NFSA’s Minnesota Chapter hosted a Fire Team NFSA seminar in Minneapolis on June 27th. 25 participants from the Minnesota and Iowa fire services and NFSA member companies attended. A team of national presenters included: NFSA President, Shane Ray; Vickie Pritchett, Director of Outreach and Government Relations; Gary West, Director of Field Operations; Jeff Hugo, Director of Code and Public Fire Protection; and Terin Hopkins, Field Services Coordinator for the Mid-Atlantic Region.

The seminar featured presentations on:

• Updated research results on fire propagation and fire safety from NFSA, NFPA, and UL
• Embracing a new perspective on fire life safety
• 2018 Code updates
• Mobilizing advocates at the local level for initiatives that save lives and property
• The rollout of the 2019 (3rd Edition) of the Fire Sprinkler Retrofit Guide (Automatic Sprinklers in Existing Buildings: What you need to know.)
• Understanding fire department operations in sprinkler protected properties
• The local NFSA team and the resources available to local AHJs from the NFSA

Fire Team NFSA Class outside the Minneapolis Firefighters Hall and Museum

The seminar was topped off with a side-by-side, live-burn demonstration narrated by NFSA President Shane Ray. Assisted by Engine 2’s crew from the Minneapolis Fire Department, the seminar attendees and representatives from the local media witnessed first-hand the rapid and destructive power of fire and the effectiveness and life-saving operation of the “fastest water” available from the activation of a single fire sprinkler.

NFSA Director of Field Operations and the Minneapolis Fire Department’s Engine 2 crew sitting in the side-by-side trailer prior to the demonstration

Shane Ray narrating the side by side demo

Video of a sprinkler-protected living room in the side-by-side demonstration

Video of an uncontrolled living room fire in the side-by-side demonstration