynes to discuss a new NFPA study that looks at how prepared local fire departments are to deal with the increasing number of wildfire calls they receive each year. Haynes and other NFPA researchers interviewed 46 high-ranking fire officials from urban and rural departments on a variety of topics related to wildfire operations to find out what’s working, and where the pain points are. Hear what they discovered in this interesting podcast. 

Ken Willette, Division Manager of Public Fire Protection for NFPA, sits down with Jesse to discuss how NFPA is engaging the fire service.  Ken talks about the change undergoing the fire service right now and where the future will be heading.  Jesse and Ken also discuss the Responder Forum, NFPA’s initiative to engage the emerging thought-leaders of the fire service with experts, analysts and researchers to tackle the upcoming opportunities and challenges.  Please subscribe to the NFPA Journal podcast and feel free to send in any topic ideas and/or guests to jroman@nfpa.org