JOINT NORTH-SOUTH COMMITTEE MEETING MINTUES
FIRE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

February 8, 2001

Attendees:

Laura Blaul, Co-Chair Fire South -Orange County Fire Authority
Rocque Yballa , Co-Chair Fire North -South San Francisco FD
Jim Monty, Co-Chair Fire North -Manteca-Lathrop FD
Tom Oakes, Co-Chair Fire South -Burbank FD
Ron Keffer, Co-Chair Haz Mat--Menlo Park FD
Kent Miller, Co-Chair Haz Mat-Stockton FD
Joe Garcia, Co-Chair Building -Office of SFM
Gini Krippner, Co-Chair Building -Modera FD
Larry Ballard Orem,- Utah Department of Public Safety
John Donelan - OSHPOD
Page Dougherty - ICBO/IFCI
Stephen Harrington - Sunnyvale Department of Public Service
Bill Hatcher - El Segundo FD
Ray Johnson - Redding FD
Lynn Kawate - Fresno FD
Gary Massetani - San Francisco FD
Gail Millaud - Folsom FD
Rich Momii - Culver City FD
Ken Quick - Culver City FD
Tim Rapella - Millipitas FD
Mike Schmidt - Fresno FD
Kevin Scott - Kern County Fire
Cliff Vaniman - Santa Rosa FD
Karen Vaudreuil - Brea FD

  1. Self-Introductions and introductions of committee co-chairs.
  2. Direction. Tom discussed the Cal Chiefs resolution passed on February 2 (attached) which states members shall support the 2000 UFC. This has been our position since CBSC decision last October so no impact on current activities. There are several new provisions that we do not support and will review to recommend revision (amendments) at the local level. They were approved due, in part, to our lack of opposition to special interest proposals, e.g., ASTs and hazmat (we were concentrating on the IFC and only monitoring the UFC after development of the 1998 Supplement).
  1. State Amendments. John Guhl submitted SFM amendments to the 2000 UFC last month. He distributed copies and stated that there were few new amendments but quite a bit of "clean-up" and clarification. SFM will propose 85% of the UFC for adoption. Added a new chapter on fire alarm systems to CBC to correlate with CFC, added the State adoption/amendments of standards to CFC and deleted the requirements for smoke detectors in corridors of R-1s (model code language). CBSC stated that any further amendments will be considered if submitted before the March 1 meeting. If you have suggestions, please write it up in the correct form. John also reported that the CBSC is attempting to accelerate the adoption/publication process for the CFC/CBC – most likely between Jan-July 2002.
  2. IFC. Hearings in Portland, March. There are 168 proposals and we will prepare positions on each and continue monitoring development of the "I" codes.
  3. NFPA 1 UFC. The draft is available and the comment period ends June 8. The draft includes changes from the UFC as well as text brought in from other NFPA pamphlets. We will comment on UFC or NFPA 1 provisions to the NFPA 1 Committee but comments on extracted language must be submitted to the applicable NFPA Committee. Now is the best time to comment (future process uncertain). Concerns include applicability to existing buildings in addition to several other provisions. The next NFPA Western Regional Committee meeting on March 6 and 7 in Sacramento (membership funded by NFPA and open to public).
  4. Title 19. Rocque provided an update on the status of the regulations. The regs are outdated (especially extinguishers and tents). Not possible to completely incorporate into T-24 as several provisions are related to SFM licensing/revenue generating programs. Last year, the committee agreed to move forward with merging overlapping provisions in T19 and T24 but progress has been slow. Rocque has discussed this with the current State T19 Coordinator, Jeanie Smith, who supports in concept. He shared an outline (with those within view of his laptop screen) and additional work is needed. We will include revisions to the matrix to distinguish between local fire responsibility (delegated) and SFM responsibility. The South will draft the local fire official portion and the North will do the State portion.
  5. Applicability of CFC. There was a discussion on applicability of CFC to various occupancies. Will the entire UFC become the CFC for application to all buildings within the state? Do state amendments apply to all occupancies or only those that the state agencies have statutory authority to regulate? Why doesn’t the darn matrix and description clarify this? How should we adopt locally—CFC and UFC or UFC only (CFC already adopted). Once answered, we will draft a local adopting ordinance for presentation to the State and a request for incorporation into the introduction to T-24.
  6. Building Staff. Joe Garcia gave an update on the activities of their Committee (South doesn’t have one). They have been focusing on CBC adoption and review of development of amendments to the 2002 CBC. In a short period of time (SFM gave them from Oct 22 to Nov 15) they presented 18 proposals to the SFM and all were accepted. They are now looking forward to working on the IBC and are considering review of NFPA 5000. They will run amendments past South’s Fire Code Committee, as the South does not currently have a Building Committee (but we need one--volunteers?).
  7. CALBO Coordination. Joe Garcia also reported that they are looking at coordinating efforts with CALBO on both Fire and Building Committees—proposal to the Exec. Board under development. We had a good start with two CALBO members (Lee Braun and Dave Martinez) in attendance at their meeting today. They stated their position was to track both NFPA and ICC processes and codes to choose the best code for the State in 2005.
  8. Presentations. President of the North, Rick Terry, presented the Nor Cal co-chairs with plaques and/or updates to plaques in appreciation for their service.
  9. Schools. What is the status of access and water regulations proposed by our committees to SFM/DSA? The proposals were signed by both parties but never incorporated into regulations. It appears that, with the change in leadership, this may not take place? John Guhl stated he would attempt to find and include the document.

Next Meeting:

March ??? 

Respectfully Submitted,Laura Blaul, Co-chair Fire Code Committee South