Building Standards
Building Standards Committee: Northern Division
Co-chairs:
Christine Reed
Central County Fire Department
1399 Rollins Road
Burlingame, CA 94010
(650) 558-7617
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Robert Marshall
Contra Costa County Fire Protection District
2010 Geary Road
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(925) 941-3300
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The Building Standards Committee went through another transition during the year with the departure of Co-chair Gini Krippner who was elected to the Board. Robert Marshall from Contra Costa Fire Protection District filled Gini’s Co-chair vacancy and with continuing Co-chair, Christine Reed from the Central County Fire Department.
As we continued our commitment to the International Code Council (ICC) code development process, the majority of the our mid-month meetings were spent researching and evaluating proposed state and national code changes for organizational support. Through joint efforts between our Committee and our Southern California counterparts, we created reference worksheets of our positions for the California Fire Chiefs Association (CFCA) members who attended the ICC Committee Hearings in Baltimore, Maryland in November.
The NorCal and SoCal Building Code committees worked cohesively to create and present three proposals at the ICC Committee hearings. CFCA was successful at the committee hearings in the approval of the installation of vents in refuse and laundry chutes within I-2 occupancies as well as the removal of conflicting language for exiting from R-3 occupancies. A third proposal for the International Residential Code (IRC) requiring a second exit from the 3rd story over 1,000 square feet in R-3 occupancies was voted down by the ICC Committee.
Our Committee continued to communicate with California Building Official’s (CALBO) Tri-Chapter group on various code proposals. We continued our participation in the adoption of the California Codes, coordinating efforts with the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM), CALBO and other interested parties.
In an effort to increase member participation, our Committee continued efforts to recruit new Committee members to now include members from the fire service, building departments and related design professional backgrounds. Committee members met monthly to keep involved and up to date with the code development process as well as to discuss additional pertinent issues facing the fire service.
2010 Goals:
- Continue to participate in state and national code development processes.
- Strengthen the alliance between the fire and building code committees during the code development process.
- Recruit new Committee members, retain regular Committee members and encourage their participation in the Committee’s activities.
- Provide support to the Fire Service Education Committee by providing training opportunities.
