FCIA Enewsletter
FCIA Enewsletter December 1, 2010
~ Oregon Accepts Firestop / Containment Worker 4 Year Apprenticeship – FCIA Apprenticeship Chair Bob Hasting received approval for the FCIA Firestop / Containment Worker Standards this week. Oregon is the second state to adopt the standards, based on FCIA’s Firestop Apprenticeship Education outline. “I have to give credit to FCIA Past Presidents who supported the initiative; Ray Usher, Bob LeClair, Don Murphy, Tom Hottenroth, Bill Hoos, Randy Bosscawen. Without them, Co-Chair Don Donnelly, and committee members, this accomplishment wouldn’t be possible.
~FCIA Firestop Industry Conference & Trade Show – Interesting speakers, beautiful hotel, challenging golf course … if you missed the FCIA Firestop Industry Conference & Trade Show, check out FCIA.org for presentations this week: Renee Jacobs, CHFM, Vice President, Facilities and Construction at St. Luke’s, KS, spoke on “Importance of Fire Barrier Management”; Andrew Streifel, Infection Control at Univ. of Minnesota Hospitals, on “Infection Control and Firestopping”… and more. FCIA members who did not attend will receive a Conference Program via mail – hope to see you at FCIA’s Education and Committee Action Conference, April 26 -29, 2011.
The FCIA Ray Usher Golf Tournament to raise funds for the scholarship at the University of Maryland was loads of fun and well attended with 50+ golfers and 16 golf sponsors. Scholarship Applications will be evaluated and then awarded to a deserving Fire Protection Engineering Student for the fall 2011 semester.
~THANK YOU to 2010 Ray Usher Memorial Golf Sponsors! - Lunch: HILTI, Inc., Golf Prizes: Specified Technologies, Inc., Thermafiber & Thermal Ceramics, Golf Hole Sponsors: 1 Source Firestop Inc., 3M Fire Protection Products, Falconer Engineering & Testing, Firestop Solutions, Inc., Multicon Fire Containment, Phoenix Insurance Group, Inc., PPMI Firestop Inc., Specified Technologies, Inc., Superl, Inc., Telgian Corp., Thermafiber, Inc., Thermal Ceramics, Thomas J. Donnelly, Inc. and Total Fire Protection, Inc.
~Announcing FCIA 2011 Board – FCIA Board Elections took place at the Conference. The new board includes Bob Hasting, Specialty Firestop Systems — President; New Director Don Murphy, PPMI Firestop, Inc.; New Director Jodi Clem, PREVENT — Director; Gary Hamilton, Hamilton Benchmark Inc. — Director; New Director Scott Rankin, Pyro-Stop, LLC — Director; Ken Slama, National Firestop Ltd.—Director; Bill Hoos, JHC Firestop, Inc. — Past President; Randy Bosscawen, Multicon Fire Containment — Past President
As the FCIA Nominating Committee prepared for 2010’s Elections for the 2011 Board, it was found that there would be four openings on the board rather than the normal three. Rather than elect four, the group decided to have a board of 8. Either 8 or 9 Board Members is allowed per the FCIA By-Laws. For better representation to the membership, a decision was made by the board after the election for a 9 person board. The board then appointed the next highest voted candidate, Eric Keeton, for a two year term. Congratulations Eric!
~FCIA Abu Dhabi Seminar a Big Success – FCIA’s Educational Seminar in Abu Dhabi had over 85 people attending, and great education for members, building officials, airport authorities, large general contractors, the US Army and more. There were 13 FM 4991 and UL Qualified Firestop Contractor Program Firestop Exam test takers, with all participating in the FCIA Education Program prior to the exams.
 
FCIA’s Abu Dhabi Seminar attracted much attention
~THANK YOU to FCIA Abu Dhabi Educational Program SPONSORS for your support!
- Specified Technologies, Inc. & Eastern Wings Equipment, 17 October Luncheon & Tabletop
- Butler (ME), 17 October Break Sponsor, Tabletop, Banner & Program Ad
- Firestop Middle East, Program Ad
- FSIME Construction, LLC, Tabletop, Banner & Program Ad
- Gleeson Powers Inc. – Program Ad
- HILTI – 17 October Break Sponsor & Tabletop
- Intherpro, LLC – 17 October Break Sponsor, Banner & Program Ad
- Shoeb Fire Fighting Eqpt. and Trdg. – Banner;
- Thermafiber, Inc. – Program Ad
- Thermofire (Middle East) Limited – Banner& Program Ad
FCIA’s Program is very timely, as the new Abu Dhabi Building Code debuts in 2012. Plus, construction is booming still. Gulf News reports ‘over 300 projects worth $143 billion AED are ready to be built in addition to the 1300 underway.’
~FCIA Apprenticeship Committee Needs Your Pics – Are you working in new construction, renovation, installing firestopping around penetrating items through fire resistance rated drywall, concrete and concrete block, gypsum block (Pyrobar), clay tile walls, or concrete in metal decking, pre cast concrete, solid concrete, or combination wood/gypsum floor ceiling assemblies? How about perimeter fire containment, expansion and control joints? If you are, we need help.
FCIA’s Apprenticeship Education Committee has assembled a lot of material so far, thanks to FCIA Member contractors and manufacturers.
To complete the program, we need more ‘step by step’ installation photos of firestopping:
- Barriers of all types
- Penetrating item type, size
- Annular space size measured with tape
- Mineral wool, ceramic fiber or other backing/packing, materials, with tape showing depth
- Firestop sealant and or other materials installation, as you would show someone
- Tooling of sealant
- Finished application
- UL or other lab detail number, i.e. CAJ-XXXX
- Label, if applicable
If your firestopping crews are working on projects, please send them out with cameras.
“Which pictures should the crew take? I don’t know what you need!” It doesn’t matter: one of every type you are working on gives us choices, and different examples of application. We especially need expansion and control joint sealant applications, top of wall sealant and spray applications, cable trays, multiple cables, fiber optic inner ducts, and can always use more metal and plastic pipes. If your crews take a few pictures each day they do something different, we’ll be on our way. Want more info, email bill@fcia.org
~FCIA at ICC 2010 Charlotte Final Action Hearings – Eirene Oliphant, an ADM 12 Code Proposal was heard at the Final Action Hearings at Charlotte, Oct. 25, 2010. ADM 12 asked for submittals for firestop systems to be approved by the building official prior to construction. The result of the systems submittal approval is that firestop systems receive attention by the building official before installation. Although great support from building officials, the National Association of Home Builders opposed the proposal, which was DISAPPROVED. Watch for FCIA’s ICC 2015 Cycle Code Strategy in the next few months.
~NASFM’s Dwayne Garriss wins ICC Board of Directors Election – ICC Immediate Past President Adolf Zubia swore in the new officers and directors of the International Code Council Board during at the 2010 ICC Annual Conference in Charlotte. Congratulations to Dwayne, CMS Administrator, State of Georgia, and an active participant at the ICC Code Development Process. His interests are in greater fire and life safety.
~FCIA Consultant Bill Koffel wins ICC Affiliate Award - William E. Koffel, President of Koffel Associates, was the recipient of the International Code Council Affiliate Award, which is given in honor of John Fies, Wilbur H. Lind and Alton Riddick, who demonstrated unselfish service to the original model code organizations. Koffel has been active in the Council’s code development process and is known for his role in developing drafts of the International Building Code and International Fire Code.
“I’m truly humbled to be to be listed with the previous recipients of this award, many of which, for 30 years now, I’ve been watching and learning from,” Koffel said. FCIA wrote a supporting letter to ICC’s Awards Committee for Koffel’s well deserved citation.
~IFC’s Sean DeCrane wins ICC Fire Service Award – Sean DeCrane, IFC’s Executive Director, was recognized for his efforts to increase the awareness and importance of codes to firefighter safety, and for his leadership of Vision 20/20 Strategy Five—an effort to develop a national strategic agenda for fire loss focused on firefighter involvement in code development.
DeCrane represents the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) at the national level focusing on a number of code-related subjects, and has written numerous published articles and teaches classes about fire and building codes as they relate to firefighter safety. Well done, Sean.
~FCIA.org & Life Safety Digest Advertising – Support the FCIA Members that advertise on the FCIA website, as well as those Life Safety Digest Advertisers who support the magazine. Visit http://www.fcia.org and check out ‘magazine’ for ad rates. FCIA Members receive 25% off Media Kit pricing. Ads are not that expensive, and the circulation is great for producing leads. Building Officials, Fire Marshals, Healthcare Engineers, General Contractors, Specifiers and more, all get and read Life Safety Digest.
~FCIA Awards Murphy, McHugh – FCIA awarded Don Murphy The Award of Excellence, ‘For his continued efforts to upgrade the role of the Firestopping Contractor, for his time and talents so unselfishly given as an officer, director and committee chair and member’. The FCIA President’s Award for ‘Continued efforts to upgrade the role of the firestopping contractor, manufacturer, associate as FCIA Steering Committee Member and Executive Director’ was given to Bill McHugh.
 
~UL/FM Firestop Exam dates Announced:
- March 29, 2011 – UL, Toronto
- April 27, 2011 – FM/UL, FCIA Education & Committee Action Conference, New Orleans
- June 2, 2011 – UL, Northbrook, IL
- July 21, 2011 UL, Melville, NY
- November 9, 2011 – FCIA Firestop Industry Conference & Trade Show, TBD
~FCIA Members going for FM 4991 Approval and UL Qualification – The FM 4991 and UL Qualified Contractor Programs are growing. Between the two programs, there are well over 90 contractor firms covering the major cities in the US, Canada, and United Arab Emirates.
~IMPORTANT DATES to remember
- FCIA Education & Committee Action Conference – April 26 – 29, 2011, New Orleans
- Life Safety Organization Conference – February 23 – 25, 2011, Las Vegas
- FCIA Firestop Industry Conference & Trade Show – November 8 – 11, 2011
~FCIA Membership keeps growing – Due to the many positive programs, and the referrals from several FCIA Members in all categories, FCIA’s Membership has grown to 281, with retention doing well too. Since the last Enewsletter in September, here are the new members who have joined.
We wish FCIA Members a safe Holiday season.
Bill McHugh, FCIA Executive Director &
the FCIA Staff and FCIA Board
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