January 2003 General Membership Meeting

Orange County EOC, Loma Ridge

January 8, 2003

President Tom Oakes called the meeting to order 1030 (everyone got lost but Tom stood on the corner and waived them on in) and welcomed everyone to Orange County.

Carl Thibeault declared a quorum and self-introductions were initiated.

Past Presidents Recognition – There were 3 in attendance: Carl Thibeault, Ted Wackerman, and Scott Corrin (2001).

1. December Meeting Minutes –

• Board & Standing Committee Reports

• Upcoming Meetings. The next meeting is the North-South FPO meeting in Monterey Feb 10 – 14. There are tons of topics in a variety of tracts, as well as great networking opportunities, so plan on attending. At that time we’ll final the meeting schedule for 2003 and make it available on the website.

• Treasurer – no report.

• Secretary – See website for minutes and let Laura know if you can’t download minutes from the website; other arrangements will be made. Correspondence: Scott Corrin discussed the Cal Chiefs "Position Paper" on the upcoming code process distributed via email on Monday (see attached). Thanks to the Chiefs for encouraging chiefs to have their members join FPOs and identifying the organization’s role in code development.

• Fire Service Education. See website for upcoming classes.

• Public Education. Penni Overstreet-Murphy reported that the meeting was yesterday and will be permanently changed to the second Tuesday of each month. They discussed programs and goals for the upcoming year. The next meeting will be a joint meeting in Monterey and the March meeting will be in Rancho Santa Fe (moving around So Cal).

• Equipment and Devices. Scott Corrin reported that the extinguisher regs went into effect on Jan 1, 2003 and include the new 6-year tear down requirement in T-19. The text of the regs is on the SFM website but some are receiving calls from industry and from businesses who are confused on what’s required. The regs appear to say extinguishers are subject to one more year of annual tear down before it changes to 6-year requirements (industry may be telling businesses this is the case). We asked the SFM for an interpretation on the intent. Scott is submitting a proposal to clarify regs to say new extinguishers should be subject to tear down 6 years from the date of manufacture and 6 years from the internal tag date on existing extinguishers that have been previously serviced. Questions should be directed to Deputy Mike Waldren at 916-445-6787. The Committee meets the first Wednesday of the month in Buena Park –next meeting in March.

• Workshop Committee. Carl Thibeault reported that members can sign up for the early-preventor discount through Jan 31^st. You can also sign up during the workshop. Currently at 180 participants registered, which is the highest number at this time. Also, if you’d like to attend the SFM reg class, register right away as attendance is restricted to first 40 registrants (it’s a 20-hour class over 4 days). Re-certification to the new SFM certification series is also available but you must take the "cross over" class. All joint committee meetings (North-South) will be on Thursday morning. Next workshop will be at a new location in Rancho Santa Barbara—cost is less and a bit closer for those driving from the south.

• Fire Code Committee. Laura Blaul reported on progress on code comparison based on plan reviewing various occupancies using the ICC, NFPA and current T-24 codes. The committee has completed work on an assembly and HPS warehouse and will meet on the Jan 23 to review a high rise apartment building. They will meet every other Thursday in order to complete the analysis in time to provide a recommendation to the general membership in North and South. The FPOs will then forward and recommendation to Cal Chiefs. Please get your comments on the various codes to Laura or Christina Jamison, or better yet, come to a meeting.

• Building Standards Subcommittee. John Donalan of OSHPOD reported that they are completing a comparison of the height and area tables in the various codes. They are also starting an occupancy specific comparison and will compare differences on mercantile occupancies at their meeting on January 28 at the Fire Sprinkler Advisory office in Buena Park.

• UWI Committee. No report.

• So Cal FPO Allied Committees/Organizations

1. CFCA – no report (no liaison chief to the South).
2. NFPA – no report.
3. OSFM/CDF – Division Chief Joe Garcia reported:

• Happy New Year/the State is broke! All state departments are impacted. SFM lost vacant positions (two in So Cal so took a Nor Cal position and transferred down here), has a hiring freeze (restricts filling the vacant position), is watching expenditures and being cheap (actually Joe said "thrifty"). The good news is no deputies will lose jobs (at least not for 18 months). If you’d like to adopt a deputy, call Joe.
• Code interpretations. The process has been revived and turnaround should be 60 days. Joe oversees the process and makes sure all requests are funneled through one person before going to the committee. You will receive a letter that your interp was received and, when answered, the interp will appear on the web and a letter sent to the requester. Joe has noticed that many requests are code application rather than requests for interpretations. Some are ambiguous and difficult to identify the real question. They would like to have a question rather than "does the code allow this? If it doesn’t, does it allow this?" Either email, fax or mail….no verbal requests accepted (verbal questions on code application is ok). Requests can only be accepted from the local FM or Chief to Mary Celis at mary.celis@fire.ca.gov or FAX at 626-305-5173 (Monrovia Office).
• SFM Regs Class. The state has been working on the class for a year and the first official class will be in Monterey. They held a pilot class in October, which went well – several revisions, were made, based on feedback from attendees. Following Monterey, they will schedule classes statewide.
• Contract with Health Services. Negotiations to terminate the contract effective Feb 28^th continue (SFM had 14 deputies dedicated to this program). DHS has hired staff to take over the program and SFM is conducting training of their staff. IMPACT: The SFM deputies will no longer conduct NFPA 101 inspections of these facilities….T-24 enforcement remains the prerogative of local fire. Since SFM will no longer conduct annual inspections, local fire has to come up with an inspection program (no specific mandate).
• SFM Code Comparison Project. Chief Tennant has deputies working to help him analyze the codes in order to chose the best for the state. There are 9 working groups, chaired by a Sr. Deputy, and two (Bill Carmack and Joe) will review the groups work and submit to Tennant. The working groups will provide an objective, comparative analysis of the codes and not to recommend a particular code—just the facts. They have contacted CalChiefs, Nor Cal and So Cal for participation in the working groups, which should be established by Jan 8th. Members are industry and local fire. The Committees are chaired by:

• Group E and E-3 occs – Frank Santoya
• Group I and I3 – Ellie Shelton
• Group R-2 and R-6 – Leslie Haberek
• Group A and fixed guideway transiet systems – Rodney Slaughter
• Atria Somke Control, Stages/Platforms – John Guhl
• High Rise and R-1 – Ingrid Icasiano
• Fire Code – Wes Cochran
• Fire Extinguishing Systems – Steve Guarino
• Group H Occs, flammables and hazmats – Tim Roarty

• Let Tom know if you are interested in participating on any of these committees.
• Time Lines:

• The working groups must complete their comparative analyses and submit the product to the DCs by March 30.
• The work product will be sumibtted to the State Fire Marshal Fire and Life Safety Advisry Board by April 5 and to the Board of Fire Services by April 10. They will recommend one code by May 15 to Tennant. Tennant will submit to CBSC by June 1st.

1. OSHPOD – John Donalan reported:

• They’re fee funded so not as impacted.
• Clarified that OSHPOD doesn’t go into skilled nursing facilities unless construction is ongoing.
• Proposing emergency regs dealing with seismic safety – prohibits new acute care hospitals/areas from exiting into non-conforming buildings (those constructed prior to 1973 or reviewed by an agency other than OSHPOD).

1. DSA—no report.
2. CAFAA – annual meeting is in Palm Springs Jan 30 and 31. FPOs aare invited and can attend for free (Hoppel presenting on the 30^th).
3. NFSA/AFSA— no report.

III. Unfinished Business:

The website is up and running while under expansion. Scott is working on the kick off of the "Associates Page" for advertising. A links page is also under construction.

Elections: Nominations for the Exec Board are closed. For the first time in years, we will have an election for Ops Director. Ballots were distributed and we thank both for their interest!

President – Penni Overstreet-Murphy

First VP – Laura Blaul

Second VP - Karyn V

Treasurer – Kevin Scott

Secretary - Jim DeLeon

Ops Director – John Haberek, LA County or Ken Quick, Culver City

Judge Advocate – Tom Oakes.

Ken Quick was elected as the new Ops Director – Thanks, Ken!

IV. New Business:

CAFAA is donating $500 to SoCal FPOs for Workshop and will make it an annual donation. The donation will be placed in our Bill Fitchie Memorial fund for use in fire service training.

Christina Jamison, Ventura County, is the new Fire Code Committee co-chair (with Laura)--any complaints/issues relative to the committee should be forwarded to Christina J

Round Table:

Torrance had a fatality fire at a RCFE (licensed for 5 - three non-ambulatory) on Dec 29^th at 11pm. Although the smoke detectors worked, only the two ambulatory clients were rescued (with neighbor assistance)--the three non-amb clients perished. This is a good example of the need for residential sprinklers and local fire reps will bring this up at the Jan 16^th meeting on regs for SB 1896 (addressing provisions to allow bedridden clients in facilities). Currently, sprinklers are required in facilities housing bedridden clients but those running these facilities are opposed to sprinklers and would like to have at least one client allowed without this level of protection…. We had discussion on level of involvement FPOs should take on the legislative front.

Ken Quick discussed police task force groups that invite the fire service to participate in inspections of occupancies (mostly those posing security or code enforcement risks). Good partnering but need to be sure they aren’t using our authority for entry into buildings.

LUNCH

Program: An Overview of ATC-20, Course in Damage Assessment, Ron Espalin, PE, Wildan & Associates

• Ron is an engineer for Wildan & Assoc is currently serving as the BO for Upland. He has conducted several assessments following disasters, including a Lake Elsinor flood as well as earthquakes in Palm Springs, Landers, Big Bear and Northridge (several partnering with FEMA).

• ATC is the "Applied Technologies Council" and is a consortium of State agencies partnering to evaluate buildings following emergencies. The class and certification is professionals from various backgrounds, including building and fire officials.

• Voluntary Certification but you must be a certified Plans Examiner, Building Inspector or civil or structural engineer and have the 8-hour class to be certified. Once certified, volunteers respond to incidents and conduct structure assessments as requested by the jurisdiction through the OES regional area (5 regions in California).

• Program Goal – get occupants back into structures ASAP and get economy back on track.

• The course will be offered in Monterey on Feb 11^th. Course Units include:

• Safety Assessment Program Overview – identification and description of various local, state and federal resources. The responsibilities of each involved agency are also covered – responsibilities follow standard lines, e.g., OSHPOD responsible for hospitals following an emergency.
• Safety Assessment Process and Procedures. Program goals, tools and evaluation criteria are covered (including building placarding). There are levels of evaluation – rapid (exterior, by trained professionals) and detailed (interior, by engineers or other experts, i.e., hazmat), as well as forms used in process. The ICS is used to conduct the assessment and for logistics during the process -- fire officials play a key role here.
• Evaluation of Buildings. Most of the class concentrates on this area. The specific criteria used to evaluate various structures is covered. The class is divided into teams and evaluation of damaged buildings are conducted (simulations – they don’t flood or burn anything.
• Other hazards – floods, wind and fire. This 4^th unit was added recently to address areas not formerly covered.
• Safety. Covered in all units and emphasized here.

• Quakes with a magnitude of less than 5.0 usually don’t have enough strength to qualify for assessment. However, in older areas with un-reinforced masonry, damage may be significant.

• Why should we take the class? Fire officials may be asked to assist with incident management during the assessment process and, if in your jurisdiction, may be asked to assist despite not meeting professional criteria. Therefore, taking the class is beneficial to understanding the management structure, process and agency responsibilities. Sign up today!

To: California Fire Chiefs Association Membership

From: William J. McCammon, President

Subject: Position Paper State Code Adoption

The current code adoption process for the State of California is one that will have far reaching impacts on the communities of California. The California Fire Chiefs Association (CFCA) is actively involved in the adoption process , CFCA leadership and the leadership of the Fire Prevention Officer’s Sections (FPO’s) have been working directly with John Tennant, the State Fire Marshal. There are many stakeholders in this process -- from the building trades to State agencies to building officials to the building industry. If the voice of the California Fire Service is to be heard, it must be unified, and we must be engaged in the process to be effective. The CFCA strongly supports the efforts of the State Fire Marshal, and we encourage all Fire Chiefs to have their Fire Prevention staffs get involved with the FPO’s, so we can present a unified voice in this process. Attached is CFCA's position on the code adoption issue. Please share this information with your staffs. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, Chief Joe Perry or any member of the FPO leadership.

California Fire Chiefs Association

Position Paper

Subject: State Code Adoption

The California Fire Chiefs Association (CFCA) and its Fire Prevention Officers Sections (FPO’s) have a long history of participation in the code development and adoption process. These organizations are credited with the development of the California Fire Code, which in 1971 became known as the Uniform Fire Code. The California Fire Service developed many of the articles found in the Uniform Fire Code, and they have been used as a model for other fire codes, making its continued use acceptable to all.

Members of the California Fire Service that are interested in code development and analysis need to be members of the Fire Prevention Officers Section. The CFCA utilized this section to fill positions on many State Fire Marshal advisory committees. They provide CFCA with critical information regarding fire safety issues, and code review analysis.

For many years there was no controversy during the State’s tri-annual code adoption cycle. The State consistently adopted the Uniform Codes, along with the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Electrical Code. This minimized the need for analysis and amendments by the State agencies. Furthermore, all the local jurisdictions were familiar with the codes.

During the last tri-annual code cycle, the California Fire Chiefs Association actively participated in the review of the codes, and supported the State Fire Marshal’s Office in its analysis of the codes. Realizing that in the future our membership will have to use either the International Fire Code (IFC), or NFPA #1/Uniform Fire Code, we have directed the Fire Prevention Officers Section to continue its involvement in both code development process.

The California Fire Chiefs Association supports the current State process. The Health and Safety Code requires that the adopting State agencies notify the Building Standards Commission of its intent to adopt regulations. The Commission is required to ensure: adequate public participation prior to the submittal to the Commission; adequate notice to the public in written form of the compiled Building Standards and its justification; and adequate technical review by advisory bodies.

The California Fire Chiefs Association participates on the State Fire Marshal’s Fire Life Safety Building Standards Advisory Board. Our organization submits at least nine names, of which the State Fire Marshal selects three.

The State Fire Marshal presents his code proposal to the Board for review and recommendation. The State Fire Marshal may accept, reject or modify, in whole or in part, the proposal or the recommendation of the Board. Prior to submitting the proposal to the Building Standards Commission, the State Fire Marshal submits the proposal to the State Board of Fire Services. The State Board of Fire Services acts as an additional advisory board. Our organization also has representatives on this Board.

Based upon the current process the California Fire Chiefs Association supports the following position:

1. That the Fire Prevention Officers Sections stay involved in code development of the IFC and NFPA #1/ Uniform Fire Code.
2. That CFCA encourages Fire Chiefs to have their fire prevention personnel join the Fire Prevention Officers Section.
3. That our membership takes active roles in the State’s code adoption process when fire service participation and public participation is allowed.
4. That CFCA supports the Building Standards Commission’s process that requires that State agencies submit a written analysis along with its adoption proposal.
5. That our Fire Prevention Officers Section continues its involvement with the State Fire Marshal’s Office on Statewide fire safety issues.
6. That CFCA continue working with the California Building Officials to ensure our citizens are protected by the safest codes available.
7. That CFCA takes the lead in representing the California Fire Service in the State Code Adoption Process.

Executive Board Meeting

January 8, 2003

PRESENT: ABSENT:

Tom Oakes Jim DeLeon

Penni Overstreet-Murphy Kevin Scott

Laura Blaul

Karyn Vaudreuil

Scott Corrin

Committee Status/Activities

• Penni will contact all co-chairs to make sure they are interested in continuing to serve as co-chairs. Only the Fire Code Committee must have fire officials as co-chairs.
• We’ll ask co-chairs to submit budgets before the June meeting and we will discuss after the Gen Membership meeting (in lieu of having a program).
• Need to get digital art for plaque logos prior to Monterey. Tom will contact chairs to find out if
• Specific Committees

• Fire Code Committee

• We have a new co-chair for the fire code committee – Christina Jamison
• Laura will contact the co-chairs from the North to coordinate on the code comparison work.

• Fire Protection Devices & Equipment – not sure of status/participation.
• Public Education – Penni is looking for a co-chair.
• Fire Service Education – Terri’s status as co-chair is unknown. We need to get more classes more frequently.
• UWI – need to get reports/minutes.
• Workshop – Tom will talk to Forrest on committee recognition at the workshop.

Monthly Meeting & Program Logistics

• March Meeting – Code Comparison (ICC and NFPA vs. T-24) at the Anaheim Phoenix Club.

• April – Joint meeting with NFPA in Ontario. Subject is NFPA 25.

• May – something fun (Penni’s new concept) or joint committee/general meeting in Universal City.

• June – in San Diego.

• July – Dana Point Youth Docks.

• August – December – decisions deferred as Tom got sick of this topic.

Web Site

Penni really wants a workshop link on our site….she’s nagging so Scott will deliver. Scott promised the associate page and link by next month.

Board Reorganization & New Members

Ken Quick was elected as the Ops Director. A discussion on making the position permanent or "move up" resulted in making it an option. We need to revise by-laws to allow this. We’ll let the new Board address this in March. As in-coming Treasurer, Kevin needs to decide if he’d like to move our back account to another facility (Phil has the account info). Scott suggested leaving $1000 in our current account for emergencies. Kevin also needs to decide what PO Box he wants to use…as Treasurer, he collects and distributes the mail. Tom will contact Western Plastics to order new name/position badges for the board and consider ordering name plates. The Ops Director may also serve as Sergeant at Arms so we can bring in more dough.

Joint Board Meeting - Monterey

Tom asked for agenda items for the joint board meeting at the workshop in February. The North is in charge of the agenda and we have the minutes (Jim gets his first opportunity to perform this noble function). The Workshop Committee will give a presentation on future workshops and logistics of a new location and marketing. We also discussed award presentation at the President’s Reception – Forrest and Tom will alternate. So Cal will donate $1,000 to CFPI for use at the workshop even though they have enough money for the Reception. Awards for the Hyatt will be discussed in Monterey. Karen brought up using our meeting raffle as an opportunity to give away a registration to the 2004 Workshop.

CalChief 2003 Strategic Planning Meeting – Dixon

Penni will represent us at the meeting and we will cover costs. The meeting is Jan 22-24.