Jack Daniel

Earlier this year, national fire codes were released that not only mandate in-building radio coverage enhancement for first responders, but make that requirement retroactive to existing buildings. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) issued its latest codes, which included these provisions.

NFPA is one of the two nationally recognized code-generating groups that all local jurisdictions in the United States look to for detailed and universally applicable codes. The International Fire Code (IFC) is the other. Both have been active in making rules to protect first responders in structures no matter where they are in the U.S.

It was once believed that there was no way to induce building owners to correct the lack of lifesaving radio coverage inside their buildings, and that was true for many years. On Aug. 21, 1991, the very first in-building code was approved by the city of Burbank, Calif. Perhaps crude by today’s standards, Burbank’s code continues to serve the city well, as well as those who followed its example.

Codes, which set forth conditions and specifications, slowly improved over the years as hundreds of fire jurisdictions worked to create a recognizable, common set of standards.

The activities of so many cities, counties and states eventually became the driving force behind establishing universal codes that could be applied nationwide. As a result of petitions from their members, both NFPA and IFC began the long, tedious task of codifying in-building communications for pubic safety entities.

The codification process takes years and many association and public hearings to implement. All stakeholders are given the opportunity to express their views on what is in the code and who it applies to. Many proposed codes never make the grade.

In 2006, IFC and NFPA began drafting the core of their codes, drawing mainly from what others had done. They recognized there were many commonalities that were proven outside the association and they embraced these de facto standards. Overall, these codes look very familiar to most local authorities that had already passed their own code.

This year, NFPA has moved the original codes from NFPA-1 2009 to NFPA-72 2010, making them the newest codes in general distribution. IFC 2009 code is being revised to similar standards, which will be issued as FC 2012.

The NFPA and IFC codes carry a lot of influence over local jurisdictions to adopt as their own because enforcement can lower the fire insurance rates for the whole jurisdiction. These codes are more than communications, they call out the latest tools to reduce loss of property and life when using fire sprinklers, emergency exit signs, alerting systems and even standards for calltakers, radio dispatchers and firefighter response times.

Codes generated by these two associations are the national standards for all fire code, electrical codes, building codes, etc. This voluminous material is issued in topical books. The most current in-building codes are found in NFPA-72 1010 and IFC 2009. These volumes are updated very three years with supplements between issues.

In the APCO Conference session, “What are these new in-building codes and how do they affect you and the hardware you buy: a technical discussion” (3:15, Sunday, Aug. 1), the discussion of these codes is focused on the latest in-building communications standards.

Representatives of governmental agencies need to know more about how to get these codes enforced and how theses codes relate to existing codes. Building and fire inspectors need to know what to look for as a result of these codes. There are several areas of particular interest to those buying, selling, designing and installing public safety DAS systems.

In addition to calling out retroactive enforcement, several new technical codes have been included;

• In an effort to harden these installations, NEMA-4 cases are minimum.
• Battery backup has been increased from 12-hour to 24-hour operation.
• Antenna system integrity alarm is added.
• 70% of battery capacity remaining alarm.
• Alarms remoted to fire control room using an independent fire control panel.
• Alarm interface compatibility to standard fire alarm panels.

You will be advised about what to look for in a 100% compliant signal booster and battery backup and how to identify “almost” compliant.

The APCO class will be the very first to present NFPA-72 2010 codes to the public safety community as a whole.

About the Author
Jack Daniel is a Life Member of APCO and a member of the Commercial Advisory Council and the Editorial Advisory Committee. He has been an advisor to both NFPA and IFC since the inception of the codes. This gives him an insight to the real intent of the codes and why they were phrased in a particular manner. Daniel’s knowledge of these subjects is apparent as he is teaching IFC members the meaning and application of IFC codes at their national conference in October.