The Iowa Fire Marshals Association invited NFSA to share a booth with them at the February 21-23 Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines Home and Remodeling Show. This is the third year the Fire Marshals Association has been at this annual show, and the first time that the NFSA has participated. It will not be the last!

The show was held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and draws about 5,000 people. The Iowa Fire Marshals Association (IFMA) assembled an information booth with great home fire safety and sprinkler information. They also had some displays that helped energize and engage the attendees, including a fire engine photo booth, an electronic fire extinguisher training prop, and a looped video display of side-by-side sprinkler demonstrations and Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition information. NFSA staff had the pleasure of staffing the booth on Friday with IFMA Vice President, Mike Whitsell (West Des Moines Fire Marshal) and on Saturday with IFMA President Justin Frederick (Waukee Fire Marshal). These two guys made it a most successful event! They established great rapport with every booth visitor – many of whom knew active and retired firefighters that both Mike and Justin also knew. We assisted homeowners with questions on sprinklers, smoke alarms, and CO detectors, and we passed out a number of detectors, extinguishers, and promotional materials.

The Des Moines area is growing rapidly, and the Fire Marshals and Fire Chiefs in the area have pushed for increased sprinkler codes and standards, so Mike and Justin answered a lot of questions about local codes and ordinances. Over the two partial days that NFSA staffed the booth, we engaged well over 100 interested attendees, including many young and middle-aged couples. This show really produced excellent crowd engagement. In order to get people to take action on home and business fire safety, you first must reach them and get their attention. The Iowa Fire Marshals Association really did that well at this event, and that will pay dividends in saved lives and property down the line!