The worldwide battery market is expected to grow by over 12 percent in the next five years. From hoverboards to electric cars to energy storage systems (ESS), mankind is increasingly relying on battery power. But what are the risks? In this episode of The NFPA Podcast, we examine the science behind and fire safety risks involved with using lithium-ion batteries on both a small and large scale. Host Angelo Verzoni kicks off the episode with a brief overview of ESS and NFPA 855 (3:06). Then, Derek...
Jun 22, 2020•1 hr 2 min
In the very first episode of The NFPA Podcast, we explore the fast-growing and rapidly evolving legal cannabis industry. In the first segment, Jesse talks to NFPA Field Director Ray Bizal about what he’s learned from touring numerous marijuana facilities, and what fire departments and inspectors should know (4:20). Then, Robby talks with top fire officials in Colorado and Utah about the growing pains and lessons learned from regulating this budding industry (20:12). Finally, Derek chats with Bob...
Jun 05, 2020•1 hr 2 min
In light of the recent civil unrest and mass protests in Minneapolis, we thought it was a good time to revisit this episode from 2016. In this re-released episode, we hear from Jeffrey Segal, assistant chief of the Baltimore Fire Department, and Matt LaVanchy of the Pattonville, Missouri Fire District near Ferguson, Missouri, about their recent experiences dealing with extreme cases of civil unrest. RELATED: Read a white paper on civil unrest from the 2015 Urban Fire Forum: https://www.nfpa.org/...
May 29, 2020•24 min
As the coronavirus pandemic kills scores, many of them part of vulnerable populations like the elderly, community risk reduction (CRR) efforts are taking center stage. In this episode, we hear from NFPA's CRR experts Karen Berard-Reed and Chelsea Rubadou on the community-wide implications of COVID-19 both now and into the future.
Apr 20, 2020•33 min
This week, the NFPA Journal Podcast looks at crisis standards of care (CSC). The coronavirus pandemic has forced first response agencies and health care workers across the world to alter their normal standards and protocols for operation in order to handle the huge surge in sick patients. We hear from experts on how CSC are developed, what the legal implications and challenges to employing them are, and some examples of how CSC are being used by EMS professionals, fire departments, and hospitals...
Apr 07, 2020•40 min
This week, NFPA Journal editor Jesse Roman talks to Pieter Maes, a firefighter/EMT in Brussels, Belgium, about the extraordinary steps emergency responders in this European capitol are taking to prepare for the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic. The crisis has forced Maes' department to find creative solutions to many difficult questions related to the COVID-19 outbreak—the same challenges departments across the world are now facing. To help, Maes has created a website, covidfirstresponse.co...
Mar 31, 2020•46 min
As the health care system in the United States braces for a surge in patients sickened by COVID-19, the NFPA Journal® Podcast speaks with experts on how this issue will be addressed, from the creation of mobile field hospitals to putting inspections on hold for codes like NFPA 99, Health Care Facilities Code, and NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®. Listen to an earlier podcast on responder safety during the coronavirus pandemic here: https://nfpa.libsyn.com/responder-safety-in-a-pandemic...
Mar 21, 2020•45 min
As the COVID-19 coronavirus sweeps the globe, the NFPA Journal Podcast speaks with leading first responder experts on the precautions they can take to stay safe, such as incorporating masks into their PPE. Contact Angelo Verzoni at averzoni@nfpa.org and Jesse Roman at jroman@nfpa.org.
Mar 13, 2020•35 min
Americans living in rural areas are statistically older, sicker, and poorer than the general population. Compounding those factors is a lack of access to health care. Now, many are at high risk of losing emergency medical services, too. This episode of the NFPA Journal® Podcast takes a deeper look into this crisis.
Feb 21, 2020•22 min
The United States has eradicated hospital fire deaths. Why can't other countries? We're bringing you the NFPA Journal® podcast a week early this month and diving into the complicated topic of international hospital fires—why they keep occurring with alarming frequency and what's being done to address them.
Jan 07, 2020•20 min
As we near the 20th anniversary of the Worcester, Massachusetts, cold storage warehouse fire, which killed six firefighters on December 3, 1999, the NFPA Journal Podcast catches up with Matthew Foley, an NFPA research associate who has ties to the deadly blaze and who authored "After Effect"—the cover story of the November/December issue of NFPA Journal on the lasting impact of the fire. Email averzoni@nfpa.org or jroman@nfpa.org with your thoughts on the NFPA Journal Podcast or to suggest episo...
Nov 11, 2019•11 min
In this episode of the NFPA Journal® Podcast, we take a look at the NFPA Fire & Life Safety Ecosystem and how recent events in Brazil serve as prime examples of that concept. -- Have feedback on the podcast? Let us know! Email Angelo Verzoni at averzoni@nfpa.org or Jesse Roman at jroman@nfpa.org .
Oct 23, 2019•12 min
On May 17, 2017, 31-year-old San Antonio firefighter Scott Deem died while searching for victims inside a burning building. After the fire, department leaders in command that night began working to build an innovative new facility, the Deem Training Center, to drill San Antonio’s firefighters on “mayday” scenarios like the one that killed Deem. Since the facility opened in 2018, not only have crews improved in search and rescue performance, the work has also proved therapeutic for everyone invol...
Sep 12, 2019•11 min
Escape rooms are popping up everywhere. In 2014, there were only 22 escape rooms in the United States. Today, there are over 2,000. After a fire in an escape room killed five teenagers in Poland in January, many have asked, are they safe? NFPA Journal investigates that question in this episode.
Aug 13, 2019•24 min
As disasters strike around the globe with greater frequency and severity, aid agencies are increasingly relying on a worldwide army of volunteers to listen to the digital chatter on social media emanating from communities in crisis. Learn how this “social monitoring” is helping response and recovery efforts become more effective. Jesse Roman, associate editor of NFPA Journal, shares insights from his reporting of the NFPA Journal article “Chasing the Chatter,” then reads the article, which was p...
Jul 16, 2019•28 min
NFPA Journal Podcast is back!!! We're trying out a new format so please let us know what you think, send an email to AVerzoni@nfpa.org. After a deadly blaze on a movie set in New York City, experts stress the importance of fire safety on movie and TV sets. In this NFPA Journal Podcast, Angelo Verzoni discusses what he learned in writing his article on movie set fire safety. This article was created after a firefighter died on the film set of Motherless Brooklyn. So again, please let us know what...
May 14, 2019•15 min
About 1 billion people worldwide live in areas known as shantytowns, informal settlements, or slums, where fire is an ever-present threat. Last year, a project carried out in a shantytown in South Africa reduced fire deaths to zero using a single, simple piece of technology: smoke alarms.
Nov 01, 2018•16 min
As Airbnb and other short-term rental services expand to include a range of property types, regulatory challenges create uncertainty over the level of safety those spaces should provide. BY ANGELO VERZONI
Jul 23, 2018•12 min
First Harvey. Then Irma. Then Maria. After three hurricanes pummeled the United States coast from late August through September, NFPA Journal's November/December issue includes interviews with several people who came face to face with all three storms. In this episode of the NFPA Journal Podcast, two of those people—Chief Samuel Peña of the Houston Fire Department and Chief David Downey of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue—share what changes they hope to bring to their departments moving forward.
Nov 09, 2017•11 min
Against a backdrop of active shooter events from coast to coast, NFPA began crafting its new standard on response and preparedness to active shooter and/or hostile events, NFPA 3000, in June. In this episode of the NFPA Journal Podcast, staff writer Angelo Verzoni talks with NFPA 3000 technical committee members about the need for the standard and what they hope to bring to the table in developing it.
Aug 01, 2017•18 min
Jesse Roman sits down with Boston's Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn to discuss how Boston became a leader in the effort to combat firefighter cancer.
Jul 05, 2017•21 min
It might seem strange today, but firefighters dying from falling off fire trucks used to be a problem— from 1977 to 1987, an average of nearly four firefighters died each year from falling off of trucks. Today, the problem is virtually unheard of thanks in large part to the 1987 adoption of NFPA 1500, the first fire service occupational safety standard. In this episode of NFPA Journal Podcast, host Jesse Roman talks to fire service veterans who used to “ride the tailboard,” and learns how a few ...
Jan 24, 2017•21 min
With 19 different shows, in countries all over the world and in front of over 15 million patrons; making sure that every Cirque du Soleil show is up to code can seem like a herculean task. On this episode Jesse Roman talks to the person in charge of that task, Jean-Francois Simard, International Code Advisor for Cirque. Jesse and Jean-Francois discuss logistics, accommodating different authorities having jurisdiction and all the pain points he deals with on a day to day basis. The interview come...
Jul 12, 2016•12 min
If you are a healthcare facilities manager who is looking for more resources on how to be compliant with the 2012 version of NFPA 101 and NFPA 99, please visit www.nfpa.org/cms Jesse sits down with Robert Solomon, Division Manager for Building Fire Protection at NFPA, to talk about the recent announcement by the center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS has published Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Fire Safety Requirements for Certain Health Care Facilities that require healthcare fac...
Jun 14, 2016•31 min
Major thanks to Chief Goldfeder for not only talking to us but doing it after an 11 hour car ride. I think it is safe to say that the Chief is the first guest we've had to accomplish such a feat before our interview. For those of you very few whom haven't heard of Chief Goldfeder and the Secret list, first what's wrong with you. Go to firefighterclosecalls.com to see Chief's website and to subscribe to his newsletter, The Secret List. Chief Goldfeder started “The Secret List” about 20 years ago....
May 10, 2016•33 min
First off, please let us know if you like our topics and if you have any ideas for other things we can talk about. Email Jesse at jroman@nfpa.org and let us know what you think. We've been receiving a lot of support for the podcast the past year and we would love to hear from you. In this episode, Jesse talked with Jeff Sargent and Mark Earley about the upcoming edition of the National Electrical Code. The NEC is always a fascinating topic but this upcoming edition is jammed packed with emerging...
Apr 13, 2016•20 min
First off, please let us know if you like this format! Email Jesse at jroman@nfpa.org and let us know what you think. We've been receiving a lot of support for the podcast the past year and we would love to hear from you. In this episode Jesse talked with Val Charlton of Kishugu, a private organization that runs and manages Working on Fire. Working on Fire is a South African government program that recruits disadvantaged South Africans and, after extensive training, hires them as wildland firefi...
Mar 08, 2016•19 min
Jesse takes a break from his current story on liquid natural gas and the shale revolution to give a quick update live from the NFPA Journal newsroom. Jesse will be back in March with a brand new podcast. In the meantime, head over to nfpa.org/xchange to see a cool new member only exclusive. NFPA Journal is releasing early access to the main IN COMPLIANCE article in XChange so you can get access before anyone else. Be sure to get involved in the discussion section, ask questions or comments direc...
Feb 09, 2016•2 min
What do you do when protesters set fires all over your city, then sabotage your efforts to put them out? Imagine responding to a fire only to be shot at on the fireground. In today’s NFPA Journal Podcast we hear from Jeffrey Segal, assistant chief of the Baltimore Fire Department, and Matt LaVanchy of the Pattonville, Missouri Fire District near Ferguson, Missouri about their recent experiences dealing with extreme cases of civil unrest.
Jan 12, 2016•24 min
Out of more than 63,000 wildland fires reported last year, specialized wildland firefighters responded to just 112, meaning local fire departments handled the rest. But there is little information about how well trained or capable municipal departments are to handle this job. In this podcast, Jesse sits down with NFPA Senior Research Analyst Hylton Haynes to discuss a new NFPA study that looks at how prepared local fire departments are to deal with the increasing number of wildfire calls they re...
Dec 08, 2015•24 min
