In the first quarter of 2009, Hazardous Materials Co-chairs Kent Miller and Paul Inouye stepped down from their positions on the Committee. Filling their positions were Fire Marshal from the City of West Sacramento, Jason Rizzi, and former Hazardous Materials Co-chair and Assistant Fire Marshal from Menlo Park Fire District, Ron Keefer.

During Kent and Paul’s tenure, they did an excellent job as Co-chairs by keeping the membership informed of new regulations and participating in the writing of hydrogen fueling standards and L-Occupancy requirements.

Hazardous Materials Class

In June, the Committee sponsored a class on basic hazardous materials inspections. The class was taught by Mr. Will Winslow, a well know hazardous materials consultant from the northwest. Topics included inspections of H-2 Occupancies, Bio Diesel requirements in the International Fire Code (IFC), inspecting refrigeration equipment and requirements for stationary battery rooms. Positive feedback was received from the participants in the class which was held in West Sacramento.

Code Development Hearings

IFC Code Development Hearings were held in Baltimore Maryland in late October. There was much communication with representatives from the semiconductor industry regarding changes they wanted to see made to the Fire Code, including raising allowances for transporting Hazardous Production Materials (HPM) through exit corridors, and allowances for the use of sub-atmospheric gases in ion implanters.

The Committee also sponsored a change to the Fire Code that added clarification to the method by which flammable and combustible liquids may be dispensed. We were successful in getting this code change passed.

L Occupancy

Most of the code development regarding L Occupancies was completed by January 2009; however a few key items still remained. Both Co-chairs participated in the final days of open discussions that consisted of a committee with both industry and fire service professionals. The final document was prepared by the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) and has since gone forward to the California Building Standards Commission.

Dry Cleaning

Dry Cleaning came to the front of several discussions throughout the year. The dry cleaning industry in California was faced with an Air Quality Regulation that phased out Perchlorethylene (Perc), the primary solvent used for dry cleaning which is non-flammable. The solvents that are currently being used to replace the Perc are Class II or III Combustible Liquids. Since the dry cleaning process causes static charges, use of a combustible liquid in dry cleaning is of concern to the fire service.

In order to use the Class II or III combustible liquids, dry cleaners needed to change their dry cleaning equipment to new machines that control static and accept the use of the different type of solvent. Many committee members were finding that dry cleaners were changing their machines without getting proper permits as required by the Fire Code, and when proper permits were obtained, ground contamination was always being discovered from spills of Perc.

According to Section 1208 of the California Fire Code, it appeared that if a dry cleaner changed their machine from using non-flammable solvent to a combustible liquid, the entire dry cleaning establishment would be required to retro-fit the building with a fire sprinkler system. The Committee requested a code interpretation from the International Code Council (ICC) in April 2008 and found that sprinklering existing occupancies was exactly what the Code was saying.

At the Code Development Hearings in Baltimore, the dry cleaning industry proposed a code change that would exempt the fire sprinkler requirement if the dry cleaner used a Class III-A liquid and the dry cleaning machine was equipped with other safety equipment that would prevent a fire from occurring. The California Fire Chiefs Association (CFCA) supported this concept and as such helped in moving this requirement forward.

Committee Membership

The Committee continually seeks active Committee members from Northern, Central and Southern California. We work closely with other Sub Committees including the Fire Code, the Building Standards and Equipment and Devices. And we continue play an active roll in Legislative issues.

In the up coming year, we hope to be more involved in reporting items of concern to the Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) process. We would also like to include the participation of smaller county groups such as the Santa Clara County Hazardous Materials Inspectors and Managers Committees.