NOR CAL FIRE PREVENTION OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
www.norcal-fpo.org
Mike Stewart, President
May 16, 2003
Minutes - Monthly Membership Meeting
San Francisco, CA
Irish Cultural Center
President Mike Stewart called the May meeting to order at 0930 hours at the Irish Cultural Center in San Francisco, CA.
Tonya Hoover conducted the pledge of allegiance and Steve Hart was appointed the Sergeant at Arms.
President Stewart introduced Fire Marshal Gary Massetani who welcomed the group to San Francisco and then he introduced the Fire Chief of San Francisco, Mario Trevino. Chief Trevino spoke about the budget cuts the city was experiencing and stated that the fire prevention bureau would not be experiencing any budget cuts. He also thanked his staff for their efforts in setting up this meeting.
Fire Marshal Gary Massetani introduced Captain Tom Harvey who then introduced his staff and his Building Official. Tom also thanked Sam Husoe for his help in organizing this joint meeting with the National Fire Sprinkler Association, San Francisco Chapter (NFSA).
Visiting Fire Chiefs and Building Officials and Past Presidents were recognized.
Self-introductions were made. At this time, Rick Terry, Past President declared a quorum.
President Stewart thanked Sam Husoe and Tom Harvey for organizing the joint meeting with NFSA. He also introduced Russ Fleming, the Executive VP of NFSA, Ted Vinther, the Chairman of NFSA, San Francisco Chapter, and Ed Elek, Area Director of NFSA.
President Stewart presented the 2003-2004 proposed budget to the membership for review.
State Fire Marshal Report - Leslie Haberek and Rodney Slaughter gave an update on the code selection process for the California Building and Fire Codes and on various regulations being proposed in Title 19 for the outdoor storage of scrap tires and Title 24 relating to SB1896 for bedridden clients in residential care facilities caring for 6 or less clients. See attached report and regulations for more information.
President Stewart spoke about the May 14th meeting that he, Penni Overstreet-Murphy, Laura Blaul, and Section Chief Doug Williams attended with Cal Chiefs and Cal Metro Chiefs on which Building and Fire Codes to adopt for the State of California. NorCal and SoCal presented a unified position paper in support of the ICC codes. Laura Blaul did a spectacular job of presenting this paper to the Chiefs and her efforts and hard work in the analysis of the two codes is greatly appreciated. NFPA and ICC also gave presentations to the Chiefs. A decision by the Chiefs was not made at this meeting on which codes to support.
Darrell Harguth, Past President, who has been involved in the code development process since the 1970’s stated that he feels the ICC codes are the premier codes.
Division of the State Architect – Erin Stroub of DSA spoke about various positions being filled statewide for Fire and Life Safety Officers. She also mentioned that the Building Standards Commission approved DSA’s emergency regulations for converting existing non-school buildings for use as new public schools. DSA is also conducting a study of egress from portable classrooms. See the attached information for more details.
Legislative Report – Gene Gantt – Benicia Fire Department, Legislative Committee Chair, gave this month’s report. See the attached report for more details as well as the Nor Cal FPO’s website at www.norcal-fpo.org.
Exchange of ideas:
Steve Hart – Donated a Fire Laws book to the raffle. Steve announced that a sprinkler survey was mailed on April 4th to all the Fire Chiefs. Please take time to complete the survey when you receive it. He has received surveys from the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, the County of Los Angeles, and the Orange County Fire Authority.
Sam Husoe – Sam mentioned that a bill, H.R. 1824 was proposed in the House of Representatives that would allow a tax write off over a 5 year period for the installation of any sprinkler system in any occupancy. See the attached description of the bill and a sample letter in support of H.R. 1824. Sam also thanked the industries present for their displays and door prizes for the meeting.
Kent Miller – Kent talked about a portable plastic gasoline caddy used for storing fuel in repair garages that is not approved for use in the State of California by the State Fire Marshal’s Office. He also showed a fabric that was being used at gasoline fueling stations as a shade structure over fuel dispensing islands.
Dave Dewey – Announced a job opening for a Lateral Safety Inspector.
Kate Dargan – Mentioned an Urban Wildland Worshop taking place on June 5th and 6th.
Rick Rodewald – Stated that the date on the Proposed Budget should be changed to 2003-2004 from 2002-2003.
Tom Harvey explained the luncheon and raffle details.
Meeting was adjourned to Committees and Executive Board meeting at 10:37 a.m..
Russell Fleming, the Executive VP of NFSA, presented the afternoon program that highlighted the major changes from the 1996 to the 1999 edition of NFPA 13. See the attached summary.
Detailed committee reports are in these minutes.
Thank you San Francisco Fire Department, and the National Fire Sprinkler Association for an excellent joint meeting! We also thank the Irish Cultural Center for a great meeting location and their hospitality.
President Stewart adjourned the meeting at 1400 hours.
The next meeting will take place in Fairfield on June 27, 2003.
Respectfully submitted,
Angela Sullivan, Secretary
The Nor Cal FPO’s would like to welcome the following new members!
Craig Hart - Tuolumne County Fire Prevention Bureau
Mark Kluver - Portland Cement Association
Al Terrell - Corte Madera Fire Department
Thomas Wiley - CSG Consultants, Inc.
Erin Stroub - Division of the State Architects Office