Welcome to the IAAI’s January 2011 CFITrainer.Net Podcast. This month, we feature news from IAAI on the release of the new edition of Fire Investigator: Principles and Practice to NFPA 921 and 1033. Our news stories cover new flammability requirements from Underwriters Laboratories for pre-lit artificial Christmas trees and a growing fire problem in Dubai with factories that have been turned into worker dormitories.

IAAI has released the third edition of Fire Investigator: Principles and Practice to NFPA 921 and 1033. The new edition updates the resource previously known as User's Manual for NFPA 921. That was the 2004 edition. The new reference book, written by professional fire investigators from the IAAI and published by Jones & Bartlett Learning, includes all of the 2011 changes to NFPA 921. In addition, for the first time, the book includes color photos and sketches of key concepts. Here to talk about what’s new in this new edition is a gentleman who has been very involved in this book from the beginning. He is also the incoming president of the IAAI. Welcome Rodney Pevytoe.

Q: Why does IAAI write this book?

RODNEY PEVYTOE: The original idea when we first started to produce what was then called the User’s Manual to NFPA 921 was to bring 921 into a format that would be usable in an educational setting such as maybe a technical college, a fire academy or different classes that the IAAI or other groups might do. Looking at the content of 921 and the way it’s written, it doesn’t really transfer into an educational setting as well. So we started with that concept and through the evolution of the first two editions of the User’s Manual, we now have our present edition, which has been retitled to Fire Investigator: Principles and Practices to NFPA 921 and 1033, and we really think with this edition we’ve accomplished our ultimate goal of making it into this quality piece for the educational setting.

Q: Tell me about some of the changes that are in NFPA 921’s 2011 edition that have been incorporated into Fire Investigator: Principles and Practice?

RODNEY PEVYTOE: The best part is every change in NFPA 921 in the new edition that’s yet to be released is in this edition of the Fire Investigator: Practice and Principles to 921 and 1033. We’ve based everything in there about the upcoming edition. So any changes that are going to be forthcoming are already reflected in this document. So the lifespan of this document will be as good as the lifespan of 921, which is another three years.

Q: That’s great news. So can you give us an idea of the caliber of the authors of this book and their connection to IAAI?

RODNEY PEVYTOE: I’m really proud of the caliber of the people that we had involved in this document. If you look at the acknowledgements of the books, it covers two full pages of individuals that are from a real cross section of the fire investigation community, from the people who are hands on in the ashes so to speak, to the people who supervise those people, to the attorneys that might be involved in the prosecution, to the specialty disciplines such as electrical engineering, chemistry, different things like that. All of them are heavily involved in the fire investigation community. All of them realize that the IAAI is one of the world’s leading authorities in education of fire investigators, and one of the great parts of it is because of the reputation of IAAI we had no problems in seeking out these people and having them volunteer to be part of our participants.

That’s very, very good, and it’s great to hear that kind of expertise is buying the book. So why is this book important for fire investigators to have in their library?

RODNEY PEVYTOE: What we’ve been able to do with the Fire Investigator: Principles and Practice to 921 and 1033, it is really the first document that combines the JPRs of 1033 in front of a chapter, specific topic chapter from 921, and shows that direct correlation. Anybody that’s actively involved in fire investigation knows the importance of 921 and 1033 in our job performance and how we go about interpreting a fire scene. By seeing the JPRs and the information in 921, we’re able to tie these two things together. When we look at the content of the book, the format that it’s set up, it really gels that together in a way - plus it’s a lot easier to read and to sit down and use in this educational format. We really think we have an outstanding publication here.

Q: Thanks very much Rod. I appreciate your time.

RODNEY PEVYTOE: No problem.

The retail price of Fire Investigator: Principles and Practice to NFPA 921 and 1033 is $79.95. IAAI is offering a special pre-release price for current IAAI Members. It’s $55.95. And if you order early and you’re a non-member, you can get it for $67.95.

We continue now with news from the fire investigation world.

Underwriters Laboratories has released new flammability requirements for pre-lit artificial Christmas trees. The new standard was prompted by UL research that showed that pre-lit artificial trees can be a significant contributor to fire growth if ignited, as significant as a dry natural tree. These new requirements are the first standard to address full-size, pre-lit artificial trees and are focused on limiting the contribution the tree can make to fire growth if ignited by a small fire such as that caused by a candle dropped onto combustibles. The new flammability requirements for UL certification are a maximum heat release rate of 100 kilowatts. Certified trees with the UL mark should be available for the 2011 holiday season. More information is available on the UL web site link that’s provided with this podcast.

As reported in The National, Dubai has experienced a 22% jump in warehouse fires in the first ten months of 2010. The Dubai Police forensic department, which is responsible for fire investigations, has attributed this significant change to the increasing practice of companies illegally partitioning their warehouses and housing their workers in these makeshift dormitories. The illegal partitioning even extends to creating two floors where there should only be one. This problem is exacerbated by poor storage practices, such as exceeding the structure’s storage capacity, stacking warehoused items too close to the ceiling, improperly storing flammable materials, and blocking emergency exits with stored items. In some high-profile incidents, workers in these makeshift rooms were trapped and died in fires. Dubai is stepping up inspections and penalties to try to deal with the problem.

That concludes this IAAI CFITrainer.Net podcast. Don’t forget to check out the links on this podcast’s page for more information on all our stories. We’ll see you again next month.

Fire Investigator: Principles and Practice to NFPA 921 and 1033

Underwriters Laboratories Flammability Requirements for Pre-Lit Artificial Holiday Trees

Warehouse Fires and Illegal Partitioning in Dubai