Human Dimension, The

The new Faces of Fire campaign puts a human face on NFPA's Fire Sprinkler Initiative. Plus, legislative updates and new research from the sprinkler front.

Lee-Bridges ran into the living room and saw a fire, which had started when a kerosene heater ignited flooring coated with polyurethane. She tried to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher, but it had little effect. She then ran outside to meet Jason and her father, Sylvester. Jennifer wasn't there.Virginia's Board of Housing and Community Development also decided in July to exclude a residential sprinkler option from the building code. Last year, the board preliminarily voted to keep residential sprinklers optional but asked the fire service to come up with a possible compromise. The Virginia Residential Sprinkler Coalition did suggest the inclusion of sprinklers in only townhouses, not one- and two-family homes, but the Codes and Standards Committee decided to defer all considerations until the 2012 code review.That's when she heard the screams of her stepson, Jason.On the legislative front, legal wrangling initiated by the Pennsylvania Builders Association has turned into a victory for sprinkler advocates. In August, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania officially dismissed a lawsuit filed by the builders association last year, which attempted to stop enforcement of the statewide adoption of the 2009 intmiatiomil Residential Code'* (/RC) that requires fire sprinklers in all new townhouses this year and new one- and two-family homes in the state effective January 1, 201 1. Preceding this decision was a judge's rejection in March of a preliminary injunction filed by the association.The court's opinion for the lawsuit dismissal affirms that Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code, which includes the sprinkler provision, is "an effort to insure uniform, modern construction standards, and regulations, and to promote safety. . .throughout the Commonwealth." The Pennsylvania Residential Fire Sprinkler Coalition, which was closely coordinated with Fire Sprinkler Initiative activities and includes members of the fire service, has played a key role in providing testimony during previous court hearings and backing the sprinkler effort. Similar coalitions have formed in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, and similar but less-formalized efforts are taking place elsewhere.Lee-Bridges' story is one of more than a dozen highlighted in Faces of Fire, a new NFPA program that adds a human element to the Association's Fire Sprinkler Initiative, which was launched last year to promote code adoptions and local ordinances requiring sprinklers in new one- and twofamily homes.Lee-Bridges reentered the home, which the family had purchased only fourth months earlier, and searched frantically for Jennifer. She stayed in the house until she was overwhelmed by smoke and flames, but still managed to make her way outside before collapsing. She had raced back into the house not knowing that firefighters had already rescued Jennifer.Sprinkler researchAccording to NFPA statistics, approximately 3,000 people die in home fires in the United States each year, accounting for 80 percent of all fire deaths.THE NIGHT OF MARCH 23, 1992, began like any other for South Carolina resident Princella Lee-Bridges. Before the operating room nurse headed to work, she reviewed her stepdaughter Jennifer's homework.Sprinkler legislation update"The fact that a few states have accepted residential sprinklers, particularly a large state like California, will help support the position that this is the new minimum level of safety that should be required in dwellings," Keith says.Gary Keith, NFPA's vice-president of Field Operations, cites research reports and community studies showing that home fire sprinklers are, in fact, costeffective. "The provisions in all the national model codes now mean that these sprinklers are a minimum level of safety for new construction," he says. "Anything less is not acceptable.""The majority of the information we've used in the Fire Sprinkler Initiative has been statistical and fact-based in nature," says Lorraine Carli, NFPA's vice-president of Communications and the new campaign's lead contact. "We're now adding a very human dimension. Any time there's a home fire, real people are impacted. Faces of Fire is a way to tell these stories through the eyes of people that were affected."Now an advocate for burn survivors, Lee-Bridges has shared her story with South Carolina legislators and code officials in the hope of enacting legislation for residential sprinklers in all new homes. She's the founder of Bridges from Augusta, an organization serving her state's burn survivors. "If I'd had [sprinklers] in my home, we would have had a totally different outcome," she says.A Faces of Fire kickoff event scheduled for October 25 and 26 in Boston, including a sprinkler side-by-side burn demonstration in Weymouth, Massachusetts, was designed to provide an overview of the campaign's new online tool kit, available at firesprinklerinitiative.org/faces, for use by local advocates and fire personnel."We're hoping this campaign gets us closer to our goal of getting sprinkler requirements in every state," Carli says. "By combining real stories with statistical figures, we have all the bases covered for making the argument about why home fire sprinklers in all new one- and two-family dwellings are so important."Lee-Bridges spent two months in a medically induced coma, with third-degree burns on half her body, including her face. When she emerged from the coma, Lee-Bridges made a startling discovery: her fingerless hands. "My hands were my life," the 51 -year-old says, fighting back tears. "I was a former paramedical evacuation nurse during Operation Desert Storm. There must have been something else that's in store for me, because my plan went by the wayside."In neighboring New Jersey, the state's Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Lori Grifa has rejected an amended /RC that would have required home sprinklers in the state. A New Jersey review commission approved the measure this year after it remained in limbo for months. The provision was then reviewed by Grifa, who issued her final decision in August. "The decision... was the result of weighing and balancing the public benefit against the perceived need," Grifa said in a statement. "In the current economic climate, it is paramount that state agency policies be sensitive to their impact on our economic recovery. The imposition of an additional cost that might impede the recovery of the residential construction sector. . . is a step that cannot be taken at this time."Lee-Bridges and other Faces of Fire participants were discovered through a partnership with the Michigan-based Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, recommendations from fire service officials, and media outlets. Each scenario features people who have either benefited from the presence of sprinklers or whose stories might have been different had residential sprinklers been in place. The program is funded by a $746,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Fire Prevention and Safety Grant Program.Videos, photographs, and written profiles of burn survivors, fire service members affected by fires in one- and two-family dwellings, and residents whose lives have been saved by sprinklers complement new fact sheets underscoring relevant sprinkler research, and the overall effectiveness of home fire sprinklers.

Sprinkler research