Fire Equipment & Devices Committee

Southern Division

Co-chairs:

Walter Brandes

Riverside County Fire Department
(760) 863-8886
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Bill Hopple

Hopple & Company

1040 Menay Drive

Tracy, CA 95376-9777

(209) 814-8988

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The year of 2009 saw Committee member participation on specific issues, but had an overall decrease in other general activities. Other than the basic yearly committee functional procedures, the following are the major agenda items the Committee addressed:

Legislative Review

At the direction of California Fire Chiefs Association (CFCA) to the Executive Board, the Committee was assigned to review AB 660 – Sprinkler fitters: licensing, SB 405 – Contractors: fire sprinkler installation, SB 1127 – School facilities: automatic fire sprinkler systems, SB 183 – Carbon monoxide alarms, and SB 275 – Professional engineers. The primary objective of this Committee was to evaluate the proposed bills and offer constructive feedback to the overall content and then provide an analysis to the Executive Board for their consideration whether or not to support the bill and subsequently report back to CFCA. In March, north and south Devices Committees met in Buellton to host presentations from the proponents to AB 660 and SB 405. After hearing the presentations from the two competing proponents, the Committee reviewed the remaining proposed bills and developed a report for the Executive Boards to develop position statements on each proposed bill.

ICC Code Review

The Committee was assigned a list of new International Code Council (ICC) code proposals that were scheduled to be heard at the next ICC code hearings. The Committee members submitted individual comments to each proposal, which in turn was gathered and then discussed collectively for consensus. Upon gaining consensus, the results were submitted to the Code Development Committee. Additional communication ensued between the North and South Devices Committees to resolve minor conflicts in positions for several code proposals.

NFPA 170

The Committee continued this item from 2008 and pursued the State wide adoption and implementation of NFPA 170 for fire alarm system symbols on fire alarm plan submittals. The Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) was approached and the standard was subsequently adopted for implementation for the 2010 Code cycle.

Refrigeration Detection

This issue continues to be a long-standing agenda item for this Committee. Past efforts to work with the industry to address the technical issues of refrigeration detection, as required by Code and the ability to perform per the equipment listings, has seen little support from industry. One refrigeration manufacturing company continues to show interest in addressing the technical issues and is willing to actively work with this Committee as time and resources permit.

Fire Alarm Matrix

The fire alarm matrix was finally completed. The document was posted on the California Fire Prevention Officers’ (CFPO) Web site for access and use by the fire service and public at large.