NFPA Standards Council rules on proposal for paid firefighter standards
In January, the National Fire Protection Association Standards Council rejected a proposal offered by Alfred Whitehead, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), that the NFPA develop standards specifically for the career fire service, according to a Council report.
In its ruling, the Council noted that proponents of career fire service standards have stressed the need for standards that set minimum levels for professional firefighters and emergency service personnel. They pointed particularly to a need for addressing deployment issues concerning the operation, delivery, and evaluation of resources.
Others present agreed with the concept but disagreed with the need for a standard addressed specifically to the career fire service. Noting that it is difficult to write standards based on such a distinction, they suggested instead that the distinction be based on urban concerns. There was, however, substantial support for standards that address deployment issues related to the fire service in general.
The Standards Council agreed that fire service deployment issues “ought to receive greater attention in the standards-development process” and therefore established the Project on Fire Service Deployment to replace the Technical Committee on Public Fire Service Organization and Operation. The scope of the new project, which will incorporate the work completed by the superseded Technical Committee on Fire Service Organization, is “primary responsibility for documents on the organization, operation, deployment, and evaluation of public fire protection and emergency medical services.” In addition, the new project ultimately will determine whether NFPA 1201, Fire Protection Services for the Public, should continue to exist and, if so, in what form.
The NFPA Council suggested that the new project look at fire service deployment in all segments of the fire service. Acknowledging that deployment needs may vary according to the type of fire department or community environment, the Council noted that there are several proposals on how these different deployment contexts may be categorized. While it has been proposed that distinctions be based on career vs. volunteer departments, some have suggested that distinctions based on population size or density or both–or on other factors–would be more workable. The Project on Fire Service Deployment will address the issues of categories and priorities for standard development in this area.
