Safety Matters Monthly Newsletter of the FFMIA and FAFLSE

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Puddin Race,

St. Lucie County

puddin@slcfd.org
Tel.: 772-621-3450

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Greetings from Jon

Greetings:

The Legislative session is in full swing and your Legislative committee has been very busy tracking and lobbying for a number of fire service bills. It is obvious that the policy makers in Tallahassee are intent on keeping costs to a minimum for residents with the current state of the economy. All efforts are focused on preserving the Florida Fire Prevention Code and minimizing any impacts on our ability to enforce fire safety codes. What is of great concern is the continuing budget cuts that may result in further unfunded mandates cast upon our local operations. Stay tuned on this one and we will provide any updates or calls to action as necessary.

On a lighter note, April brings our annual visit to the State Capitol to honor those recipients that your Association has chosen to represent the best of contributions to Florida's fire service.

This years' "Of the Year Award" recipients are:
Fire Marshal of the Year, Foster Gover from the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District
Fire Inspector of the Year Maurice Majszak from the Tallahassee Fire Department
Fire Investigator of the Year Mark Sauls from the Division of State Fire Marshals Office
Public Educator of the Year Trish Dunklemann from the Delray Beach Fire Rescue Department

Once again I would like to congratulate all of these fine people for being recognized for their accomplishments and it is a great honor to join them as they are recognized by the State Fire Marshals Office and the Governor and Cabinet. Please take a look around you as we are currently seeking those who will be honored for their commitments to the fire service at the Fire and Life Safety Educators Conference in June and the Annual Fire Prevention Conference in November.

The Board of Directors has been working on other initiatives discussed at our annual business meeting and you will soon hear about activities related to the Juvenile Firesetters Grant and what's next, as well as business, succession and and continuity planning for the administration of the Association.

Stay alert as we are in the height of wildfire season and stay informed on all legislative issues. Work hard to preserve your budget in these tough ties and let's continue to show the rest of the world why Florida is a recognized leader in the world of fire protection.

Sincerely yours in a fire safe State of Florida,

Jon W. Pasqualone, President
Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association

Salutations from Puddin

We are in need of nominations for the "Educator Of the Year" award and applications for conference scholarships.

Please get those nominations to our Vice Chair, Liz Monforti, as soon as possible. Her contact information is:

Liz Monforti,

Public Education/Information
Palm Harbor Fire Rescue
250 West Lake Road
Palm Harbor, FL 34684
Phone: 727-683-1647
emonforti@palmharborfd.com

We have many talented educators out there who are deserving of recognition. The Of The Year recipient can be nominated by a supervisor or a peer. Put on those thinking caps and take a little time to nominate your favorite educator.

The 2009 Conference will be held at beautiful Howey in the Hills in the center part of the state. It is just a short trip to Disney and almost next door to Orlando's other attractions. This would be a great time for you to bring your families along, who could be visiting all the neighboring attractions while you attend conference.

Have you found just the right article for the auction? Wait until you see all the great items up for bid. Educators bid on these items, providing much of our funding for scholarships each year. How about a quilt embroidered with fire trucks? What's your bid? See what great item you can bring for auction. I'm challenging you to find the item that will produce the bidding war!

Important Notice Regarding Student ID's

Remember... the association no longer accepts social security numbers when signing the sign in sheets at our seminars or conferences. You will need to go to the Florida State Fire College Website, get signed in and get your Student ID. This is the only number that will be accepted.

Article Provided by:

Chuck Akers

Executive Director, FFMIA

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Palm Harbor Fire Rescue Receives Accredited Agency Status

On March 10, 2009, Palm Harbor Fire Rescue received Accredited Agency status for the second time with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) for meeting the criteria established through the CFAI's voluntary self-assessment and accreditation program.

The concept of fire service accreditation was created to provide fire service agencies with a systematic, voluntary process for evaluating their programs and processes using an established set of professional criteria. Accreditation by a recognized accrediting agency serves as a significant indicator that Palm Harbor Fire Rescue is meeting established standards and stated objectives. The CFAI accreditation process provides a well-defined, internationally recognized benchmark system used to measure the delivery of fire and emergency services to a community. Using this process of accreditation, CFAI's objectives include:

Providing an accreditation system that improves the ability of fire agencies and community members to readily recognize and understand potential fire risks and hazards and other emergency protection needs
Determining local fire agencies' need for up-to-date resources and emergency service delivery systems
Improving the quality of life in communities around the world served by fire and emergency service organizations
Rewarding those who actively participate in our accreditation program, achieving excellence in service and establishing a plan for continuous improvement

"The re-accreditation of Palm Harbor Fire Rescue is a demonstration of our unyielding commitment to provide the highest quality service to our community", said Fire Chief James Angle. "Our firefighters and staff work hard to continuously improve the quality and enhancement of service delivery.

Palm Harbor Fire Rescue is the only Special Fire Control District in the State of Florida to receive this status.

Article Provided by:

Liz Monforti, FAFLSE Vice Chair

Palm Harbor, Public Education/Information

Phone: 727-683-1647
mailto:emonforti@palmharborfd.com

Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Specialist I & II Class Offering

Hosted By: Palm Beach County Fire Rescue
Sponsored By: Florida Association of Fire and Life Safety Educators
Fire Marshals Association of Palm Beach County

Date: August 25th - August 28th, 2009

Time: 7:30am - 6:00pm

(4 - 10 hour days)

JFIS I approved for 12.0 ceu's for Firesafety Inspector/Special Fire Safety Inspector/Instructor I, II, III
JFIS II approved for 16.0 ceu's for Firesafety Inspector/Special Fire Safety Inspector/8.0 for Instructor I, II, III

(Seating Limited to 40 Attendees - First Come First Serve)

Click Here for more information and printable Registration Form

21st Fire and Life Safety Educators Conference

The Changing Face of Public Education
"Educating your Diverse Community"

31 Contact Hours (applied for)

Date: June 15th - June 18th, 2009

Early Registration Deadline - May 29th, 2009

WE ONLY NEED YOUR REGISTRATION FORM TO BEAT THE DEADLINE

Click Here for printable Registration form

For program information, click here or go to our website www.ffmia.org

Fire Inspector/Arson Arson Investigator Seminar Set for May

FLORIDA FIRE MARSHALS AND INSPECTORS ASSOCIATION
and the
FLORIDA CHAPTER OF THE
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ARSON INVESTIGATORS

Presents:
FIRE INSPECTOR/ARSON INVESTIGATOR EDUCATION SEMINAR

Date: May 4th - May 8th, 2009

Room Reservation Deadline is April 3rd, 2009

Click here for printable Registration form

For program information click here or go to our website: www.ffmia.org

90 Acres Burned Due to Careless Disposal of Cigarette

City of Stuart Fire Rescue has a witness to a careless individual throwing out a cigarette from vehicle. According to Chapter 590.10 of FL's Forest Fire Laws - it is unlawful for any person to throw, drop, or dispose of a lighted match, cigarette, cigar, ashes or other flammable or glowing substance, or any substance or thing which may or does cause a wildfire. Anyone who violates this section commits a misdemeanor of the 1st degree. Also, that person could be liable for the cost of suppression.

Through cooperative efforts of the City of Stuart Fire Rescue, Martin County Fire Rescue, St. Lucie County Fire District and the Division of Forestry the fire was able to be controlled in one afternoon and evening. By press time of this newsletter, the area was still being checked regularly for flareups. A school and several homes had to be evacuated, but there were no injuries reported.

This area has not experienced fire in over 30 years. Fire is good for this eco-system. The fire cleans the forest floor of dead vegetation and allows sunlight in to grow new vegetation from the ash. There will be some tree mortality but the trees that survive will grow bigger and stronger because they will not have to compete for nutrients, sunlight and water. The forest floor will lush with new sprout and the ground animals (deer, bunnies & tortoises) will have a buffet to feast from.

Article provided by:
Melissa Yunas, Wildfire Mitigation Specialist
FL Division of Forestry, Okeechobee District
(Martin, Saint Lucie, Okeechobee, Highlands & Glades Counties)
Office Line 772.467.3008

Cell Phone 772.260.0053

Seeing It From The Other Side

Sometime back, October of 2007 to be exact, I offered a few thoughts for our venerable newsletter entitled, "The Meaning of Responsibility". In that article, many of the points can be found to apply to the subject of this piece. Accounts from around the state that come my way through FFMIA, often well up in me throughts that extend to and beyond responsibility. that is the driving force behind this article.

In the former article it was noted that, "Responsibility by definition is associated with someone or something for which a person or organization is responsible. It can carry the weight of one's accepting blame for something that has happened; and it is also a role wherein a person is aurhorized to make decisions independently. Some synonyms include liability, accountability and duty, but my favorites are conscientiousness and trustworthiness. It is within these latter words that I am focused on in this article."

Fast forward to April of 2009. To make certain that we, as Life Safety managers charged with the responsibilities of oversight for the "minimum" degree of life safety (LSC 1.2) carry out our roles in a fair and equitable manner, we must figure out how to go about doing it so that we are not found in violation of our responsibilities. Considering synonyms for the word 'responsibility' is one way suggested in the October 2007 article. Another way to do it is to consider the very title of this piece, Seeing It From The Other Side, and then let's all start seeing what we do from '...the other side'. What exactly does that mean?

It means that there is more to this thing called Life Safety Management than simply making people do things to comply with code. It means we should be inculcating in our 'customers', that is to say, our public at-large, why it is that what we do is not only necessary, but of critical importance to them.

In like manner then, our customers should be helping us to see things from their side, so we can appreciate what they're doing as relevant too, right? But that typically doesn't happen. Why not? Because of the security wall known as 'AHJ' or as some property owners, developers and contractors have been known to say, it's the 'My way or the highway' syndrome. That wall or syndrome needs to be knocked down.

So pervasive is this syndrome though, there are AHJ's that won't show any deference to other AHJ's even when it's been demonstrated that a wrong has been done. Such was the case some years back with the former occupational licensing issue. Communities were not issuing occupational licenses until the fire department conducted a fire safety inspection AND signed off that it was okay. This in the face of an AGO ruling that the occupational license was a tax and it must be issued when the tax was paid (paraphrased by the author). Has everyone made the appropriate changes?

In another case, one local authority with a local fire sprinkler ordinance set at 5,000 square went so far as to count the area under a porta cochere so it could say that the building was more than the threshold and force it to be sprinklered even though it did not advocate providing sprinkler protection under the porta cochere. At an FFMIA conference some years ago a fire sprinkler contractor appealed to the audience when he asked if it was really necessary to fail his people on a final inspection, require and charge a reinspection fee simply because the print demonstrated that the spacing of heads on the approved plans showed 12' separation and they were actually 11' 9". Despite that, the coverage was still correct.

Then of course there is the venerable AHJ 'get out of jail free' card when the code says, "Subject to the approval of the authority having jurisdiction", or "...may be altered if approved by the authority having jurisdiction". To many persons functioning as the AHJ, this is tacit authority to deny and hassle people. Too often, denials are presented by an AHJ to a 'customer', but with no clear direction of what needs to be done to meet the requirements from which they have been rejected (see NFPA 1 1.7.14.4 Florida edition).

Failure to provide clear direction and assistance to our customers is conduct that can only be described as deleterious, injurious or harmful. For example and these are rather simplistic examples, but in reality constitute what arguably takes place to greater and more harmful degree; consider this: A property owner comes in to speak with the local fire official about expanding his/her existing mercantile business. The obvious interest for the owner is the cost of the proposed expansion, right? He/she needs to know what the potential total costs are. So this principally includes zoning, building and fire code regulations. Should any of these, in the mind of the owner, be excessive, then perhaps he/she makes a decision not to proceed. The point is - it's their decision and the local officials in effect are serving as confidants with the responsibility to share all relative information with them.

So after leaving discussions with officials, it is discovered that the owner was not told about a local fire sprinkler requirement which, although below the threshold of the model codes that the owner is already privy to, would be applicable, which he/she is not privy to, thus adding thousands of dollars to the owner's costs. When challenged, the fire official says "I'll tell him during plans review". That's too late! A wrong has been committed.

What was that discussion about responsibility and 'seeing it from the other side'? Making matters worse, some officials modify the code on the 'run', i.e. disallowing CVPC pipe where NFPA 13 clearly allows it. Chapter 1.10 of NFPA 1 potentially identifies such actions as 'arbitrary' or 'unreasonable' (1.10.9.1) and makes these situations appealable.

There are many similar examples, some of which go so far as to perpetuate misinterpretation of code even when peers have gone on record declaring irrefutable evidence of the wrong. Knowing this helps us understand the recent changes in statute about professional conduct and the potential consequences for improper performance (see s.633.081) of certified persons in this state.

There are at least three points of reference to help us insure that we do not succumb to errors in the area of responsibility and integrity:

Try seeing it [the current matter] from the other person's side, especially when he/she objects to what they're being told. Now then, I don't mean respond to every frivolous objection, but when a person with direct or peripheral credentials says to us that they've never heard of this or that, or perhaps they opine that they know of factors which completely assail what's being required by the AHJ; how about listening to them and then actually consider the import of what's being said?
Another protection against doing it incorrectly is to modify the approach. Why not look at the matter and instead of looking for a mechanism to deny, why not look at it in such a way so as to actually help and thus allow what's being proposed to take place? Doing it this way is a diametrically different approach than what is normally done and it's actually more successful and rewarding. Why so?
Because when you do it that way, you keep looking for a resolution of allowance and when all is exhausted, then you know it can or can't be done. Comparatively, if the approach is to deny for whatever the reason, as soon as you, the code official find a place to deny the petition, the search is done. Problematic...oh yes, but why? Because we fail the customer by not following through; it might be likened to going to the department or grocery store. When asked whether the store inventory has this or that, the store employee retorts, "No we don't". Maybe that's the truth, but maybe not.
The third protection is to remember that in our respective roles as public officials, we are servants, yes indeed, servants. That means we serve our public, the customer. To serve according to Miriam Webster's On-Line Dictionary means to be of use; or favorable, reliant and to discharge a duty or function.

You see, the problem is similar to the department store example; like the property owner, delegate or contractor, the public presumes that your immediate response is based upon true and accurate knowledge and it may well be. But, would it actually hurt to look a little more deeply and verify that your immediate thinking is correct especially when the customer asks us to or offers something to suggest that maybe, just maybe we're not right?

While not really suggested within all of this, it is clear that conducting ourselves in our respective roles, we need to demonstrate deference to the holistic nature of things remembering that we needn't have to find something wrong, nor do we have to present negative responses, but that allowance and denials both prove beneficial when they are properly supported by legitimate actions.

Yes, seeing it from the other side is indeed essential, while disregarding the other side is tantamount to conduct that is not acceptable. How do you see it?

Article Provided by:

Bart Wright, Assistant Fire Chief

Maitland Fire Department

"Fire Safety Begins with Me" Florida Juvenile Fire Safety Program

"Fire Safety Begins with Me"
Florida Juvenile Fire Safety Program
Florida Association of Fire and Life Safety Educators
a section of the
Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association

Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association (FFMIA) and Florida Association of Life Safety Educators (FAFLSE) are pleased to present the Florida Juvenile Fire Safety Program "Fire Safety Begins with ME" Program. This program is targeted to the middle schools with a curriculum and message that reaches out to this student population.

The OptiVize Team, led by Jim Gossett partnered with Brian Haas and the Vistalogix team to engage with the FFMIA and FAFLSE leaders on a Juvenile Firesetters FEMA grant.

The focus of the OptiVize Team was on the development, design, execution, and outreach of a Juvenile Fire Prevention program targeted at Florida's middle school students in Grades 6-8. The goal of the program is to equip educators, teachers, and caregivers with curriculum and tools to provide an age appropriate approach and content for success in this endeavor.

The curriculum is focused on three key areas: